Umass Basketball
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2001-02 SUMMER PROSPECTUS UMASS BASKETBALL 2001-02 UMASS SCHEDULE 2001-2002 QUICK FACTS Date Opponent UMass Opp. Institution: University of Massachusetts Nov. 12 EA All-Stars* Location: Amherst, Mass., 01003 Nov. 16 Ark.-Little Rock Founded: 1863 Nov. 24 Marist Enrollment: 23,570 (18,214 undergraduate; 5,356 graduate) Nov. 27 Oregon! Dec. 1 at North Carolina State Colors: Maroon & White Dec. 4 Holy Cross Nickname: Minutemen, UMass Dec. 8 at Boston College Home Court: William D. Mullins Memorial Center Dec. 12 UConn Capacity/Year Opened: 9,493/1993 Dec. 15 Central Conn. State# All-Time Mullins Center Record: 76-22 (.776) Dec. 23 Maine Press Row Phone: (413) 545-6139 Dec. 29 at Marshall Affiliation: NCAA Division I Jan. 9 Ohio State Conference/Year Joined Conference: Atlantic 10/1976-77 (charter member) A-10 Schedule (Dates TBA) Interim Chancellor: Marcellette G. Williams (Michigan State, 1968) Divisional Opponets (Home & Away) Temple Athletic Director: Bob Marcum (Marshall, 1959) St. Joseph’s Athletic Director’s Phone: (413) 545-4086 Rhode Island St. Bonaventure BASKETBALL INFORMATION Fordham Head Coach: Steve Lappas (CCNY, 1977) Crossover Games Record at UMass: 0-0 (first year) La Salle Career Record: 230-172 (13 years) George Washington Dayton Assistant Coaches: John Leonard (Manhattan, 1982), Andrew Theokas at Xavier (William & Mary, 1992), Chris Walker (Villanova, 1992) at Duquesne Basketball Office Phone: (413) 545-2610 at Richmond Best Time to Reach Coach Lappas: Contact SID 2002 Verizon Atlantic 10 Championship 2000-01 Overall Record: 15-15 March 6-9 2000-01 Atlantic 10 Conference Record/Finish: 11-5/Fourth The Spectrum, Philadelphia, Pa. 2000-01 Postseason Result: None Lettermen Returning/Lost: 9/3 *-Exhibition Starters Returning/Lost: 3/2 !-Springfield (Mass.) Civic Center #-Mohegan (Conn.) Sun Arena NCAA Tournament Appearances (Eight, 11-8): 1962, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998 Note: AP rank, if any, indicated in (). NIT Appearances (Nine, 5-10): 1970, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1977, 1990, 1991, 2000 Massachusetts Media Relations Atlantic 10 Conference Championships (Five): 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996 255 Boyden Building All-Time Record: 1,010-894 (.531) in 92 seasons Amherst, Mass., 01003 Basketball Contact: Nick Joos Phone: (413) 545-2439 MEDIA RELATIONS INFORMATION Fax: (413) 545-1556 Assistant Athletic Director/Media Relations (Basketball Contact): Nick Joos Fax-on-Demand: 201-947-0299 Assistant Media Relations Directors: 1601 UMass Hoop Notes and Statistics Charles Bare, Stephanie Burchill, Ryan Nadeau 1604 Roster/Schedule Media Relations Interns: 1606 Prior Game Box Score Jessica Blanchard, Misty Cole, Joe Galbriath umassathletics.com Media Relations Secretary: Ruthie Drew Office Phone: (413) 545-2439 Office FAX: (413) 545-1556 Office e-mail address: [email protected] Joos’ Home Phone: (413) 549-0043 Joos’ e-mail address: [email protected] Media Relations Office Address: 255 Boyden Building University of Massachusetts Amherst, MA 01003 UMass Athletics Website Address: www.umassathletics.com UMASS BASKETBALL--PAGE 2 2001-02 MASSACHUSETTS TEAM CAPSULE MEDIA INFORMATION ETURNING ASS ETTERMEN INE HREE TARTERS N OLD Interviews/Credentials: To arrange interviews R UM L (N , T S I B ) with UMass head coach Steve Lappas or his play- Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Cl. Hometown PPG RPG ers, please contact Assistant A.D./Media Relations C 33 Kitwana Rhymer*** 6-10 256 Sr. St. Thomas, V.I. 9.9 7.3 Nick Joos at 413-545-2439 (office) or 413-549- G 30 Shannon Crooks** 6-2 222 Sr. Everett, Mass. 9.0 3.5 0043 (home). Interviews must be requested at F 40 Micah Brand** 6-11 243 Jr. Middletown, N.Y. 8.4 4.7 least one day in advance, and will usually be con- F 2 Jackie Rogers* 6-8 230 Sr. Syracuse, N.Y. 6.6 3.9 ducted after practice. No interviews will be F 21 Eric Williams* 6-8 243 Sr. Brooklyn, N.Y. 3.8 3.5 granted on game day until after the game. F 3 Ronell Blizzard*** 6-8 205 Sr. Waterbury, Conn. 1.6 1.6 Credential requests should be faxed or mailed G 24 Jameel Pugh* 6-4 200 So. Sacramento, Calif. 