UMass-Lowell is new to Division I this year, playing in the America East. The River Hawks formerly competed in the Northeast-10 Conference at the Division II level. Last season they finished 15-13 (10-12 in the conference). This is a Division II roster playing Division I basketball.
The River Hawks are picked to finish last in the America East one spot below previous Rhody victim, Maine.
Akeem Williams is the main man on this team. He is a Senior, strong, quick, and can create his own shot. They are missing their 2nd leading returning scorer, Antonio Bivins. He is sitting out the season due to injury.
This team is undersized and lacks depth. They start four guards and two of them are listed at 5'10. This is another game we should dominate on the boards. We should also be able to wear them down with our depth as four of their starters average at least 34 minutes. Yikes!
UMass-Lowell is coached by Pat Duquette. He has ties to Al Skinner (BC) and Bill Coen (Northeastern). He is also Dan Duquette's cousin.
I predict we finally put together two solid halves of basketball with lots of thunderous dunks from Gil, Hassy, and Iffy. It should be a fun show.
A few words of caution... While I expect we will dominate this game, we can't take these guys lightly. They hung around for a half with #7 Michigan before getting blown out in the second half. They also gave Brown a bit of a scare late in the second half of their game. After trailing Brown by 22 the River Hawks went on a 15-0 run and made it closer than it should have been. Brown finally put them away. So, these guys are having fun, playing loose, nothing to lose and they are not going to stop fighting for the entire 40 minutes.
Expect a UMass-Lowell starting line-up of:
#11 Akeem Williams G Sr 5'10 190
#4 Chad Holley G Jr 5'10 170
#21 DJ Mlachnik G So 6'2 175
#23 Kerry Weldon G Sr 6'5 190
#24 Tyler Livingston F Fr 6'5 200
Key reserves:
#34 Kennedy Chukwuocha F So 6'6 205 Nicknamed “Ken Rock”
![Laughing :lol:](./images/smilies/icon_lol.gif)
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http://goriverhawks.com/index.aspx?path ... basketball
http://rhodyrampage.com/2013/10/08/rhod ... ver-hawks/