It was a historic and record-breaking night during Wednesday’s UMass 120-118 triple-overtime victory over Fordham.
It was also a very busy night for the referees’ whistles.
During the nearly four-hour game, the Minutemen and Rams combined for 122 free-throw attempts and 79 personal fouls, with 10 players fouling out.
The 122 free-throw attempts were the most in a Division I game since 1996-97 and the 79 personal fouls were the highest in a D-I game since 2017.
Five players attempted double-digit free-throws, with Daniel Rivera of UMass making 10 of his 18 attempts while Fordham’s Japhet Medor sank 14 of 16 tries.
The 48 free-throws made, 65 attempted and the 238 combined points set Fordham program records, with the total points passing the previous mark of 232 set during a triple-overtime game against George Washington last year.
The Minutemen’s 120 points matched the highest total in program history with Rahsool Diggins playing a starring role.
Not only did Diggins score a program-record 46 points (beating out Julius Erving’s 37-point night in January 1970) and tie for the eighth-best single-game total in Atlantic-10 Conference history, he also put up the most points by a visiting player at Fordham’s Rose Hill Gym, which was celebrating its 100th anniversary.
Diggins did all that while playing through a stomach bug — an illness that caused him to vomit into a trash can during the first half.
“He’s been with me for three years so I’m not surprised that he had the courage to do what he did tonight,” said UMass head coach Frank Martin.
