Daily Hampshire Gazette
November 18, 2009
The sophomore was disappointed with his play in the Minutemen's 84-67 loss at Central Florida on Friday, and was ready to get back on the court at 7:30 tonight against Cornell at the Mullins Center to put it behind him.
"I played terrible," said Gibbs, who did not want to use the first game in a new role as a reason for his struggles.
"It's no excuse. I have to build off it and come out Wednesday and play better," he added. "I'm ready. I have to control the game on defense and offense. It all starts with me. "
UMass coach Derek Kellogg said he would welcome improved play by Gibbs.
"I think he can play a lot better," kellogg said. "The most important part of college basketball is the point guard spot. Coming in I don't know if he was a true point or not, so he's got a huge learning curve.
"I'll put up with his mistakes and some growing pains," he added. "I want him to compete as hard as he can every time out. If he starts doing that on a consistent basis, our team will start seeing the benefits."
Kellogg did not blame Friday's loss on Gibbs or any individual player. He said the problems were spread throughout the roster.
"Quick bad shots in the first five to eight seconds of the shot clock is not conducive to winning basketball games," Kellogg said. "I've stressed ¿take care of the basketball, take better shots and let's help each other a little more on defense.' "
The Big Red are loaded. Coming off back-to-back Ivy League titles, Cornell returns all five starters from last year's team that put a scare into Missouri in the NCAA Tournament. That quintet includes Ivy player of the year Louis Dale, a point guard; Ivy defensive player of the year Jeff Foote, a 7-foot center; and small forward Ryan Whitman, who averaged 18.5 points per game last season.
"This is one of the top two or three teams we play all year. They don't have a lot of things they don't do well. The more tape I watch, the better I think they are," Kellogg said. "I don't think this is a great game for us this early in the season, but it's on the schedule and we're going to compete and play."
While Cornell is the heavy favorite in the Ivy League, coach Steve Donahue scheduled a strong out-of-conference schedule to prepare his team for the NCAA Tournament.
The Big Red already beat Alabama 71-67 on Saturday. After UMass, they have games against Seton Hall, Syracuse, Saint Joseph's, La Salle, Kansas and possibly St. John's.
"We know they're good, they're very good," UMass junior Gary Correia said. "They beat Alabama. They've been in the NCAA Tournament for the past two years. They're solid at every position. They're on the cusp of being top 25. They're going to come in here and try to beat us the way they did Alabama."
Tonight's game and the one at home Saturday against Arkansas-Fort Smith is part of the Legends Classic, but the results will not affect the Minutemen's ability to advance. They will play Rutgers in the semifinals at 5:30 p.m. Nov. 27 in Atlantic City, N.J., regardless of the outcome of this week's games, while Cornell will advance for three games in Philadelphia against Toledo, Drexel and Vermont. The game is a reunion for Max Groebe and his former UMass teammates. Groebe was part of ex-coach Travis Ford's 2007-08 freshman class, but he and four others left the program.
Groebe, who lived in Brazil, Germany and Florida before enrolling at UMass, sat out last season as a transfer and did not appear in Cornell's opening game Saturday.
"I haven't spoken to him since he left - just on Facebook," Correia said. "It'll be interesting to see him since we came in together and got to know each other a little bit. It'll be cool to see how he's doing and how he's playing."
NOTES: According to the Riverside (Calif.) Press Enterprise, the Los Angeles Lakers are considering buying out former Minuteman Tony Gaffney's contract in Israel to bring him back after Luke Walton suffered a back injury. "There's nothing imminent, but it's a possibility," Gaffney's agent Sam Porter told the Press Enterprise. "They're over the luxury tax obviously and they're trying to keep payroll down as much as possible. Maybe they try to go without adding a player, but they did like Tony a lot."
Minuteman all-time leading scorer Jim McCoy will be honored at tonight's game, which is the second in a doubleheader at the Mullins Center.
The Minutewomen play St. John's in the first game at 5:30 p.m.
McCoy had 2,374 points between 1988 and 1992.
Ricky Harris, the leading active scorer at UMass, will not likely catch McCoy, but he's rapidly climbing the school's career chart. The senior guard has 1,362 points which puts him at No. 15 among all-time leaders. Harris is seven behind No. 14 Clarence Hill (1,369 points) and eight behind No. 13 Julius Erving (1,370). Harris also is No. 5 on the career-made 3-pointers list with 212, nine behind No. 4 Rafer Giles.
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