Coming off three straight home wins, the Massachusetts men’s basketball team gears up for its first Commonwealth Classic since 2014. The 48th meeting between UMass (6-3) and its in-state rival, Boston College, will be played at the MassMutual Center in Springfield on Dec. 10. The Eagles (5-5) lead the head-to-head series 26-21 all-time.
“Having the two highest profile programs in the state play each other, I think it’s a positive,” head coach Frank Martin said. “I hope the game is great, that way both schools can say ‘You know what, we need to keep doing this.’”
Head coach Earl Grant’s Boston College team has had a rough start to its ‘25-’26 campaign. The Eagles have struggled to close out games, with three of their five losses involving overtime and a fourth coming by only one point. They’ve also been unable to put away low-major schools, having lost to 294th ranked Central Connecticut State (who the Minutemen beat by seven) and barely surviving against 339th New Haven in their most recent game.
Boston College has had a tough time finding consistent scoring. One of the only players Grant returned from last year’s team was leading scorer Donald Hand Jr., a springy 6-foot-5 shooting guard with a nose for the rim. Expected to shoulder a major part of the offense, Hand Jr. is leading his team scoring again this year, but doing so remarkably inefficiently, shooting only 33% from the field, 68% from the free throw line and a dismal 19% from three.
The problems don’t stem just from Hand. The Eagles shoot the three at the 71st highest rate in the country, but connect at 301st highest rate, only 29% as a team. The offense, which has a bottom-50 assist rate in the country and is similarly low in tempo, often relies on getting the ball to Hand Jr. in the half-court and having him make a play, but the lack of spacing allows opponents to hone in on the junior and deny him space to operate.
Earl Grant’s defensive scheme, on the other hand, has looked good bordering on great and is the primary reason they’ve been able to stay in games against top schools such as LSU. That slow-paced offense prevents them from turning the ball over much, limiting opponent’s opportunities to get out in transition. In the half-court, they’ve got athletic wings who run shooters off the 3-point line and funnel them down low, where prolific shot blockers Aidan Shaw and Jayden Hastings lie waiting. Boston College is elite in almost every defensive analytic that matters, including being 15th in defensive 3-point percentage, 10th in defensive rebounding percentage, 34th in block percentage and 20th in defensive field goal percentage.
There are a few key points for the UMass to come off with a win in its toughest matchup of the year so far. Limiting Hand Jr. will be a vital assignment for Jayden Ndjigue. The Minutemen haven’t faced much premier perimeter talent, and they’ve had trouble with what they have seen: Harvard guard Robert Hinton, who exploded for a 31-point second half earlier this year. Pushing the pace will also give them an advantage, getting the Eagles out of their comfort zone and allowing UMass to free up shooters like Marcus Banks Jr. and K’Jei Parker. Lastly, rebounding has been a common theme in Minutemen wins so far this year, and generating extra shots will be crucial on Wednesday.
The game will tip off at 7 p.m. in Springfield on Wednesday, Dec. 10 and be available to watch on ESPNU.
Coleman Smith-Rakoff can be reached at [email protected]
