Derek Kellogg
FILE PHOTO -- UMass coach Derek Kellogg looks on during practice on Oct. 9, 2014.
(Daniel Malone/MassLive.com)
AMHERST – In the cluttered hallway of the sparkling new Champions Center practice facility – so new that the building isn't technically finished, actually – University of Massachusetts basketball coach Derek Kellogg met with reporters Monday for the first time this season.
Behind Kellogg, through the glass doors leading to one of the facility's bright new practice courts, the rest of the Minutemen warmed up with a shoot around just like normal. The location may have changed, but not much else will when it comes to day-to-day basketball activities.
Kellogg, returning for his eighth season as head coach with UMass, was ready to get going after a busy offseason that saw the team travel to Europe and make national waves on the recruiting front.
"I'm excited and I think they guys are ready," he said. "They're tired of doing individual work and strength training. I think they want to get after practice. It's going to be interesting to see where we're at at this stage compared to years past with so many new faces and different guys filling in different spots."
Waiting on Pipkins
One player who may or may not be counted on step up in a new role is incoming freshman Luwane Pipkins. While Pipkins was in the building Monday for an individual workout in the fitness center, he did not practice, as has been the case all summer.
According to Kellogg, it's still unknown when Pipkins will be cleared to start practicing. Like with Malik Hines and Rashaan Holloway last fall, the freshman point guard's eligibility status has still yet to be ruled on by the NCAA Clearinghouse.
"He hasn't been deemed anything yet by the eligibility center. So right now, it's in limbo," Kellogg said, joking that Pipkins has been out "running the hills of Amherst on his own" to keep in shape.
"We'll be patient," he said. "There are some things that they're waiting on from high school, things of that nature."
Injury updates
Monday's afternoon session was originally supposed to take place Saturday morning and then, after being postponed, on Sunday.
Kellogg said recent, minor injuries to both Hines and redshirt sophomore Seth Berger,
"We pushed back a few days of practice because Malik, going through just some easy individual work on Friday, tweaked his knee. He was going to be out two and a half days, maybe even into today's practice," he said. "I thought with Seth being out – he hurt himself in a pickup game – and then Malik being out because of his knee the other day, it didn't make sense to have two players who are going to be big parts of what we do not able to practice."
Kellogg said Hines would be limited in practice Monday while Berger would "probably be out all week until we come back after the break."
Berger, who missed the final 24 games of last season with a stress fracture in his left foot, ran through shoot around and positional drills without any sort of limp or brace.
In general, Kellogg plans to be cautious with the team's injury situations, such as that of Zach Coleman, who underwent knee surgery during the offseason.
"We'll ease him into it," Kellogg said of the sophomore forward who averaged 2.5 points and 1.9 rebounds in a reserve role last season. "I think he's ready and he's committed mentally. It's just, physically, I want to make sure he can get through a whole practice.
"Right now, whether it's Rashaan with his size or Zach or somebody with injuries, I want to make sure everybody's healthy and ready to go."
Holloway is further removed from a surgical procedure done on his knee back in January, but the 6-foot-10 big man is still being monitored by the coaching staff because of his weight and inexperience with playing for long stretches at a time. Though he's visibly slimmed down from a year ago, Kellogg said Holloway has to work on just keeping up with pace of play for now.
"He has something that we haven't had in a while, which is a huge presence in the paint. He's highly skilled, but can he keep up with how we want to play? That's really the question," he said. "He's done it for short bursts. And when I say short, I mean very short bursts at this point. Now we're going to see if we can elongate some of those bursts. He does have a chance to be a good player here if he can get himself in the kind of condition that we need him in."
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