Some games you can’t explain. Some games best just let the numbers do the talking. Wednesday night in the Bronx will do as an example.
Massachusetts 120, Fordham 118, triple overtime.
Except, there’s a lot more to it than that. A parade of stats you don’t see every night, or every week, or every month.
Senior guard Rahsool Diggins had 46 points for UMass. Fellow senior Daniel Rivera had 29. The rest of the Minutemen starting lineup had eight.
Senior guard Jackie Johnson III had 36 points for Fordham. Graduate guard Japhet Medor had 25. The rest of the Rams’ starting lineup had 18.
Diggins’ 46 points were the most ever by a visiting player to Fordham’s Rose Hill Gym. The old record of 37 was set in 1970 by a name who might ring a bell. Julius Erving.
No game in the history of Rose Hill had ever produced 238 points. No Fordham game had ever gone three overtimes there. Why is all that a big deal? Thursday is Rose Hill’s 100th anniversary. They rang out the 99th year in unforgettable style.
UMASS TIES IT!!
OVERTIME AT ROSE HILL! pic.twitter.com/nvqI0c80e4
— Atlantic 10 MBB (@A10MBB) January 16, 2025
The two teams who put up a 120-118 result went into the game 215th and 225th in the nation in scoring.
Nine players fouled out. Four others had four fouls at the end.
There were 122 free throws attempted. That comes out to 2.2 free throws every minute.
Fordham scored 48 points from the free throw line. That’s five more points than then-No. 1 Tennessee scored total at Florida.
Fordham scored 118 points and shot 35.3 percent. Massachusetts scored 120 points and missed 20 free throws.
The Massachusetts vs. Fordham game had the most free throw attempts in a D-I game since 1996-97 AND the most combined personal fouls since 2017 😳 pic.twitter.com/xj7sJurkTG
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 16, 2025
To get his 36 points for Fordham, Johnson put up 18 3-point attempts. He missed 14.
There were a combined 66 field goals, but only 26 assists.
There were 119 rebounds and 57 second chance points.
There were 76 points just from the two benches.
Romad Dean scored six points for Fordham. All six came in the final three seconds of the first overtime. With the Rams down 97-92, he hit a 3-pointer with 3 seconds left. It’s the only trey he’s made in three games. After Diggins made one of two from the line to put the lead at 98-95 with one second left, Dean launched a last-ditch halfcourt prayer that was off. Game over.
Except it wasn’t. Dean was fouled. Three free throws to save the night and he made them all, sending he game into a second overtime.
UMass led by as many as 12 midway through the second half, and Fordham did not have its first lead until the final five minutes of regulation, but the fun was getting barely started. There were eight lead changes the last 20 minutes of play — and 80 points were scored in the three overtimes.
It was an effort worthy of a fight for the Atlantic 10 lead. Except UMass is tied for 11th in the conference and Fordham is last and neither has a record above .500. But they took centerstage for one night and they had it for a while.
The game started at 7 p.m. It wasn’t over until nearly 10:45.
