12/13 | UMass Lowell | 7:00PM (YurView/ESPN+)

[Jdrums#3]

I refuse to believe that UML could ever beat URI.

Well this is a nice way to set up a hot take one way or the other

Good catch, Rhowdy. Gets to trash Arch (probably Thorr, too and the practice facility ) if we lose using the post as justification. Excellent troll strategy? We shall see.

[RhowdyRam02]

I refuse to believe that UML could ever beat URI.

Well this is a nice way to set up a hot take one way or the other

Good catch, Rhowdy. Gets to trash Arch (probably Thorr, too and the practice facility ) if we lose using the post as justification. Excellent troll strategy? We shall see.

Yup. And if we win, well who cares, it's UMass Lowell, we should beat them no matter what

[TruePoint]

Has anyone been following UMass Lowell over the last several years? What’s the story on how they got good? Are they actually good or did they fatten up on a weak schedule (obviously I looked at their schedule and the teams aren’t overly impressive but they've been pretty convincing in their wins - I haven’t seen them play so not sure how to regard what they’ve done so far).

[hrstrat57]

I saw most of the game in Amherst. uMass didn’t play particularly good but Lowell was pretty solid.

[Blue Man]

What changes?? Are we at such a low point that a home win over Umass Lowell is considered our big achievement. This is still a bad team with below average talent. The only thing of value going forward is to find who can play and who will be moving on

Um - we're rebuilding and UMass Lowell is 11-1 with a win over (what looks like) one of the best teams in our conference.

So yeah, beating a fringe top 100 team would be a pretty good win considering the realities of this rebuild and the confidence it would give to our players approaching conference play.

To say the whole entire perspective would change is ridiculous in my opinion. How good do you really think Umass Lowell is and we know that the A-10 is a one bid league. Would it be nice to get a win-sure, but I think we can get carried away with things. This would still be a home win over Umass Lowell.

At this point - a win is a win.

We are rebuilding. We are not good. One of the things that hurts us is the players' confidence in winning ANY game and closing them out - see Brown as a perfect example. Any win is a good win.

UML is a much better team than they traditionally are. URI is a much worse team that we traditionally are. Winning a game, 2 in a row, against a "good" team even without name recognition - at this point is great. It at least can start to make people believe that we can beat the historical teams we "should" rather than just lose everything.

If you're going into this season with the idea that we SHOULD beat anyone - you should change that thought process. Or you're going to be very mad.

[Jersey77]

Um - we're rebuilding and UMass Lowell is 11-1 with a win over (what looks like) one of the best teams in our conference.

So yeah, beating a fringe top 100 team would be a pretty good win considering the realities of this rebuild and the confidence it would give to our players approaching conference play.

To say the whole entire perspective would change is ridiculous in my opinion. How good do you really think Umass Lowell is and we know that the A-10 is a one bid league. Would it be nice to get a win-sure, but I think we can get carried away with things. This would still be a home win over Umass Lowell.

At this point - a win is a win.

We are rebuilding. We are not good. One of the things that hurts us is the players' confidence in winning ANY game and closing them out - see Brown as a perfect example. Any win is a good win.

UML is a much better team than they traditionally are. URI is a much worse team that we traditionally are. Winning a game, 2 in a row, against a "good" team even without name recognition - at this point is great. It at least can start to make people believe that we can beat the historical teams we "should" rather than just lose everything.

If you're going into this season with the idea that we SHOULD beat anyone - you should change that thought process. Or you're going to be very mad.

Exactly, as I said earlier a win here would go a long way in building this team's confidence.
At this point every victory helps regardless of our competitor's name brand.

[SGreenwell]

Has anyone been following UMass Lowell over the last several years? What’s the story on how they got good? Are they actually good or did they fatten up on a weak schedule (obviously I looked at their schedule and the teams aren’t overly impressive but they've been pretty convincing in their wins - I haven’t seen them play so not sure how to regard what they’ve done so far).

