Mom Shuts Off UMass Guard’s Phone After Loss, He Drops 40 Points to Win It Back

A University of Massachusetts-Amherst guard credits his mom shutting off his cell phone for his record-setting performance Wednesday night.

Trey Davis dropped 40 points, a Mullins Center record, on the New Orleans Privateers during the “John Calipari Banner Raising Ceremony” event at the arena that the former UMass coach helped usher into existence. With Calipari looking on, Davis went 18-for-2o from the charity stripe and added four steals in the 103-95 overtime win.

The Minutemen lost 77-76 to Florida Gulf Coast on Sunday. Davis went 4-for-16 from the field, and most appalling to his mother, he missed a free throw—the margin of victory for the Eagles.

“Man, my mom turned my phone off after the game we just lost,” Davis told reporters. “She was mad—talking about my free throws and all this other stuff. “She said, ‘Why are you missing free throws and all these jump shots?’ So she just turned my phone off and she told me, ‘Get it together.'”

So, Trey Davis got it together—and he got together with his cell phone again. His mom texted him a congratulations (For the win or winning back his phone privileges?) after the victory. Understanding incentives, punishments, and the gizmos young people use as security blankets, mom made a smart move with the smart phone.

Trey Davis knows that losing again means he may just lose his device again.

Neither Julius Erving nor Marcus Camby scored 40 points in a UMass uniform. But Trey Davis, playing without digital-era distractions like Dr. J. and Camby, did.

Maybe best to shut off the phone until April.