Martin Praises Team-First Mentality As MAC Play Approaches
UMass men's basketball head coach Frank Martin spoke with reporters on Wednesday afternoon.
Frank Martin is still searching for precise benchmarks to measure his team’s progress, but the UMass men’s basketball head coach made one thing clear during a conference call with reporters on Wednesday afternoon, the group he’s coaching cares deeply about each other and about winning.
“That’s the hardest thing to determine these days,” Martin said. “We have so many new players every single year. You’ve got to be the best you can be the next day and stay the course and let that roller coaster ride take you to a peak at the right time.”
What has stood out most to Martin has been how players have responded to each other’s success. He pointed to recent wins over Boston College and Florida State and the reactions to accolades as examples of a locker room that values the team over individual recognition.
“Over the last two games, Marcus Banks is named MVP and Dan Sanford is the one celebrating him,” Martin said. “Then we go down to South Florida and Dan gets the MVP and Leo (Bettiol) is the one leading the cheers.
“These guys don’t care who gets recognition. They care about winning.”
That leadership, Martin said, has to come from the most experienced players on the roster, especially early in the season.
“That’s the way it should be,” Martin said. “Those guys have to lead early, not just with their voices but with their performances. As the season goes on, everyone else starts getting their feet wet and gaining confidence.”
Asked to reflect on the recent win over the Seminoles, Martin cautioned against drawing direct comparisons to last season’s frustrating blowout loss against FSU.
“We don’t play a uniform or the name of a school,” Martin said. “We play players. It was a great opportunity to play a high-level program on national television, promote our brand and our style of play and our guys protected the uniform and made enough plays to win.”
Consistency, more than anything, remains Martin’s focus as the Minutemen, now 8-3 on the season, move forward.
“We can’t allow five (consecutive) wins to make us too comfortable,” Martin said. “It can’t be about yesterday. It’s about respecting the uniform and the guys next to you in the locker room. This is the only year this group gets to be together like this, so we’ve got to respect that.”
As UMass prepares for life in the MAC, Martin acknowledged the challenges that come with unfamiliar opponents in a new conference while downplaying the idea of constant tactical overhauls.
“Adjustments are an overrated word,” Martin said. “You’ve got to feel the game and make decisions to impact it in a positive way. Whether it’s a sold-out arena or nobody’s there, you have to be prepared to play the game the right way.”
That sense of urgency is magnified as the calendar flips toward conference play.
“It’s awesome that we’re 8–3, but that also means we’ve got 21 games left,” Martin said. “We owe it to the seniors to do our jobs the right way and focus on what’s ahead.”
UMass returns home Saturday for a 2 p.m. game at the Mullins Center against Kent State, a matchup Martin framed as a significant early test in conference play.
“They’re good,” the coach said. “(Kent State head coach) Rob Senderoff has been there a long time and his teams play hard as heck defensively. They have balance offensively and they know who they are.”
Martin emphasized that Kent State’s ability to score in different ways separates it from many opponents.
“They don’t just spread you out and shoot threes,” Martin said. “They want to get the ball in the paint first. They post up, they play inside out and they don’t turn it over.”
The Minutemen will also be facing an experienced roster led by players who have been in Senderoff’s system for multiple seasons.
“His leading scorer (forward Delrecco Gillespie) has been with him for three years. They’ve got guards that are back, a transfer power forward, and like us, they’ve got some guys in their first year learning how to help the team win.”
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