Their coach, Jim Duquette, is now in his 10th year, and looking at it from the outside-in, it kind of seems Baron-esque, but without the highs or the lows. Predictably, most years they get bludgeoned OOC, but even in conference play, they were 8-8 in the first year of AEC play and then under .500 the next eight years. However, unlike Fordham in the A-10, they've won at least 5 games in-conference every year.

This year, it seems like they'd had the maturation of some traditional recruiting talent (one starter, most of the bench), but also, they now have four transfers among their top five in minutes. Also, like Fordham, there is some schedule magic at play - Lowell has played the 359th "toughest," or 5th easiest schedule among D-I teams so far by KenPom. They lost to Rutgers (32) by 8, beat UMass (119) and Brown (222). All of their other opponents have either been non-Division I schools or 300+ in the current KenPom rankings (Columbia, Sacred Heart twice, Stonehill, Merrimack, LIU, St. Francis Brooklyn). They're ranked higher than Fordham and some of the other paper tigers right now because they have been winning their games by good margins (10 by nine points or more), so it wouldn't surprise me if they are in the top half of the AEC for the first time.

[Jdrums#3]

Appreciate the breakdown, SG. Thanks.

[brady1]

Think I’ll have to place a lil wager on The University Of Rhode Island!

GO RHODY!

[reef]

Definitely a really good test for us , I’m anxious to watch

[ramster]

Don’t expect too much help from the home crowd
Exam week
Smallest crowd I’ve seen all year at the 20 minutes til 7pm point.
Usher told me they expect low attendance tonight.
Hope it’s just late arriving

[Rhody74]

Yeah 8 minutes to tip and it looks pretty empty.

[Jersey77]

Same starting 5: Ish, Bray, Martin, Samb, Bilau

[ramster]

At the end of pregame warm ups Hutchinson had the ball 30 feet from rim, players gathered to watch, Hutch threw the ball up high, it bounced once around the FT line, he grabbed it mid air and slammed it. All surrounded him in congrats then went to the bench for start of game.

Hope for big game from Weston tonight. He looked quicker and active in warmups tonight fwiw.

[Rhody74]

Have we ever been shutout?

[reef]

We trail 4-0. 1554

Very slow start

[Rhodymob05]

-Samb should know you cant pass from the block to the top of the key
-Freeman needs to stop going 1 on 4 to the hoop, he's not 6'6
-Bilau needs to have some composure
-Go off a screen tight and take a shot

[spookydog]

I bet the race to 10 points. Wonder what happens if neither team makes it to 10.

[adam914]

I feel like we may need to score at some point if we are going to have a chance to win this one...

[Rhodymob05]

Lowell sucks, this is BAD. Take a shot!

[KingstonLane]

An absurd amount of turnovers in this game, from both teams

[reef]

We trail 9-6. 1140

[PeterRamTime]

Carey's pass out of bounds on that fastbreak was a thing of nightmares.

[reef]

14-14. U 8

We are in a war

Bray finally knocks down a 3

[Rhody74]

At least it’s tied now. Their TO ratio is at least as bad as ours.

[rhodysurf]

Freeman shades of fatts on that fast break

[KingstonLane]

Whoever can stay under 20 turnovers might win the game

[PeterRamTime]

Freeman shades of fatts on that fast break

Lol yeaaaa pass the ball dude

[RhowdyRam02]

Freeman shades of fatts on that fast break

I didn't want to be the one to break the ice on this comparison, but now that it's out there...

Here's hoping it's because of the surrounding cast and not who he'll be as a player in the future

[KingstonLane]

Freeman shades of fatts on that fast break

I didn't want to be the one to break the ice on this comparison, but now that it's out there...

Here's hoping it's because of the surrounding cast and not who he'll be as a player in the future

His Surrounding cast is a joke. I’ll take freeman going to the basket with purpose over Thomas and bilau chucking up 3s all day every day

[PeterRamTime]

Finally a lead let's go!

