Chaz Williams Saves 15-1 Minutemen in 88-87 Win at George Mason

College Hoops Player of the Day for Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Massachusetts improved to 15-1 Wednesday, squeezing out a win at George Mason University, 88-87, thanks to some late-game heroics from Chaz Williams and game-high 26 points by their 5'9" senior star.

Down five points with 41 seconds left to play, Williams scored five quick points for the Minutemen while the Patriots could only muster one, but UMass still found themselves down by a point with time running out. A steal by Williams with 11 seconds left provided a breakaway chance, but Williams missed a contested layup, which was rebounded and put back by teammate Derrick Gordon for the one-point advantage.

The Patriots still had eight seconds with which to work, but could not get off a shot as time expired, sending the Patriots to their third straight Atlantic-10 loss without a win.

On the other hand, the Minutemen went to 3-0 with their first road win in conference play after topping St. Jpseph's and St. Bonaventure at home last week.

Tied for game-high scoring honors by Sherrod Wright of George Mason, Williams did much more than simply put the ball through the rim. He was 11-for-17 overall and 2-for-4 from three point range, adding a pair of free throws to his scoring total. In addition, he collected two rebounds, distributed eight assists and made five steals. It was the 14th time in 16 games that he's scored in double figures this season.

Ranked 16th in the current poll, the Minutemen have some nice wins on their resume, including victories over Boston College, New Mexico, Miami and BYU. Their only loss was to Florida State, a 60-55 defeat on December 21.

The next two weeks will be challenging for the Minutemen, as they have four of five games on the road, including conference games at Richmond and return match-ups at St. Joseph's and St. Bonaventure.

With 32 Points, 15 Assists, Chaz Williams Sends UMass to 8-0 Mark

College Hoops Player of the Day for Saturday, December 7, 2013

With a 105-96 win over BYU, the Massachusetts Minutemen are off to an 8-0 start, their best since the 1995-96 season when they went 26-0 before taking a loss.

Senior point guard, Chaz Williams, was, as usual, the smallest player on the court, but put larger foes to shame with career highs in points and assists, scoring 32 while dishing 15 times to teammates.

Williams was 9-for-14 overall, including 5-for-7 from three-point range, making all nine of his free throw attempts. The Cougars took an early lead, but that was quickly erased by Massachusetts by the midpoint of the first half. Once they had the lead, the Minutemen did not give it up, leading by as many as 17 points in the second half.

Ranked 21 last week, UMass figures to move up when the new poll is released on Monday. They've already topped a couple of ACC teams (Boston College and Clemson) and have a win over a ranked opponent, beating then-#19 New Mexico, 81-65, two weeks ago.

Last season, the Minutemen were knocked out of the NIT tournament by Stony Brook, 71-58, but are clearly looking for an NCAA tourney appearance this time around.

Conference Tournaments UPDATE early games 3/9/12

Big Ten: Michigan State 92 Iowa 75 - Shooting 70%, the Spartans led by as many as 19 in the first half, and 28 in the second half, easily dispatching the Hawkeyes in a Big Ten quarterfinal contest. Draymond Green had his usual all-around game, leading the scoring column with 21 points and hauling in nine rebounds.

Atlantic 10: Massachusetts 77 Temple 71 - UMass erased a five point halftime deficit with an early second half burst and outplayed the Owls down the stretch, pulling off one of the bigger upsets of the conference tourney week. Jesse Morgan led the scoring parade with 21 points, while Chas Williams had 20 points and 10 assists for the 22-10 Minutemen. After going 9-7 in A-10 play during the regular season UMass advances to the tourney semi-final . Temple, which won the conference with a 13-3 record (24-6 overall), probably will still get an NCAA bid, but they'll be on pins and needles until shortly after 6:00 pm ET Sunday.

ACC: North Carolina 85 Maryland 69 - The #4 Tar Heels had little trouble taking out Maryland, but got a bit of a scare when forward John Henson landed hard and suffered a wrist injury to his non-shooting hand. Henson returned for a bit, but played only seven minutes overall, though the injury did not appear to be serious. Kendall Marshall went for 13 points and 15 assists, breaking the all-time ACC single season assist record in the process.