LOWELL, Mass. – UMass Lowell Athletics unveiled a new 2,000 square foot men's basketball suite inside of the Tsongas Center last week, as the department continues its facility upgrades in the Division I era.
"This is just one more step forward as our department continues to strive for excellence in all areas," said UMass Lowell Director of Athletics
Peter Casey. "Facility upgrades like this one help us provide the best student-athlete experience possible, while pursuing our competitive aspirations at the Division I level in the America East Conference and throughout the region."
The new area includes a locker room for the student-athletes with a team lounge and meeting room, in addition to a coaches' meeting space and changing area.
"This new locker room in Tsongas is a great addition for our program," explained Head Coach
Pat Duquette. "It is as nice a locker room as you will find at our level and gives our guys a personalized, comfortable place to spend time together that is just steps from where they live on campus."
The department worked with Picard Construction to renovate the space, while KJ Branding handled the creative design that includes several team-specific quotes and mantras.
"Coming in back in 2017 as a freshman and seeing how the facilities have changed since then, it's really good to see all the improvement," commented junior captain
Obadiah Noel. "It means a lot to have the quotes and words of encouragement all around so you can see them every day."
With the completion of this project, the UMass Lowell men's and women's basketball teams now each have state-of-the-art gameday locker rooms to call home, as they compete at the Tsongas Center for the majority of their home campaigns in 2019-20. For the first time ever, men's basketball is playing its entire America East Conference home schedule in Tsongas, which was part of the strategic plan to elevate resources with the transition to Division I.
"A lot has changed since 2016 when I first got here and we weren't even post-season eligible," added senior
Stefan Borovac. "We were still playing most of our games at Costello and our locker room wasn't anything like this. To see the growth within the program during my time has been amazing and hopefully it just keeps going forward from here."
