CLEVELAND – Stare at the Massachusetts men’s basketball team’s KenPom page for just a moment, and a streak of red will jump out.
It’s the period from Feb. 7 to Mar. 3. UMass (17-15, 7-11 Mid-American) played six games in that time, and it lost the first five by a combined 24 points. Time and time again – no matter who the opponent was – the Minutemen got tossed into the fire, and they came up just short. Ball State came back from a double-digit deficit, Bowling Green turned a 14-point deficit into a 19-point win, Coastal Carolina hit more big shots when it mattered most. All were losses for the maroon and white.
With the season on the line, Thursday was different. Nobody wilted when the eight seed fell behind by 11 with 8:33 to go. This time, it was UMass who was the better team, building until it had its first close win in nearly a month and a half.
“Those guys haven’t gone away [against adversity],” head coach Frank Martin said. “They keep coming in … These guys care. They care about UMass. They care about the place that’s given them a home.”
In most stories, it takes a couple unlikely happenings for David to slay Goliath. The Minutemen needed a couple of those heroes once they took the lead with 3:54 to go.
Daniel Hankins-Sanford: an 11-point scorer who missed the last three games. Up one, Ndjigue found the North Carolina transplant on the left side for an 11-foot jumper.
That shot has transformed into a relic of days past for Hankins-Sanford this season. The senior has dropped from a 47% midrange shooter to 40% in 2025-26, crippling his already-limited offensive upside. The look was wide open, but many basketball players know that this shot – taken from the side with no backboard help – is deceivingly tricky. Trends aside, this ball went in.
Luka Damjanac: a two-point scorer in 11 minutes per game. Over the past month and a half, the sophomore big man has been a weak point for UMass. When Leonardo Bettiol got into foul trouble, the Austrian had been brought in, but his footwork and defense led to him even surrendering part of that role.
One game that hurt Damjanac’s case for playing time: Feb. 17, a home date against No. 20 Miami (OH). In a matter of a few minutes, the sophomore turned the ball over and got exposed multiple times on defense by Almar Atlason. Those plays led to Bettiol coming back in the game with 4:59 to go: he fouled out two minutes later, and the Minutemen lost.
Flash forward to the 2:38 mark of Thursday’s game. If it was tough for Damjanac to perform in front of the Mullins Center, playing in an NBA arena with the season on the line isn’t any easier. UMass needed a response to Luke Skaljac’s game-tying three, and an airballed K’Jei Parker layup wasn’t going to do the trick.
Damjanac came down with the ball on the other side of the basket, and pivoted and pivoted until the RedHawks (31-1, 18-0 MAC) backed away from the big man. His now-open post hook fell through the net. Those two points might not have meant much in the grand scheme of the game, but in that moment, Damjanac was the Minutemen’s savior.
“[Damjanac] went in and he did his job for a couple plays,” Martin said. “[I told the team] ‘Don’t get in your feelings because you hadn’t played’ … Give those guys credit, they did their part.”
Jayden Ndjigue: a six-point scorer with five rebounds a night. His numbers ballooned to 16 and eight against Miami (OH), and 14 of his points came in the second half. Most of the junior’s late baskets came the same way: he drove to the six-foot mark, rose up and hit a baby hook shot. Why get away from what works? His teammates certainly weren’t complaining.
When UMass was down 69-60, 71-69 and 74-71, Ndjigue made sure his team kept building. Whether he was fouled or the defense was clean, the swish was the same. This was a new-look player stepping up for a new-look team.
The shine carried over to the Minutemen’s late-game defense. The RedHawks were on a fast break with 4:10 left, looking to snatch back a multi-possession lead. Eian Elmer looked for Peter Suder in the corner, but K’Jei Parker – who has a season defensive box plus-minus of -0.8 – recovered well and jumped the passing lane.
In an even bigger defensive spot – up two with 1:59 left – UMass put in 23 seconds of good defensive synergy. Screens were communicated well and help defenders zoomed to their spots. Luke Skaljac wound up creating space for a good mid-range look, but he missed a shot that wasn’t Miami (OH)’s plan A or B on the possession.
“At the end, you got to buckle down,” Martin said. “The other thing we spoke about [late] was, we don’t need a hero. We need our team … and they were great that way.”
In the next 24-48 hours, more adversity will fly in the face of Martin’s squad. It’s very likely that the team will be in another tight game late, needing to rely on heart and grit to extend its season. How likely is it that the Minutemen pull out another late win after so many soul-crushing losses?
Does that question even matter?
If 100 college basketball coaches were told the scenario Thursday – that the 31-0 RedHawks were deadlocked with UMass late – 95 of them would probably predict that the No. 1 seed survives. UMass flipped the script.
Dean Wendel can be reached at [email protected] and followed on X @DeanWende1.
