AMHERST — Unlike a lot of Division 1 men’s basketball players in 2024, UMass senior guard Rahsool Diggins didn’t demand anything from his head coach when making his decision on whether or not he would stay put in Amherst or test the waters of the transfer portal.

Diggins just had one request for Frank Martin: to play more point guard.

“Done,” Martin said. “That’s pretty easy.”

After a career-best year as a junior where he averaged 12.8 points, 2.4 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game, a season that won him Co Atlantic-10 Most Improved Player, Diggins had no thoughts about going elsewhere. According to Martin, Diggins has played point guard “90 percent of the time” during practice, and has worked tirelessly to improve his on-ball game so he can play the position at a high level.

That’s one of the several aspects of this year’s UMass team that will look different from a year ago when the Minutemen take the floor on Saturday for a road exhibition game against Providence.

Another striking distinction is the overall size and athleticism of the newcomers. Last winter, the Minutemen struggled defending ball-screens and protecting the rim – two vital pieces to overall team defense. But with Malek Abdelgowad (6-foot-10, Murray State), Shahid Muhammad (6-foot-10, Seton Hall) and Akil Watson (6-foot-9, Arizona State) now in the mix, coupled with returning dynamic defenders Daniel Hankins-Sanford (6-foot-8) and Jayden Ndjigue (6-foot-4), UMass has length at every position.

Expect the Minutemen to be one of the most disruptive teams in the Atlantic 10 on that end of the floor. They won’t necessarily record a lot of steals because Martin doesn’t teach a gambling style of defense, but teams will certainly have trouble getting into their sets comfortably against UMass.

“Good defensive teams make it hard to pass the ball,” Martin said. “And we’re really long, so it’s hard to pass the ball into our defense. They’re forced to pass it around our defense. And when you get people playing around, it’s a lot easier to be aggressive, because you’re keeping the ball in front. We got some instinctive players… I’m a big disrupter, and this team disrupts. We make it hard on people.”

A more in-depth look into the 2024-25 UMass men’s basketball team will come closer to its season opener with the University of New Hampshire on Nov. 4.

For now, the Minutemen are geared up for their first true test of the fall on Saturday. Martin and his bunch participated in a private scrimmage with Iona recently, but both coaching staffs were allowed to stop the game at their expense for teaching moments or if they didn’t like what they saw in a particular play.

The exhibition contest with Providence will be played in front of a live audience and is to simulate a real game as best it can. The third-year Minutemen head coach is eager to see how his team responds and connects with one another in a live setting.

“The emotion, how guys handle good and bad, because we’re playing in front of people for the first time,” Martin said when asked what he’s looking to see from the Minutemen this weekend. “I might end up playing some of the new guys more and the old guys less because I’m trying to figure that part out. We all want to play well, but who are we when we don’t play well? Because at the end of the day, you still want to win games whether we play well or not. So we got to utilize this game to try and figure some of that out.”

Martin also mentioned how exhibitions give teams the opportunity to try different lineup combinations before the season starts, so coaches get a better feel for what their rotation is going to look like for their season opener.

Tip off against Providence is slated for 4 p.m. at the Amica Mutual Pavilion in Providence, Rhode Island.