UMass Lowell shows signs of potentially breaking through America East ceiling

By Ray Curren (@currenrr)

LOWELL, Mass. — There was a time, not so long ago, when the UMass Lowell men’s basketball team could celebrate any victory over a Division I opponent. After all, the River Hawks have been in Division I for only a decade and there were plenty of growing pains along the way.

The program is now fully grown.

Coming off a shellacking of in-state big brother UMass, the River Hawks beat LIU last Wednesday, 69-62, at the Costello Center, but struggled down the stretch and turned the ball over an unacceptable 17 times. Saturday afternoon, UMass Lowell found itself down nine at the half as Dartmouth came in and hit a barrage of threes. River Hawks coach Pat Duquette didn’t have to raise his voice in the locker room or turn over any tables, though. 

His veteran team already knew it was capable of better and showed it with a dominating second half, outscoring the Big Green, 57-39, en route to a 92-83 win, moving the River Hawks to 8-4 and a perfect 7-0 at home.

“(Dartmouth) shot 17-of-36 from three and we still won the game,” Duquette, now in his 12th year in charge, said. “If anybody didn’t notice how much better a team we were in the first 10 minutes of the second half than we were the first, it was just so clear and I hope it’s clear to my guys. They came out after halftime and decided they were going to play the right way, find the open man, and all of a sudden, it was a different team and everyone was a part of it.”

And the goal for UMass Lowell is simple: Win the America East regular season title and stay in Lowell for the entire America East tournament in March. The king of America East has long been Vermont, of course, who has won the last EIGHT regular season titles and represented the conference in the last three NCAA Tournaments. But the River Hawks have been second the last two campaigns and have started the same five seniors in all 12 games this season. The computers agree, the River Hawks are 40 spots higher than any of their conference rivals in KenPom, even after taking a slight hit in their last two contests.

Even without shooting many threes (323rd nationally), UMass Lowell has creeped up to 98th in offensive efficiency (Bryant is next best in America East at 176th) with a tremendous balance. Four of the five seniors are in double figures, led by Quinton Mincey at 17.3 points per game. The only one not is point guard Quincy Clark, who came from Jacksonville State this season and runs the show with his size (6-foot-4) and strength.

“I’ve got a lot of fourth and fifth-year guys that have played a lot of basketball,” Duquette said. “They know they have to do what works for you. If the shots aren’t going down, you can’t let it affect your defense. And if you do play good defense and they hit a tough shot, you can’t let that affect you, either. You have to stay confident.”

Saturday’s star was Max Brooks, who was just 12-of-12 from the field for 26 points and 9 rebounds. Brooks is shooting 73.3 percent from the field this season, as the River Hawks were 30-of-41 on two-point shots Saturday, getting to the rim at will, particularly in the second half. 

Said Brooks: “I was born in the dunker spot, they say. So as long as they hit me, I can put them in. Most of them were close enough, I could put them in with my eyes closed.”

When they need an offensive boost off the bench, the River Hawks call on freshman Martin Somerville, averaging 13.1 points per game and shooting 45 percent from behind the arc. Yuri Covington, a 6-foot-1 guard who does whatever Duquette asks, and Cam Morris—a 6-foot-8 forward whose length is tough for any mid-major to deal with—are the other two seniors, each of whom is capable if someone else is having an off night.

The River Hawks know to win in the America East, they will have to defend. Right now they are just 227th nationally in efficiency due to a dangerous combination of not forcing turnovers (16 percent, 262nd) and struggling on the defensive boards (66.8 percent, 289th). Saturday, UMass Lowell forced 13 turnovers (18.3 percent), but eight of those came in the second half.

“You could really feel the energy in the second half within our team,” Mincey said.

All the pieces seem to be there for UMass Lowell to make a run at its first America East title and first NCAA Tournament. Of course, being in a one-bid league is fickle and variance in March has ended many a dream of veteran teams like the River Hawks. After all, it was Lowell’s most famous native son Jack Kerouac who wrote, “It all ends in tears anyway.”

But don’t be surprised if UMass Lowell becomes one of those No. 15 seeds an unsuspecting No. 2 seed has to worry about in the first week of the NCAA Tournament.