March 9 at No. 4 Hartford (5 p.m.)
Live Stats | Watch Live | Listen Live | Buy Tickets
Game Notes (PDF) | America East Digital Guide
LOWELL, Mass. - The UMass Lowell men's basketball team, who finished the 2018-19 regular season with a 15-16 overall record and 7-9 mark in league play, has earned the fifth seed for the America East Championship and will take on No. 4 Hartford in a quarterfinal matchup on Saturday.
TOURNAMENT TIME
UMass Lowell finished the regular-season ranked fifth for the third time since joining the America East. In addition, this is the team's best seeding for the America East Championship yet, improving two spots after making its Division I postseason debut at No. 7 last year. The winner of the quarterfinal between No. 5 UMass Lowell and No. 4 Hartford will move on to the semifinals on Tuesday, March 12.
POSTSEASON HISTORY
This marks the River Hawks second season eligible for the postseason at the Division I level. Last year, the River Hawks faced an 89-77 setback against No. 2 UMBC in the quarterfinals. The squad is 45-36 all time in post-season games.
A WIN WOULD
A win would mark the River Hawks' first Division I post-season victory. It would also give the team its most wins away from home since 2011-12.
LAST TIME OUT
Redshirt-junior
Christian Lutete logged a game-high 22 points, as UMass Lowell fell, 74-57, at Vermont in the regular-season finale on March 5. Sophomore
Obadiah Noel joined Lutete in double figures with 10 points, while freshman
Joey Glynn added eight. Freshman
Bryce Daley led the team on the glass with six rebounds.
LEADING THE FLOCK
Through 31 games in 2018-19,
Christian Lutete is leading the team with 18.7 points and 7.6 rebounds per game.
Obadiah Noel, who follows with 14.4 points per game, paces the team with a 72.8 clip from the line and 38 steals.
Josh Gantz boasts a team-best 26 blocks and has also dished out a team-high 93 assists.
SCOUTING HARTFORD
The Hawks own a 17-14 overall record and a 10-6 mark in conference action. The team dropped its regular-season finale, 68-63, against Stony Brook on March 5 to earn the fourth seed for the tournament. J.R. Lynch is one of four double-digit scorers for the Hawks with 16.3 points per game. He is also currently first on the team with 116 assists and 67 steals. George Blagojevic leads the squad with 7.7 rebounds and 25 blocks. As a team, Hartford is shooting 45.6 percent from the field, including 38.3 percent on threes, and 74.5 percent from the line.
ALL-CONFERENCE HONORS
Christian Lutete, who earned Player of the Week honors three times this season, was named to the 2018-19 America East All-Conference Second Team, in addition to the All-Academic Team. He is just the second River Hawk to garner an All-Conference Second Team nod since the squad moved to Division I. Lutete also becomes just the third America East All-Academic Team selection for UMass Lowell. The economics major boasts a 3.76 GPA and was named a Google Cloud Academic All-District honoree last month.
SETTING A NEW STANDARD
With the decision at Maine on Feb. 27, the River Hawks tallied their 15th win of the season, expanding on a new Division I program record. UMass Lowell now boasts its most league wins since 2015-16.
ROAD WARRIORS
The River Hawks, who play a DI program-high 18 road games this season, have recorded their most wins away from home during the Division I era (7). The program has accumulated a 100-140 road record since 2003-04. Â
EARLY BIRD
The River Hawks are 9-2 in 2018-19 when getting to work early and taking a lead into halftime.
BENCH PRESS-URE
In 31 games this year, the River Hawks have averaged 21 points off the bench. This is up from last season, when the squad averaged just 15.3 bench points per game.
SHARP SHOOTERS
In the win against Army on Nov. 17, the River Hawks shot over 60 percent (61.2%) from the floor for the first time since Jan. 5, 2017. As a team, UMass Lowell has shot better than 50 percent on field goals 10 times this season and is first in the league with a 47.2 overall field goal percentage. Three of the five starting River Hawks are shooting over 50 percent, led by
Christian Lutete, who is ranked first in the America East with a 53 percent clip so far this year.
Â
