UMass Basketball vs. Fordham: Domination An Understatement in 90-52 Minutemen Victory

There are some days when everything goes right and you can do no wrong. Shots fall, bounces go your way, and every adjustment you make as a team is a net positive for the team. For the UMass Minutemen, Sunday was one of those days as they ran the Fordham Rams clear out of New England with a 90-52 assertion of dominance.

Chaz Williams scored 18 points and added eight assists to lead the way for UMass. Williams was outstanding on both ends of the floor, keeping the offense from stagnating after a slow start to game and containing Fordham's guards on the defensive end. Raphiael Putney (13 points), Trey Davis (13) and Maxie Esho (10 points, 6 rebounds) also scored in double figures, but all 11 players that dressed on Sunday scored. In fact, the only player not to top 10 minutes of playing time was Sampson Carter, who despite starting only played nine minutes.

It was a long afternoon for Fordham, shooting 30.5 percent from the field for the game after making 4-of-6 to start. Ryan Rhoomes free throw at 17:10 gave the Rams a 7-0 lead, but UMass would close the half on a 40-17 run that would extend to 57-17 at the 15:28 mark of the second half. The offense showed up in a big way, but to discount the defense is unfair to the Minutemen. Chris Whitehead and Branden Frazier topped the 10-point mark, but standout freshman Jon Severe was held to 2-for-14 shooting and seven points on the game.

There really isn't much analysis to be done on this game. UMass was the better team, and unlike their last effort on Wednesday, made a concerted effort to force its style of play on its opponent and ran them into submission. This game had 73 possessions, per BBState, but that doesn't accurately reflect the pace UMass was playing at during that run that spanned the middle 22 minutes of the game.

Demetrius Dyson, Seth Berger and Clyde Santee all played significant minutes during this game and a lineup of those three with Trey Davis and Tyler Bergantino gave UMass fans a picture of what could be a high-usage lineup next season. Dyson and Berger made their first field goals of the season while Davis calmly led the unit down the final stretch of the game like a savvy veteran. I know, it was weird.

Next week are rematches with a pair of teams that UMass employed its "wait in the weeds" gameplan against in St. Joseph's and St. Bonaventure. If UMass comes out with this type of "blow off the doors" gameplan, things could be over earl on once again.