Flint counting on Massenat to light Dragons' fire

Now that two of Drexel's injured players have returned to the lineup, point guard Frantz Massenat thinks maybe he can return to his earlier style of play - setting up good shots for his teammates and taking the occasional jump shot when needed.

But Bruiser Flint will have none of that.

"He's like, 'We're getting everybody back, I don't have to do this,' " the Dragons coach said. "And I said, 'No, I want you to do as much as you possibly can, keep with that attacking mentality. You might not have to get 30 points, but keep with that mentality, be on the attack, and have things open up for the other guys on the team.'"

Massenat has played otherworldly basketball since injuries sidelined Damian Lee for the season and Tavon Allen and Kazembe Abif for a long stretch. In Drexel's win at Hofstra on Jan. 29, the 6-foot-4 senior scored a career-high 32 points, handed out nine assists, and didn't commit a single turnover.

In Colonial Athletic Association play (nine games), Massenat leads the league in scoring (22.3 points per game), assists (6.3), and assist-turnover ratio (4.1). He shoots 78.3 percent from the line, and his average of 9.2 free-throw attempts is second.

"He's having as good a league season as you can possibly have, not only scoring but assists," Flint said. "We've been playing shorthanded, and he's really had to carry us. He knows he has two or three guys on him every time he has the ball. Frantz is playing unbelievable basketball right now."

James Bell has found the range from beyond the three-point arc, and sixth-ranked Villanova is reaping the benefits.

In his last six games, the 6-foot-6 senior has averaged 21.3 points, shooting 53.2 percent from the floor (42 of 79) and 48.1 percent from distance (26 of 54), while averaging 4.3 threes.

Bell was hampered by injuries late in his high-school career and during his freshman season at Villanova, but now he is showing what Wildcats coach Jay Wright saw in him all along.

"Everybody kind of forgot about him, but we knew what we had," Wright said. "We just always thought if we could get him healthy, he's got great character and he's got talent."

Bell said his team is all about attitude and concentrating on the next play, not dwelling on mistakes. That was the case Monday night, when the Wildcats overcame a sluggish first half by scoring 53 points in the final 20 minutes of an 81-58 win over Xavier.

"If I'm open and I have a good look, [Wright] likes us to shoot it," he said. "But it wasn't even about the points. It was about us knowing what we were supposed to do as a team, and the points just came."

Jerrell Wright was a key contributor to La Salle's run through the NCAA tournament last year, averaging 10.8 points and 6.7 rebounds for the season and shooting 81.4 percent in the tournament.

Wright's scoring average has risen to 12 points this season, but his production has been down in Atlantic Ten Conference play. After averaging 13.8 points and 6.1 rebounds in nonconference action, he has accounted for just 8.6 points and 5.3 rebounds against A-10 opponents.

But coach John Giannini is pleased with how Wright, a 6-foot-8, 255-pound junior, has come along.

"We love Jerrell's progress," he said. "He's stronger. He's an even better scorer inside. We'd like to see him rebound defensively better. We'd certainly like to see him stay out of foul trouble.

"Overall, we love him, and, if anything, we just want to keep getting him the ball more, because we think he's a true go-to guy."

Wednesday night's game between St. Joseph's and 13th-ranked St. Louis provides an interesting matchup of arguably the two best passing big men in the A-10.

The Hawks' Halil Kanacevic, a 6-8 senior, is averaging 4.4 assists overall and 3.7 in conference play. Rob Loe, the Billikens' 6-11 senior, has dished out 3.1 assists per game against A-10 opponents.

"I put 'passer' in my scouting report [for Loe], and then I erased it, and I put 'great, great passer,' " St. Joe's coach Phil Martelli said. "I think it's fascinating how they use him. I think it's ingenious, and it's a challenge. He's 7-foot. We're not going to do anything about him initiating offense."

As for Kanacevic, Martelli says, "He does everything for us."

And he does mean everything.

"He runs our offense," he said. "He really runs our defense. He's full of suggestions for me as the game goes on. He helps the referees. He does a little bit of everything during the game."

At a ceremony last weekend that saw the unveiling of statues honoring Temple's pair of Hall of Fame coaches, Harry Litwack and John Chaney, current coach Fran Dunphy was cited for his "wisdom and vision" in suggesting statues as a tribute to the two men early on.

"Harry Litwack helped me when I went into the United States Army in 1970 and helped me immeasurably," Dunphy said. "I played against his teams and really valued how they guarded you and how good a coach he was.

"John Chaney's been a great friend, a great mentor, and somebody who I think is just a wonderful human being, who has done great things for so many people. You won't hear very much of it, because he won't talk about it."

Penn coach Jerome Allen has mixed and matched his starting lineups to find a combination that will provide a spark to his team.

In the Quakers' first back-to-back Ivy League games of the season last weekend, he went with the same starters - Fran Dougherty, Miles Jackson-Cartwright, Darien Nelson-Henry, Tony Hicks, and Jamal Lewis - both nights, but it wasn't enough to keep them from losing to Dartmouth and Harvard.

Nine players have made at least two starts for Penn this season. Allen has tried eight starting lineups, with the only constant being Dougherty, who has started all of Penn's 17 games.

 Saturday vs. James Madison, 2 p.m.

Former St. Joseph's assistant Matt Brady is in his sixth season as head coach of the Dukes, who play low-scoring games with the emphasis on defense. They are 3-5 in the CAA, but six of those games were decided by five points or fewer.

 Wednesday at Massachusetts, 7 p.m.

The Minutemen have to be a little miffed after they went from 19th in the nation last week to not receiving a single top-25 vote this week, after a pair of road losses. The Explorers guards must control player-of-the-year candidate Chaz Williams, who averages 15.7 points and 7.4 assists.

Saturday vs. St. Louis, 5 p.m.

The Billikens are the best defensive team in the conference in terms of statistics - first in scoring defense (59 points allowed per game) and field-goal percentage defense (39).

 Friday vs. Cornell, 7 p.m.

The Big Red have fallen on hard times, entering the weekend with a 1-17 record and winless in four Ivy League contests.

Saturday vs. Columbia, 7 p.m.

The Lions are 2-2 in the league, a half-game up on the Quakers. They rely on three-point shooting, ranking second at eight three-point baskets per game while shooting 38.8 percent from beyond the arc.

 Wednesday vs. St. Louis, 7 p.m.

The only good thing about the Hawks' week against two of the Atlantic Ten's best teams is that they're playing at Hagan Arena. The Billikens are the highest-ranked A-10 team at No. 13.

Saturday vs. Virginia Commonwealth, 8 p.m.

The Rams bring their "havoc" defense to Hawk Hill, sporting league-leading figures of 19.3 turnovers forced and 11.8 steals per game and the top man in steals, Briante Weber, at 3.9.

 Thursday at Southern Methodist, 8 p.m.

The Owls begin a Texas swing by meeting up with the Mustangs, coached by former 76ers mentor Larry Brown. Philadelphia's Markus Kennedy, who began his college career at Villanova, is the American Athletic's top rebounder in league games with a 9.6 average.

Sunday at Houston, 2 p.m.

The Cougars are in the bottom half of the conference standings, but they boast one of the AAC's top players in junior TaShawn Thomas, who averages 15.9 points.

 Friday vs. Seton Hall, 7 p.m.

This marks the only time this season that the Wildcats play back-to-back Big East games at the Pavilion. They posted an 83-67 victory over the Pirates in their first meeting on Jan. 8, but Seton Hall has welcomed back key starters Fuquan Edwin and Eugene Teague, neither of whom played against 'Nova last month.