GAME NOTES: Starting the season with back-to-back wins, the Massachusetts Minutemen will go for their third victory in a row as they host the Manhattan Jaspers in non-conference action as part of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Tip-Off event at Mullins Center.

Manhattan opened its season on the road against the ACC's Florida State Seminoles and was manhandled, 81-66, in the loss. The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference program must recover from losing some key components to its NCAA Tournament-appearance squad from a season ago.

UMass opened the new season with a win over Siena, and then overcame a halftime deficit to defeat Boston College at TD Garden in Boston as part of the Coaches vs. Cancer Tripleheader.

The Minutemen have dominated the all-time series against Manhattan, leading 6-1 in the seven matches between the two programs all-time. The last meeting between these schools took place back in the 1993-94 campaign.

The Jaspers finished the 2013-14 season with the most overall wins by any MAAC school, attaining a 25-8 record with a second-place finish in the conference at 15-5 behind Iona. But it was Manhattan that earned the MAAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament after the Jaspers took down the Gaels in the conference tournament in March. But the offseason hit Manhattan hard, wiping out the team's top three scorers from last season (George Beamon, Michael Alvarado and Rhamel Brown). Emmy Andujar is the top returning player for the Jaspers after averaging 8.6 points and 5.3 rebounds per game last season.

Manhattan had a difficult time slowing Florida State's offense in the team's season-opening loss to the Seminoles on the road. FSU shot 57.5 percent from the floor in the contest, and made an astounding 44 trips to the free-throw line (making 32 of the tries). Shane Richards led the Jaspers with 17 points, while Ashton Pankey chipped in with 14 points and seven rebounds, while also giving the ball away six times. As a unit, Manhattan doled out 21 turnovers against just eight assists, so the mistakes need to stop going forward.

Maxie Esho scored 23 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead UMass in a come- from-behind effort over Boston College Sunday. Cady Lalanne notched a double- double with 11 points and 10 rebounds, while Derrick Gordon poured in 15 points with five turnovers. One of the only things that didn't go UMass' way in the win was shots from 3-point distance. The Minutemen couldn't get any of their three attempts to fall.

Esho is off to an extremely strong start through the team's first two games, averaging 22.0 ppg and scoring at least 21 in both contests played. Trey Davis is averaging 16.5 ppg, Gordon is netting 16.0 ppg and Lalanne averages 13.0 ppg through the first two games. Lalanne is averaging a double-double with 10.0 rpg. The Minutemen will likely miss Chaz Williams this season when it comes to needing a solid, reliable scorer, but other players will start to step up, including Esho.

After just one game, it's clear the new-look Jaspers are going to need a few more practices and games to figure out which players are going to work best with whom. But 21 turnovers to eight assists is unacceptable, and the team knows that. UMass is riding high with two straight wins and a very likeable matchup with Manhattan standing in the way of a 3-0 start.