UMass Lowell Basketball Looking Ahead to the 2022-23 Season

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With the college basketball season upon us, the UMass Lowell River Hawks are getting ready for what they hope is a year to remember. This year’s team is led by head coach Pat Duquette who is returning for his tenth season with UMass Lowell. His overall record with the program is 110-155 overall and 60-85 in America East. Duquette has nine returners players from a team that went 15-16 overall a year ago. The experience that has returned was something that got noticed during the recent media day held by the America East Conference. The River Hawks were chosen third in the coaches’ poll with 47 points. This is the highest starting point for this team since they have been in America East. They also have a player that was named to the preseason All-Conference team.

Only the defending champion Vermont Catamounts, who have won a league-best nine conference championships, and newcomer Bryant College who last season won the Northeast Conference were ranked higher than UMass Lowell. The River Hawks return points and defense from a year ago. The defense will be anchored by junior forward Max Brooks who last year was named to the All-Defense team with a conference-leading 2.3 blocks a game to go along with averaging 10.7 points and 6.2 rebounds. Those numbers earned him First Team All-Conference Preseason selection. Brooks is one of two underclassmen to make this team.

The offense will be led by graduate student Allin Blunt, who was the leading scorer from a season ago with 11.6 points a game. He is also closing in on one thousand points for his career. Blunt is one of three grad students on the team, with one coming over from Merrimack College. Mikey Watkins, a 5-11 guard was a thousand-point scorer with the Warriors during his four years with the team. He shot 47% from the field, and 34% from three-point land. He is one of three players that arrived at UMass Lowell by way of the transfer portal. Another is guard Yuri Covington, a 6-1 guard who came over from William & Mary. He appeared in 48 games during his two seasons there. He shot 35% from the field and 31% from three and also had 30 steals a year ago. 6-9 forward Abdoul Karim Coulibaly came from St. Bonaventure where he played in 33 games making one start. Had 12 blocks and 11 steals in his three seasons with the Bonnies.

For the River Hawks to have any kind of a season, Connor Withers must be a major part of it. The 6-7 senior missed most of last year with a leg injury that limited him to only three games for UMass Lowell. His presence on the court and his ability to knock down shots from the outside will be key for the River Hawks this season. The lone freshman on the team is 6-4 guard Brayden O’Connor from Ottawa, Ontario. While playing for Notre Dame Catholic he averaged almost 25 points a game in his senior season. His offensive output earned him Gamesports All-Star selection.

UMass Lowell’s first game will be tonight vs Fisher College at Costello Athletic Center.