UMass will look to get the ball to Cady Lalanne in the post for offense Wednesday at La Salle.
Cady Lalanne goes up for two and draws a foul from Richmond's Greg Robbins in UMass' win Sunday. The Minutemen will have to continue to look to Lalanne when they travel to La Salle Wednesday.
AMHERST – Coach Derek Kellogg has an idea of what he wants his University of Massachusetts basketball team’s identity to be: a high-pressure, fast-paced squad that generates easy layups, open 3-pointers and highlight-reel alley-oops.
But sometimes identities have to change. Personnel, injuries and matchups can dictate necessary tweaks to a game plan.
The Minutemen aren’t going to toss away Kellogg’s fundamental beliefs about the press or offensive tempo, but anyone who says they thought two months ago the key to UMass winning games was going to be pounding the ball in the post is lying.
Yet here we are, and more importantly, that’s where Kellogg and the Minutemen find themselves entering a road test at La Salle.
Between the Explorers’ penchant for using guard-heavy lineups to wreak havoc with pressure defense and UMass’ inability to use its own three-guard sets for long stretches because of injuries, Kellogg’s Minutemen have virtually no choice but to try to exploit the softer interior of La Salle.
“We’d like to get the ball inside,” Kellogg said. “When teams overextend and press that way, you’ve got to either beat them off the bounce or get inside, or you have to offensive rebound. … That’ll be the goal for us – to do all three. And if you can do two out of three, I think that gives you a chance to win the game.”
Cady Lalanne’s emergence as a consistent threat down low has opened up new options to Kellogg, and he showed he was willing to use them in the second half of Sunday’s win over Richmond, when Lalanne led the team in field-goal attempts (7), makes (5) and points (11).
“That was our second-half strategy, just to throw it into the post,” Lalanne said. “It’s the same scenario with La Salle.”
Lalanne has proven he knows what to do with the ball once he gets it, but getting it there against La Salle’s pressure is another story.
“They try to get you to where you can’t because of their pressure, and our job will be to get it to the rim or get inside,” Kellogg said.
Much of that duty will fall on point guard Chaz Williams, who had a season-high seven turnovers Sunday, but says he’s confident he’ll be able to get the ball down low where Lalanne can make things happen.
“Cady is going to create space as Cady creates space, and as long as he creates space and opens his hands up, we should be able to get him the ball wherever he wants without any problems,” Williams said. “We should be able to handle their pressure. We’ve seen pressure throughout the year; it’s nothing new to us.”
Lalanne referenced the fundamentals of post play – sealing off his defender, then ducking him to get to the rim – as his biggest focal points heading into Wednesday.
“I have to make sure I seal and duck them in to create space so (my teammates) have a chance to throw it in,” Lalanne said. “That will be my job the whole game pretty much.”
Good fundamental post play might not be the kind of high-octane basketball UMass has become accustomed to, but Wednesday, it also might be its only chance.
“Their defensive pressure and the way they can switch everything and really get out and create havoc and turnovers I think is really what makes them better than even their offense,” Kellogg said. “It’s kind of a tough matchup for us because of style of play.”