AMHERST – UMass women’s basketball head coach Tory Verdi took a moment to collect his thoughts before giving his opening statement after a 75-68 loss to Rhode Island on Wednesday night at the Mullins Center.

Nothing seemed to go right for the Minutewomen. They were out-rebounded, whistled for two technical fouls, committed 16 turnovers and led the game for just four and a half minutes. 

The message from Verdi was clear in the postgame – the Rams wanted it more. 

“Right now, they’re the better program, no question in my mind. Really disappointed with who we were tonight,” Verdi said. “We got our butts kicked in every facet. We got our butts kicked on the floor. We got our butts kicked, I got my butt kicked.” 

There have been moments in the season where UMass hasn’t played its usual brand of basketball. But Wednesday was a wake-up call of epic proportions. The Minutewomen (11-4, 1-1) looked like they were undergoing a full-blown identity crisis.

“If you can find the silver lining, it’s that we'll learn from it. Maybe we needed to be knocked down a peg,” Verdi said. “But I'm moving forward. I know that I gotta make some personnel changes. I’ve got to play more people, because defensively we're not playing well.” 

Verdi wasn’t happy with his team’s play as a whole, but he also made a point to call out certain players in the postgame. 

“Destiney Philoxy had seven turnovers. We can’t have that. We can’t,” Verdi said. “We need some more production from some folks. Angelique [Ngalakulondi] needs to give us some more. She can't play 19 minutes and only have three rebounds for us. We’ve got to be able to catch the ball. We’ve got to be able to finish around the basket…. Sydney Taylor needs to play better on both sides of the ball.” 

Sam Breen was one of the lone bright spots, picking up her 48th career double-double with 20 points and 13 rebounds; no other player had more than three boards. 

The Minutewomen got off to another sluggish start in the first quarter. UMass has been struggling starting games at home, needing a quarter or more to get its feet under them. Rhode Island took full advantage of that on Wednesday, outscoring the Minutewomen 19-7 while shooting at nearly a 50 percent clip. Within the first five minutes, UMass had four turnovers and went 1-for-7 from the three-point arc, in addition to a technical foul called on Makennah White. 

“I feel like we're not making bad plays or anything, we're just not completing the right play. We're making the right play, we're just not completing the pass,” Breen said. “Some of them are unforced like stepping out of bounds type things, that doesn't happen too often. I feel like we're trying to make nice passes and rushing a little bit so they're not really getting there.”

UMass played streaky basketball the remainder of the game. The team bounced back in the second quarter, knocking down 22 points to pull back within two points by the half. Rhode Island held a 31-29 lead after the first two quarters. 

It looked like the Minutewomen had gotten back to their usual selves in the third period. While the basketball was still sloppy at times, UMass was offensively firing on all cylinders, shooting 62.5 percent from the floor and getting 16 of its 24 points from the paint. They even managed to out-rebound the Rams, grabbing seven boards to Rhode Island’s six. They retook the lead late in the third, outscoring Rhode Island 13-5 in the last 5:16 to head into the final frame up 53-51. 

It wouldn’t last for the home team. UMass collapsed in the fourth quarter while Rhode Island blew past it. Sophie Phillips hit three triples and Sayawni Lassiter sank two threes and a jumper; Madison Hattix-Covington hit a sixth three-pointer to give the Rams 18 points from behind the arc. The visitors outscored UMass 24-15 in the last frame, putting the game far out of reach and slowly silencing the Mullins Center. By game’s end, there were dejected looks throughout the UMass bench.

“I would just say we missed shots,” Ber’Nyah Mayo said on the team’s hot and cold shooting in the fourth. “I’d have to go back and really watch it, but in my opinion I would say we just missed shots.” 

UMass will travel to the Windy City to face Loyola Chicago on Saturday at 3 p.m. If Wednesday’s game was any indication, there may be some lineup changes for that contest. Whatever happens, one thing is clear – the Minutewomen need to figure who they are as a team again, and quickly.

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