By: Ryan Chichester
The Quinnipiac men’s basketball team will look to halt its five-game losing streak when it hosts UMass on Wednesday night, in what will be the team’s final home game in over a month.
The Minutemen arrive in Hamden with a minor losing streak of their own, having dropped their last two games in the Barlcays Center Classic over the weekend. After falling to 14th ranked Minnesota 69-51 on Friday night, Mass coughed up at 10 point halftime lead against BYU as the Cougars hit a game-winner with four seconds remaining on Saturday.
UMass and Quinnipiac had similar experiences in early season tournaments.
While UMass hung tough with Minnesota for the first 10 minutes before the better team pulled away, Quinnipiac suffered a similar fate against Wake Forest in the Paradise Jam in Virginia. Both teams also suffered painful losses in the final seconds in their respective tournaments, with the Bobcats dropping a heartbreaker to the Colorado Buffaloes on a buzzer-beater after missing a pair of free throws.
The two teams don’t have a common opponent, but UMass did open up the Barclays Center Classic against a familiar Quinnipiac foe in Niagara, who was ranked fifth in the preseason conference poll. The Minutemen ran over the Purple Eagles 101-76 in that contest while shooting 58 percent from beyond the arc.
Here is what to watch for when the Bobcats take the court and welcome the Minutemen on Wednesday.
Containing Luwane Pipkins
The sophomore guard for the Minutemen exploded against the Purple Eagles, leading the way with 34 points on 12-of-18 shooting. The Chicago native is the straw that stirs the UMass drink, and the Minutemen will go as far as Pipkins takes them. In the three UMass wins this season, Pipkins is shooting 46 percent from the field, and just 33 percent in the team’s three losses.
Pipkins has been especially quiet offensively the last two games, shooting just 8-for-29 while connecting on just one of his 12 three-point attempts. The Bobcats’ defense will likely determine if Pipkins continues his cold streak, or if he breaks out in a big way. If Quinnipiac plays a similar perimeter defense like it did against Maine on Monday night, it will likely be the latter.
The Bobcats need to keep tabs on Pipkins on the other end of the floor as well. The pesky defender already has 13 steals this season, and his 1.9 steals per game last season was third best in the Atlantic 10 conference. Pipkins will have his defensive eye on Quinnipiac freshman point guard Rich Kelly, who is still settling into his role as the team’s floor leader, and will have to take care of the ball against the UMass backcourt.
Bounce back night for Cameron Young?
Baker Dunleavy and the Bobcats certainly hope so. The senior turned a lot of heads in the Paradise Jam, where he scored 26 points in two out of the three games played in Lynchburg. This was a promising trend after an encouraging 15 point performance against Brown prior to the tournament.
Young suffered a setback on Monday night, when the Maine defense held him to just six points on 2-for-10 shooting. The rough start may have been a factor in Young’s 20 minutes played, which was a season low. For the Bobcats to get back in the win column, Young will have to get back on track offensively.
