2020–21 UMass Minutemen basketball team

The 2020–21 UMass Minutemen basketball team represented the University of Massachusetts Amherst during the 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Minutemen were led by fourth-year head coach Matt McCall and played their home games at the William D. Mullins Memorial Center in Amherst, Massachusetts as members of the Atlantic 10 Conference. They finished the season 8–7, 6–4 in A-10 Play to finish in 5th place. They defeated Saint Joseph’s in the second round of the A-10 tournament before losing in the quarterfinals to Saint Louis.

2020–21 UMass Minutemen basketball
Conference	Atlantic 10 Conference
Record	8–7 (6–4 A–10)
Head coach	Matt McCall (4th season)
Assistant coaches	Tyson Wheeler Tony Bergeron Lucious Jordan
Home arena	Mullins Center
Seasons ← 2019–20 2021–22 →

2020–21 Atlantic 10 men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
St. Bonaventure†	11	–	4		.733			16	–	5		.762
VCU	10	–	4		.714			19	–	7		.731
Davidson	7	–	4		.636			13	–	9		.591
Saint Louis	6	–	4		.600			14	–	7		.667
UMass	6	–	4		.600			8	–	7		.533
George Mason	8	–	6		.571			13	–	9		.591
Dayton	9	–	7		.563			14	–	10		.583
Richmond	6	–	5		.545			14	–	9		.609
Duquesne	7	–	7		.500			9	–	9		.500
Rhode Island	7	–	10		.412			10	–	15		.400
George Washington	3	–	5		.375			5	–	12		.294
La Salle	6	–	11		.353			9	–	16		.360
Saint Joseph's	3	–	9		.250			5	–	15		.250
Fordham	2	–	11		.154			2	–	12		.143
† 2021 A10 Tournament winner

Previous season

The Minutemen finished the 2019–20 season 14–17, 8–10 in A-10 play to finish in eighth place. Their season ended when the A-10 tournament and all other postseason tournaments were canceled due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.^[1][2]

Departures

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	Reason for departure
John Buggs	0	G	6' 2“	185	Freshman	Homer, LA	Entered transfer portal; missed final 27 games of previous season due to torn ACL.
Sy Chatman	1	F	6' 8“	200	Sophomore	Saint Paul, MN	Transferred to Illinois State
C.J. Jackson	3	G/F	6'6"	185	Freshman	Atlanta, GA	Transferred to Florida SouthWestern State College
Keon Clergeot	4	G	6'1“	185	Junior	Winter Haven, FL	Transferred to Southeastern Louisiana
Samba Diallo	5	F	6'7“	195	Sophomore	Rufisque, Senegal	Transferred to Manhattan
Sean East	10	G	6'3“	185	Freshman	Louisville, KY	Transferred to Bradley
Djery Baptiste	11	C	6' 10“	245	RS Senior	Gonaives, Haiti	Graduated
Davonté Higginbottom	20	G	6'1“	175	Senior	Mattapan, MA	Graduated
Randall West	31	F	6'4"	220	Senior	Moorestown, NJ	Graduated

Incoming transfers

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	Previous School
Mark Gasperini	10	C	6'10"	255	Graduate Student	Moscow, Russia	Graduate transfer from American
Noah Fernandes	11	G	5'11"	175	Sophomore	Mattapoisett, MA	Transferred from Wichita State. NCAA transfer rules mandate that he sit out 2020-21, but he was granted a legislative relief waiver and was therefore immediately eligible for the 2020-21 season.

2020 recruiting class

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes

Name	Hometown	High school / college	Height	Weight	Commit date
Dyondre Dominguez #4 F	Providence, RI	Woodstock Academy	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	205 lb (93 kg)	Feb 29, 2020
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN:
Ronnie DeGray III #13 F	Parker, CO	Woodstock Academy	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	220 lb (100 kg)	Apr 6, 2020
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN:
Javohn Garcia #1 G	Pickerington, OH	Brewster Academy	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	Oct 18, 2019
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A   Rivals: N/A   247Sports: N/A    ESPN: N/A
Cairo McCrory #5 G	Hartford, CT	Woodstock Academy	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	Aug 2, 2019
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A   Rivals: N/A   247Sports: N/A    ESPN: N/A
Ryan Marcus #20 G	Wakefield, MA	Wakefield Memorial	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	N/A
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A   Rivals: N/A   247Sports: N/A    ESPN: N/A
Overall recruiting rankings:
Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2020 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved December 12, 2020.

