UMass Mullins Center 1/14/18. UMass No.2 Luwane Pipkins, powers the ball up strong to the rim past Saint Josephs No.12 Anthony Longpre in the 2nd half.photo by J. Anthony Roberts J. Anthony Roberts
UMass Mullins Center 1/14/18. The UMass Bench erupts as the UMass Minutemen beat Saint Josephs 72 to 69 at the UMass Mullins Center.photo by J. Anthony Roberts J. Anthony Roberts
UMass Mullins Center 1/14/18. UMass No.2 Luwane Pipkins, powers the ball in towards the hoop past Saint Josephs No.5 Nick Robinson in the 1st half.photo by J. Anthony Roberts J. Anthony Roberts
UMass Mullins Center 1/14/18. UMass No.23 C.J. Anderson, takes the ball up strong in the lane to the rim over Saint Josephs No.1 Shavar Newkirk in the 2nd half.photo by J. Anthony Roberts J. Anthony Roberts
UMass Mullins Center 1/14/18. UMass No.2 Luwane Pipkins, takes it up strong in the lane to the hoop over Saint Josephs No.1 Shavar Newkirk in the 2nd half.photo by J. Anthony Roberts J. Anthony Roberts
By MATT VAUTOUR
@MattVautourDHG
AMHERST — It would seem silly, except it’s hard to argue with results.
Against La Salle Wednesday night, UMass guard Luwane Pipkins put a white shoe on his right foot and a red one on his left.
The peppermint podiatric stylings seemed effective. He had a school-record 44 points in UMass comeback win over La Salle breaking the school’s single-game scoring record of 41 by single-colored shoe wearing Billy Tindall in 1968.
Pipkins followed that up with 27 points against the Hawks.
“I just saw we had two pairs of the same shoes in different colors. I went for it,” Pipkins said laughing. “I had 44, and now I’m superstitious about it. I’m going to keep doing it.”
Pipkins is now averaging 20.2 points per game. He’s averaging 18.3 points per game with two of the same colored shoes and 35.5 points per game in mismatched kicks. He’s averaged 25.5 points after intermission in the last two games.
St. Joe’s coach Phil Martelli was impressed.
“He’s having a wonderful year. He’ll be a first-team all-league player and the most improved player in the conference,” Martelli said. “That’s quite an accomplishment.”
NO FOUL UP THREE — It’s one of basketball’s classic debates. Should a team up by three points with under 10 seconds left foul, to avoid allowing a game-tying 3-pointer? The advantage is obvious. The risk, while rare, are 1. A player unexpectedly launches a deep 3 while getting fouled and gets three free throws or worse 2. makes the deep 3 and gets a shot at a four-point play.
McCall was faced with that conundrum Sunday up three with 8 seconds left against a Hawks team that was 4-for-19 from deep. He chose not to foul. Unique McLean played Shavar Newkirk straight up, keeping his hands high and his feet on the ground and the Hawk guard missed.
“As a coach it’s one of the hardest decisions to make,” said McCall, who described a sequence from his days as an assistant against Florida, when Arizona put up a shot to get three free throws to force overtime. “I thought we had a really good previous possession defensively, I wanted to rely on those five guards to switch and switch correctly.”
MISCELLANEOUS — UMass has now beaten Saint Joseph’s four consecutive times. The Minutemen won both regular season games and the Atlantic 10 Tournament game last year.
DeMatha Catholic junior point guard Jahmir Young was at the game on an unofficial visit.
Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage
