Coach Duquette announces challenging 31 game slate for 2018-19

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LOWELL, Mass. – UMass Lowell Men’s Basketball Head Coach Pat Duquette announced his squad’s complete schedule for the 2018-19 season on Monday. The challenging, 31-game slate opens on Tuesday, November 6 at Atlantic 10 Conference member Massachusetts.

Although the team hosts Wagner in its home opener on Nov. 10, the River Hawks will spend the majority of the non-conference season on the road, setting a new program record for games away from home in the month of November (7). That busy, first month of action includes a three-game stop in Providence, R.I. for the Brown Bears Tip-Off Classic, which features games against Brown (Nov. 16), in addition to Army West Point (Nov. 17) and Sacred Heart (Nov. 18). Other non-conference road trips on the docket for UMass Lowell are Duquesne and Connecticut on Nov. 25 and 27, respectively, before the squad visits St. Francis Brooklyn (Dec. 11) and takes on the SHU Pioneers (Dec. 29) once again, following the holiday break.

“We are all excited about another challenging schedule,” said Duquette. “We have a good balance in our non-conference schedule between local rivalries and some higher profile schools that will give our program good exposure.”

NJIT and Loyola (Md.) highlight the five-game, home non-conference campaign, with the first coming to Lowell on December 1 and the latter on Dec. 21. Last season, the River Hawks defeated Loyola, 83-75, at home to earn their first-ever victory against the Greyhounds as part of the team’s season-best, five-game win streak.

In addition to NJIT, UMass Lowell welcomes five other 2018-19 opponents to the Tsongas Center, its state-of-the-art, 7,000 seat arena.

The River Hawks will once again play a home-and-home series against every America East Conference opponent beginning on January 5 when they host Stony Brook. On Jan. 24, 2018, UMass Lowell overcame 22 lead changes to force overtime and defeat the Seawolves for the first time at the Division I level.

“I expect the America East to be an extremely competitive and tough league once again with more top-to-bottom balance than we’ve seen in past years,” added Duquette.

UMBC (Jan. 12) and UAlbany (Jan. 16) also make the trek to Lowell early in the conference season, while a matchup against Maine at the Tsongas Center on Jan. 30 kicks off the squad’s longest homestand of the season. Vermont (Feb. 2) and New Hampshire (Feb. 6) come to town during that stretch, as well. Games against Binghamton (Feb. 21) and Hartford (Feb. 23) wrap up the River Hawks’ regular-season America East slate at home.

The 2018-19 America East Championship is set to include the league’s top eight teams and each matchup will be played at the higher seed’s arena in all of the rounds. Quarterfinals and semifinals will take place on Saturday, March 9 and Tuesday, March 12, respectively, while the title game will be decided on Saturday, March 16 on ESPN2.

All America East games will be streamed live on ESPN3.

*Times, dates and locations of contests may be subject to change. Visit goriverhawks.com for all schedule updates.*