Roster

2020–21 UMass Minutemen men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Previous school Hometown G 0 Brady Antonopoulos (W) 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 165 lb (75 kg) Sr Quaboag Regional HS West Brookfield, MA G 1 Javohn Garcia 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 180 lb (82 kg) Fr Brewster Academy Pickerington, OH G/F 2 Preston Santos 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 185 lb (84 kg) So Woodstock Academy Providence, RI G 3 Kolton Mitchell 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 185 lb (84 kg) So Victory Rock Prep Fort Myers, FL F 4 Dyondre Dominguez 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Fr Woodstock Academy Providence, RI G 5 Cairo McCrory 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 190 lb (86 kg) Fr Woodstock Academy Hartford, CT C 10 Mark Gasperini 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 255 lb (116 kg) GS Brimmer and May American Moscow, Russia G 11 Noah Fernandes 5 ft 11 in (1.8 m) 175 lb (79 kg) So Woodstock Academy Wichita State Mattapoisett, MA G 12 Carl Pierre 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 190 lb (86 kg) Sr Boston College HS Boston, MA F 13 Ronnie DeGray III 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 220 lb (100 kg) Fr Woodstock Academy Parker, CO G 20 Ryan Marcus 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Fr Wakefield Memorial HS Wakefield, MA G 23 T.J. Weeks 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 185 lb (84 kg) RS Fr Bishop Hendricken Catholic HS Woodstock Academy Warwick, RI F 24 Dibaji Walker 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 200 lb (91 kg) Jr Woodstock Academy Cleveland State Columbus, OH C 33 Tre Mitchell 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 240 lb (109 kg) So Woodstock Academy Pittsburgh, PA	Head coach Matt McCall (Chattanooga) Assistant coach(es) Tony Bergeron (Woodstock Academy) Tyson Wheeler (Fairfield) Lucious Jordan (Albany) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt Roster

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Non-conference regular season
December 11, 2020* 1:30 pm, NESN		Northeastern	W 94–79	1–0	Mullins Center  Amherst, MA
December 13, 2020* 12:00 pm, NESN		at Northeastern	L 75–78	1–1	Cabot Center  Boston, MA
December 21, 2020* 4:00 pm, NESN		Bryant	L 88–93	1–2	Mullins Center  Amherst, MA
A-10 regular season
December 16, 2020 1:00 pm, ESPN+		at La Salle	W 85–66	2–2 (1–0)	Tom Gola Arena  Philadelphia, PA
December 30, 2020 6:00 pm, ESPN+		George Mason	L 92–93 2OT	2–3 (1–1)	Mullins Center  Amherst, MA
January 6, 2021 6:00 pm, ESPN+		at George Washington Postponed due to the 2021 United States Capitol attack			Charles E. Smith Center  Washington, D.C.
January 9, 2021 4:00 pm, NBCSN		La Salle	W 80–78	3–3 (2–1)	Mullins Center  Amherst, MA
January 13, 2021 1:00 pm		Rhode Island	W 80–77 OT	4–3 (3–1)	Mullins Center  Amherst, MA
January 17, 2021 2:30 pm, NBCSN		at Fordham	W 65–46	5–3 (4–1)	Rose Hill Gymnasium  Bronx, NY
January 20, 2021		Saint Louis Postponed due to COVID-19 issues			Mullins Center  Amherst, MA
January 24, 2021 12:00 pm, CBSSN		Davidson	L 60–69	5–4 (4–2)	Mullins Center  Amherst, MA
January 30, 2021 2:00 pm, ESPN+		at George Mason Postponed due to COVID-19 issues			EagleBank Arena  Fairfax, VA
February 3, 2021 6:00 pm, NESN/ESPN+		Fordham	W 60–54	6–4 (5–2)	Mullins Center  Amherst, MA
February 6, 2021 8:00 pm, ESPN2		at Rhode Island	W 75–63	7–4 (6–2)	Ryan Center  Kingston, RI
February 9, 2021 7:00 pm, ESPNU		Dayton Postponed due to COVID-19 issues			Mullins Center  Amherst, MA
February 12, 2021 7:00 pm, ESPN+		at VCU Postponed due to COVID-19 issues			Siegel Center  Richmond, VA
February 14, 2021 2:00 pm, NBCSN		St. Bonaventure Postponed due to COVID-19 issues			Mullins Center  Amherst, MA
February 20, 2021 6:00 pm, ESPN+		at Duquesne Postponed due to COVID-19 issues			UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse  Pittsburgh, PA
February 23, 2021 6:00 pm, ESPN+		at Richmond	L 65–79	7–5 (6–3)	Robins Center  Richmond, VA
March 1, 2021 6:00 pm, CBSSN		at Saint Louis	L 54–78	7–6 (6–4)	Chaifetz Arena  St. Louis, MO
A-10 tournament
March 4, 2021 1:00 pm, NBCSN	(5)	vs. (13) Saint Joseph's Second round	W 100–66	8–6	Robins Center (250) Richmond, VA
March 5, 2021 1:00 pm, NBCSN	(5)	vs. (4) Saint Louis Quarterfinals	L 72–86	8–7	Robins Center (250) Richmond, VA
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll / Coaches' Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern.

Source^[3]

References

1. Myerberg, Paul. "ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 among major college basketball tournaments cancelled amid coronavirus". USA TODAY. Retrieved December 6, 2020.
2. "NCAA cancels March Madness tournaments, all other winter and spring championships". NBC News. Retrieved December 6, 2020.
3. "2020–21 Men's Basketball Schedule". UMass Minutemen Athletics.