River Hawks’ Successful Season Creates Excitement on Campus
Image by UMass Lowell Athletics
03/06/2023
By Marlon Pitter
On the cusp of an America East men’s basketball championship, “March Madness” has even greater meaning at UMass Lowell.
With a Division I program record of 25 wins, including a perfect 16-0 mark at home, the River Hawks are making a run at their first-ever America East title and NCAA Tournament bid.
UMass Lowell finished second in the America East standings this season, its highest mark in program history. The team hosted its first America East Tournament game Saturday afternoon, defeating Maine 85-54 to advance to the semifinals.
The River Hawks will host New Hampshire at Costello Athletic Center on Tuesday night at 6 p.m. With a win, they would return to the conference title game for the first time since 2021.
Fans are ready for the game: Tickets sold out within 10 minutes, according to Assoc. Athletic Director for Marketing and Promotions Jon Boswell.
Head coach Pat Duquette, who has been at the helm since the jump to Division I in 2013, earned America East Coach of the Year honors for leading the team’s monumental season.
Dubbed “the best D1 men’s hoops team in (Massachusetts)” by Boston Globe sportswriter Trevor Hass, the River Hawks have garnered widespread attention among college basketball fans.
The River Hawks were ranked among the top 25 mid-major teams in the country at times throughout the season, and they continue to be a topic of conversation on social media.
Jeff Rackauskas ’11 is rooted in the growing discourse surrounding UMass Lowell basketball on Twitter. Growing up as a college basketball fan, Rackauskas said he uses social media to connect with other River Hawk supporters. Now, he is a leader in the discussion and fandom of the River Hawks as people around the country take note of the team’s success.
On campus, meanwhile, fans have flocked to Costello to watch home games this year. The most notable regular-season showing came on Jan. 22, when the River Hawks defeated conference rival Bryant University in front of a sellout crowd of more than 850 fans.
Boswell said he learned how he could maximize the space to get more people into the venue and fortify the team’s home-court advantage in the playoffs.
“We started the conversations back in December when the team got off to a hot start and we realized that Costello may be in play as a playoff location, so we built a seating map from scratch,” he says.
“When we sold out Bryant, we had a number in that was a little bit less than the tickets out, but we really didn't have any other space to put them. Well, now we realize that number could be even higher, so we've added staff. They're going to be able to set up and kind of help people squeeze together – help people create as much space as possible.”
The team has played 14 of its 16 home games in “Club Costello” this year, where the enclosed atmosphere can smother opponents as voices amplify throughout the gym. (The other two games were played at the Tsongas Center.)
Image by UMass Lowell Athletics
One of those raucous voices in the crowd is Josh Barosin, a sophomore mechanical engineering major from Georgetown, Massachusetts, who is also known as the Flag Guy.
He and members of the Blue Crew, UMass Lowell’s student fan group, are part of a vocal presence supporting River Hawk teams.
Depending on the semifinal results, Tuesday’s contest could be the last home game of the season for the River Hawks. Barosin says he will cherish the basketball team’s historic run.
“While we aren’t on the roster, it still feels like we're part of history just being there watching these games happen,” he says. “We're not remembered by history, but we remember the history, and it's huge.”
Fellow sophomore and Blue Crew member Cole Pessolano echoes that sentiment.
“Watching us beat teams that we've struggled with in the past … I know those are things that I'll hold on to,” Pessolano says. “Even if the postseason doesn't go as we all want it to, we know the regular season went way further than any of our expectations.”
The team’s success has brought back former players to watch games. Kerry Weldon ’15 and Marco Banegas-Flores ’15 returned to UMass Lowell to see the River Hawks’ quarterfinal game.
The two played basketball during UMass Lowell’s four-year NCAA reclassification period, in which teams are not eligible to participate in postseason tournaments when elevating to Division I.
For Weldon, it’s exciting to see the program continue building momentum in its 10th Division I season.
“I know everyone talks about the hockey team, but being able to make UMass Lowell basketball a talking point for the university is going to be huge,” he says.