For Massachusetts, Josh Cohen is Beyond Welcomed

UMass' newest piece is a big get- in more ways than one

One of the most unheralded big men in all the country, Josh Cohen will look to replicate his success in recent years at Saint Francis (PA) at Massachusetts | SFA Athletics

It was a tale of two seasons for the University of Massachusetts Minutemen in 2022-23.

After bringing in longtime South Carolina head coach Frank Martin to lead the men’s basketball program following a parting of ways with Matt McCall, the program looked back on track. After all, Martin is beloved in the industry and has an extensive coaching resume to fall back on.

The team got off to a hot start, beginning the year 7-1, including a big win 66-63 over an uber-talented Colorado team back on November 17th, 2022. By the time the calendar turned to 2023, the Minutemen were 9-4 and seemed to be receiving some national attention on the mid-major scale.

However, things turned sour for Massachusetts soon after. Martin’s team went 6-12 the rest of the way, including an embarrassing, season-ending 71-38 loss to Richmond in the first round of the Atlantic 10 conference tournament in which the team shot 14/47 (29.8%) from two-point range and only 1/16 (6.2%) from three.

This poor shooting performance, however, was not an isolated occurrence. The Minutemen were amongst the least efficient offensive teams in the country following their hot start. On the season, UMass was 321st in team field goal percentage, knocking down 775 of their 1,868 attempts for a 41.5% clip. Additionally, the team was 340th in the NCAA this past season in two-point percentage, shooting 593/1,313 on the year for a 45.2% mark.

To further put things into perspective, the D-I average for two-point shooting this past year was 50.1%- meaning the Minutemen were almost five percentage points behind the NCAA average. In short, one doesn’t need to be much of a statistician to understand how alarming that disparity is.

Thus, a clear point of emphasis for the Minutemen in Year 2 of the Frank Martin experiment was an interior big- and that’s what they got when they landed former Saint Francis (PA) star Josh Cohen via the transfer portal on April 6th. At 6’10”, 220 pounds, the big man out of Lincroft, New Jersey, chose the Minutemen out of a group of finalists which included Iowa, Santa Clara, and Penn State, in addition to the numerous other Power 5 schools who reached out to him.

Cohen played high school basketball at Christian Brothers Academy in Albany, New York, where he would eclipse 1,000 total points for his career. Despite being an unranked recruit, he enrolled at Saint Francis in early June of 2019 following a senior season in which he averaged 21 points per game.

Cohen opted to redshirt the 2019-20 season, although he would appear in 21 contests (2 of which he started) for Saint Francis in 2020-21. He averaged 5.7 points and 4.6 rebounds a night on 65.3% (49/75) shooting from the floor on 13.8 minutes per game.

The following season, however, Cohen’s playing time rose. He appeared in 26 contests during the 2021-22 season, making 14 starts on 25.9 minutes a night. In a bigger role, Cohen contributed per game averages of 12.9 points and 7 rebounds on 57.5% shooting (126/219). He also registered 5 double-doubles on the season en route to being named the Northeastern Conference’s (NEC) Most Improved Player award at year’s end.

But it was this past season in which Cohen truly shined. He was named the NEC Player of the Year after a season in which he scored 21.8 points (top 10 in Division I) and 8.3 rebounds per game on 58.5% shooting from the floor. Such impressive stats for Cohen were aided by his high usage, as he started all 31 of the team’s contests, averaging 33.8 minutes a night.

He registered double-digit scoring figures in all 31 games, including seven double-doubles with two separate 40-point outbursts. The first came in an 82-76 loss to Lehigh on November 21st, 2022, with Cohen shooting 15 for 19 from the floor. A few weeks later, on December 11th, he hit the mark again, this time going 16/23 from the floor in a 90-66 loss to Hawaii.

Cohen’s role on the Minutemen should be rather sizable for the upcoming 2023-24 season. As of the time of this article, UMass has lost seven players who played sizable minutes during Frank Martin’s inaugural season with the program. Veterans Isaac Kante and Brandon Martin are set to graduate this spring, and five other players have thrown their names in the transfer portal, among them being a pair of veterans in the versatile wing Dyondre Dominguez and sharpshooter Noah Fernandes- both of whom have found new homes at Arkansas State and Rutgers, respectively- as well as veteran scorer T.J. Weeks and uber-talented freshmen Tafara Gapare and RJ Luis.

Considering the uncertainty surrounding UMass’ roster, Cohen’s offensive capabilities will be crucial. His size and touch near the rim immediately make him an intriguing option on the low block. In 2022-23, Cohen scored 374 points on 340 post-up opportunities; the Minutemen- as a team- had only 217 points on 245 such chances.

Furthermore, his steady veteran presence should immensely benefit an otherwise young Massachusetts team, with the likes of Rashool Diggins, Keon Thompson, and incoming 3-star freshman Robert Davis Jr. amongst those projected to play a large number of minutes in the backcourt, and his inside game should allow for returning big man Matt Cross to get more looks from the perimeter as a stretch option.

For Frank Martin and UMass, Cohen represents the perfect building block for the program. His rapid ascent from an unheralded prospect to one of the best near-rim finishers in the nation makes him the ideal fit for a team that struggled with making shots last season- specifically from two-point range. In conclusion, should Frank Martin continue to build around players of Cohen’s caliber, the Minutemen’s program could easily transition from rebuilding to competing sooner rather than later. Check out his interview with Nathan Mook (below).