1.2 0.8 to Joos’ attention. F/G 1 Willie Jenkins* 6-6 200 So. Memphis, Tenn. 0.8 0.4 G 22 Dwayne Killings* 6-0 180 So. Amherst, Mass. 1.0 0.7 Postgame Procedure: The UMass locker room Percentage of 2000-01 Scoring/Rebounding Returning 59.2% 75.3% is closed to the media, however, coach Lappas and requested players will meet with reporters in UMASS LETTERMEN LOST (THREE, TWO STARTERS IN BOLD) the Mullins Center interview room after Lappas Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Hometown PPG RPG has fulfilled his obligation to the UMass Sports G 5 Monty Mack**** 6-3 200 Boston, Mass. 19.5 2.9 Network. G 1 Jonathan DePina**** 5-9 185 Boston, Mass. 5.8 2.2 F 20 Winston Smith**** 6-5 228 Summit, N.J. 3.1 3.2 A-10 Conference Call: Each Monday during the Percentage of 2000-01 Scoring/Rebounding Lost 40.8% 24.7% 2001-02 season, the Atlantic 10 Conference will conduct a conference call from 10 a.m. until noon NEWCOMERS (FIVE) featuring its men’s basketball coaches. To partici- 2000-01 pate, contact Ray Cella at 215-751-0500. Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. Hometown PPG RPG G 11 Kyle Wilson 6-2 175 Fr. White Rock, B.C. 19.5 3.0 UMass on the Web: Information on Minuteman F 0 Brennan Martin 6-6 190 Fr. R. Santa Margarita, Calif.14.5 4.0 basketball and all 29 UMass varsity sports is avail- G 50 Marcus Cox 6-4 190 Jr. Bridgeport, Conn. 2.7 1.7 able at www.umassathletics.com. A link to UMass G 12 Anthony Anderson 5-11 175 So. Lynn, Mass. DNP DNP basketball radio broadcasts can be found on the F 34 Raheim Lamb 6-5 190 So. Boston, Mass. DNP DNP home page, too. Note: Cox is a transfer from UConn who will sit out 2001-02 season; Anderson and Lamb attended UMass last year, but did not play basketball. A complete roster can be found on page 9. UMass on the Radio: All University of Massa- chusetts basketball games can be heard live on Lappas-Era Begins in Amherst: Former Villanova coach Steve Lappas enters his first sea- the WHMP/Lazer UMass Basketball Radio Net- son on the UMass sideline intent on returning the Minuteman program to the national spotlight it work, with WLZX serving as the flagship station. enjoyed for much of the 1990s. Bob Behler is in his third season as the voice of Introduced as the school’s 19th head coach on March 26, 2001, by Athletic Director Bob Marcum, the Minutemen, while former UMass head coach Lappas’ first UMass team will be built around nine returning letterwinners, including three start- Jack Leaman is in his eighth season as the color ers, from last year’s team which finished 15-15 overall and after a 2-9 start, rebounded to finish analyst. All broadcasts begin 30 minutes prior to fourth in the Atlantic 10 Conference at 11-5. Those nine returnees provided 59.2 percent of the tip-off. scoring and 75.3 percent of the rebounding for a UMass squad which advanced to the Atlantic 10 Behler also hosts Lappas’ weekly radio show Tournament championship game for the first time since winning the last of five consecutive titles on Northampton’s WLZX 99.3 FM and WHMP in 1996. 1400 AM. The program, which airs from 6-7 p.m., While past Lappas’ coached teams have relied on strong perimeter play, it is likely that his first will originate from Amherst’s Hanger Pub & Grill. UMass team will look inside first. That’s because the Minutemen return a pair of the A-10’s best frontline players in 6-10 senior center Kitwana Rhymer and 6-11 junior forward Micah Brand. PRONUNCIATION GUIDE Rhymer, a third-team All-Atlantic 10 selection as a junior, was named the league’s defensive Ronell Blizzard.................................rah-NELL player of the year and shared the league’s most improved player of the year award with Brand. He Jameel Pugh......................................JUH-meal was UMass’ second-leading scorer a year ago at 9.9 ppg (10.1 ppg in league games only), and led Kitwana Rhymer.........kit-WAH-nah RYE-mer the squad in rebounding (7.3 rpg, sixth in A-10) and blocked shots (63, 2.10 bpg ranked second in Micah Brand...........................................My-kuh the A-10). Rhymer’s 63 rejections equalled the ninth-best single-season total in school history, and pushed his career total to 137, good for fourth-place on the school’s career chart. RETURNING STATISTICAL LEADERS A member of the A-10’s 2001 all-defensive team, Rhymer has improved his season scoring Category Name Mark average every year, going from 2.5 ppg as a freshman to 7.8 ppg in 1999-2000 and 9.9 a year ago. Scoring Kitwana Rhymer 9.9 ppg He needs 374 points this season to become the school’s 35th 1,000-point scorer. Rebounding Kitwana Rhymer 7.3 rpg Brand, who shared the league’s Chris Daniels Most Improved Player Award with Rhymer, FG% Jackie Rogers .553 averaged 4.3 ppg and 3.3 rpg as a freshman in 1999-2000, but increased those marks to 8.4 ppg 3FG% Shannon Crooks .243 (fourth on the team) and 4.7 rpg (second-best on the squad) a year ago. As a sophomore, he earned FT% Kitwana Rhymer .687 his first career start in the sixth game of the season and would go on to start 22 of UMass’ last 24 Minutes Shannon Crooks 937 games.