The Rams' record is just 5-11, but Sunday's matchup is deceivingly difficult for the Minutemen.
Fordham's Chris Gaston, pictured here defending Ole Miss' Murphy Holloway on Jan. 4, has given the Minutemen fits each time they've seen him.
At first glance, the University of Massachusetts’ game against the Fordham Rams appears to be a mismatch.
The Minutemen are 10-4, and are coming off of a close loss on the road against one of the Atlantic 10’s top teams in Saint Louis.
The Rams are 5-11, with their best win of the five coming Wednesday at home against a Duquesne team that was picked last in the Atlantic 10 Preseason Poll.
But UMass coach Derek Kellogg knows better than to overlook anyone, and although no coach would ever admit to overlooking an opponent, digging a little deeper when it comes to Fordham shows that this Rams team could give the Minutemen fits when the teams take the court at 1 p.m. Sunday at Rose Hill Gymnasium in the Bronx.
First, the Minutemen will be playing their first full game without injured guard Jesse Morgan, a challenge that has nothing to with who UMass is playing against.
Look no further than last year’s game at Mullins Center, an 80-76 UMass nail-biter, to see that Fordham has some very talented players.
Fordham’s inside-out combination hit UMass hard — forward Chris Gaston had 16 points and 18 rebounds while point guard Branden Frazier led the Rams with 19 points.
Gaston, who is averaging 14.5 points and 7.4 rebounds per game thus far in his senior, has given the Minutemen problems every time they’ve seen him — going for 19 points and 14 rebounds in 2011 and 16 points and 14 rebounds as a freshman in 2010.
“Gaston, he’s always had really good games against us,” Kellogg said. “He’s kind of a double-double machine every time.”
Frazier has brought the kind of production Rams coach Tom Pecora saw last year against UMass more consistently in this, his junior year, improving his free-throw shooting and command of the floor and garnering hype as a potential all-conference selection with his 15.8 point, 4.2 rebound and 5.6 assist per game stat line.
“We all know he can score the ball and make plays, and now he’s doing that at an even higher level,” Kellogg said. “He’s rebounding the ball, he brings good size to the point guard spot, and I think they become a dangerous team with him handling the ball.”
Frazier is coming off his best performance in Fordham’s win over Duquesne, when he racked up 13 assists against just one turnover and scored 16 points.
As if the matchup between Frazier and UMass’ own all-conference point guard Chaz Williams needed any extra intrigue, Frazier — like Williams — is a Brooklyn native, and played his high school basketball at Bishop Laughlin High School, just over two miles from Williams’ alma mater, Bishop Ford High School.
Both also were recruited by Pecora, who coached Williams at Hofstra before both left Hempstead, N.Y. for greener pastures.
Fordham’s early-season struggles can be attributed to a couple of factors. First, Gaston missed six games with a knee injury, and second, of their 15 non-conference games, just three were at Rose Hill.
“They’ve won their last three at home,” Kellogg said. “I don’t think the average fan takes into account how important it is to build confidence and have some of those home games, especially for a team like Fordham that maybe hasn’t had as much success as they would have liked over the last few years.”
With Gaston and Frazier continuing to find their rhythm, and the Rams getting comfortable at home, Kellogg can see things coming together for Fordham — something he hopes doesn’t happen on Sunday.
“They’re starting to come into their own a little bit,” Kellogg said. “They’re actually a pretty talented team.”