A huge second half propelled UMKC basketball to its third straight win on ‘Retro Roo Night’ at Municipal Auditorium against Seattle, 75-55, while completing a perfect WAC home stand.
“I was really proud of our guys tonight, we talk about playing fearlessly, and I think we did a good job of doing that,” Head Coach Kareem Richardson said. “I felt like we had to speed the game up (and we played a four-guard lineup) for two things; to get more shooters in the game against their zone and so we could press a little more and cause some havoc.”
The plan worked, as the ‘Roos UMKC (8-13, 3-1 WAC) hit a season-high 12 threes (nine in the second half), and matched a season-best with 20 assists on 25 made shots. They also forced Seattle (10-9, 3-2 WAC) into 22 turnovers, including 14 in the second half. UMKC scored 32 points off those turnovers and out-scored the Redhawks 51-30 in the second half.
The ‘Roos played offense like Lee Hunt’s 1991-92 UMKC team that was in attendance Saturday, after being inducted into the Hall of Fame the night before. UMKC’s only NBA draft pick, Tony Dumas, was in attendance as a member of that team.
The opening half was about as close as it gets, with seven lead changes and four ties. UMKC held the largest lead for either team, at four points.
The final rally came from Seattle, who got a three from Jarell Flora with 3:41 on the clock to make it a two-point advantage for the guests. The ‘Roos hit a jumper with 2:18 on the clock to cut it to 25-24 in favor of the Redhawks, and that was the last point of the half for either team.
The ‘Roos shot 36 percent in the half, attempting 16 three-pointers of 28 shots against the Seattle zone, and hit only three of them. The Redhawks, meanwhile, who lead the league in threes made per game, shot only seven threes, making three. SU also had a 20-14 advantage on the glass. Flora led all scorers with 12 at the half, while UMKC was paced by seven from Martez Harrison.
UMKC took a few minutes to get warmed up in that final stanza, trailing by as many as eight in the opening four minutes, but they turned up the heat from there, forcing turnover after turnover, and making Seattle pay with open threes off good ball movement. At the 12:07 mark, a three by Harrison gave the ‘Roos a 43-42 lead. It was the mid-point of a 20-3 run that eventually put UMKC up 10 with 9:08 on the clock.
The ‘Roos didn’t let up from there, withstanding a small Seattle push to get it back to seven after being up 13. They came back with a rally to get the margin to 15 with 3:46 to play, and it was virtually over from there, getting a few shot-clock beating buzzers to make the score worse than the competitive game it was.
Harrison finished with 23 points, five assists and three steals, while Collin Jennings matched his career-high with 11 points (3-6 from 3-point range). Six different ‘Roos hit threes in the game. Seattle got 41 of its 55 points from leading scorers Isiah Umipig and Flora.
UMKC will hit the road for a pair of games this week, starting with Grand Canyon on Thursday night at 8 p.m. CT, followed by a Saturday contest against defending regular season champion Utah Valley at 9:30 p.m. CT, a game that will be nationally televised on the American Sports Network.