Martin Sees Progress, Wants More From UMass
UMass head coach Frank Martin said two straight MAC wins is nice, but issues remain.
UMass’ ability to close out a 68–67 win over Buffalo was fueled by late execution from its veterans, but head coach Frank Martin made clear afterward that the larger takeaway had less to do with heroics and more to do with habits the Minutemen are still fighting to correct.
Martin credited Jayden Ndjigue, Daniel Hankins-Sanford and Leonardo Bettiol for steadying the team down the stretch, framing their impact around leadership and daily approach rather than individual moments.
“Jayden is not even close, our best defender and the second guy’s not even in the same book,” Martin said. “Forget sentence or paragraph.
“Everyone has a different journey. He had lost his pep coming off of Christmas. I have no idea why he’s rekindled that here.”
Martin pointed to Ndjigue and Hankins-Smith’s efforts in the win over Buffalo as well as the win over Toledo earlier in the week.
“We’re going to get to the finish line and become the best version of who we can be based on those two guys, not based on their stats,” he said. “On the way they approach this every day.”
That tone carried into Martin’s assessment of Bettiol, whose late basket and three-point play swung the game back in UMass’ favor after Buffalo erased a 12-point second-half deficit.
“Give Leo credit, he made two really good offensive plays there,” Martin said. “I think he made that layup to cut it to two I think. And then he made the three-point play to give us the lead.”
Even with the win secured, Martin’s frustration centered on how easily the Minutemen allowed Buffalo back into the game after building a 20-point lead.
“We build a lead and then we shut it down and that’s a problem,” Martin said. “I’m tired of talking about it with the guys. I’m really happy we won.
“That flight home and practice feel a lot better because we won. But it’s frustrating because there’s some stuff that internally we’re battling…We control these things. We don’t control the ball going in, but we control that attention to detail that we have to fix and we’re not fixing it. It gets a little frustrating.”
Buffalo’s rally came once UMass relaxed defensively, allowing Buffalo guard Ryan Sabol and others to find rhythm.
“They’re a good team and they can really score,” Martin said. “When they figured out our defense and we build the lead and we relaxed because we relaxed now there good players got going. When you let good players get going, good luck.”
Martin pointed to breakdowns guarding the ball as the root of the issue, something he sees as a broader problem in the sport.
“It’s an epidemic in college basketball,” Martin said. “It’s not a Frank Martin/UMass problem. It’s an epidemic in our sport. The unwillingness of guys to sit down and defend the ball is really frustrating. That’s how you lose the lead”
Despite the collapse, Martin felt his group regained enough composure late to execute when it mattered most, including Hankins-Sanford converting two free throws in the final seconds.
“Dan’s energy, his focus, his voice, him and Jayden for the last seven days have been, that’s what we need from them here for the last five weeks of the season,” he said.
Martin also noted his frustration in his team’s struggles to Buffalo point guard Daniel Freitag, who finished with 18 points, especially in the second half.
“He shot fakes a lot,” Martin said. “We stayed down. In the second half. Everyone’s jumping at all his shot fakes, so we put him on the line. So now he’s shooting free throws and you can’t defend free throws. You’ve got no chance.
“It’s like watching Villanova play. They drive the ball into the paint and they start off those two feet, those pivots at the guard spot. It’s post-ups by guards. Guards aren’t used to guard post-ups. So they start jumping at shot fakes, you foul and now they start making free throws.”
The win improves UMass’ position in the MAC standings, but Martin made clear that progress moving forward hinges less on outcomes and more on eliminating lapses that continue to surface once the Minutemen gain control of games.
“When we’re down, our attention to detail is phenomenal. As soon as we either start scoring or we build a lead, it’s like, ‘Alright, we can go back to AAU mode. That don’t work. That gets people beat.”
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