[PeterRamTime]

Freeman shades of fatts on that fast break

I didn't want to be the one to break the ice on this comparison, but now that it's out there...

Here's hoping it's because of the surrounding cast and not who he'll be as a player in the future

His Surrounding cast is a joke. I’ll take freeman going to the basket with purpose over Thomas and bilau chucking up 3s all day every day

Bray forces stuff, but it doesn't feel as hopeless as when Fatts did it

Bray will eventually make some whereas Fatts just perpetually remained cold

[reef]

18-18 U 4

Bilau leads the way with 5

[steveystuds06]

Freeman shades of fatts on that fast break

I didn't want to be the one to break the ice on this comparison, but now that it's out there...

Here's hoping it's because of the surrounding cast and not who he'll be as a player in the future

His Surrounding cast is a joke. I’ll take freeman going to the basket with purpose over Thomas and bilau chucking up 3s all day every day

Ya, but he had Ish wide open on that fast break and instead tried to do it all himself and missed the layup.

[Rhodymob05]

Does Carey have finger prints? Absolute stone hands.

[steveystuds06]

I wish Weston were given more minutes. He doesn't have much of a chance to get into any groove.

Carey has moments where he looks awesome and then has some horrible turnovers. Not what you want from your upperclassmen.

[PeterRamTime]

Ooof

[Rhodymob05]

I wish Weston were given more minutes. He doesn't have much of a chance to get into any groove.

Carey has moments where he looks awesome and then has some horrible turnovers. Not what you want from your upperclassmen.

Agree on Weston. This offense is putrid.

[adam914]

Freeman shades of fatts on that fast break

I didn't want to be the one to break the ice on this comparison, but now that it's out there...

Here's hoping it's because of the surrounding cast and not who he'll be as a player in the future

I've had this exact same thought but hesitated to bring it up because Fatts is so polarizing on here (and I'm probably the biggest Fatts fan out there). I see a lot of Fatts in Bray's game as well.

[adam914]

Every time Thomas or Malik shoot a three I die a little more inside.

[PeterRamTime]

That half might have been the ugliest yet for both teams

Bless their hearts...

[KingstonLane]

That half might have been the ugliest yet for both teams

Bless their hearts...

And that’s saying something

[KevanBoyles]

Freeman 1-8 shooting in first half.

[rhodysurf]

Freeman shades of fatts on that fast break

I didn't want to be the one to break the ice on this comparison, but now that it's out there...

Here's hoping it's because of the surrounding cast and not who he'll be as a player in the future

I've had this exact same thought but hesitated to bring it up because Fatts is so polarizing on here (and I'm probably the biggest Fatts fan out there). I see a lot of Fatts in Bray's game as well.

Yeah to be clear I loved fatts more than most so I wasn’t really being full negative, but that one break killed me haha he had ish wide open as trailing

[reef]

We trail 26-22 halftime

We are 1-9 from 3

Bray 1-9 shooting

Not impressed with Lowell this is a winnable game if we play a better 2h

[Rhodymob05]

Commentators mentioned that we're playing a "Juganaut from the American East", which made me want to cry. We should win this game. Just stop turning it over and set a real screen.

[KevanBoyles]

Shooting terribly but still in game.

[KevanBoyles]

Shooting terribly but still in game.

[PeterRamTime]

Freeman 1-8 shooting in first half.

To be fair

No one is making any shots

[reef]

I didn't want to be the one to break the ice on this comparison, but now that it's out there...

Here's hoping it's because of the surrounding cast and not who he'll be as a player in the future

I've had this exact same thought but hesitated to bring it up because Fatts is so polarizing on here (and I'm probably the biggest Fatts fan out there). I see a lot of Fatts in Bray's game as well.

Yeah to be clear I loved fatts more than most so I wasn’t really being full negative, but that one break killed me haha he had ish wide open as trailing

I see it as well , I kind of think Bray is a poor man’s Fatts

Fatts is in the top 15 all time scoring for us let’s hood Bray can find his groove we need his scoring