UMASS LOWELL
Record: 7-12 (1-5 America East)
Last Game: W, 79-71, at Binghamton 1/21
Last 10: 2-8
Last Meeting: Stony Brook 83-72 on 2/6/17; Nyama team-high 19
CM Unofficial Line: Stony Brook -2.5
KenPom RPI: Stony Brook 210, UMass Lowell 320
KenPom Prediction: Stony Brook 77, UMass Lowell 73
Listen/Watch:TV:
http://www.espn.com/watch/_/id/3245221/stony-brook-vs-umass-lowell-m-basketballUMass Lowell radio:
https://goriverhawks.com/showcaseStony Brook radio:
http://www.943theshark.com/listenlive.aspxNotables:6-2/210 rsr Jahad Thomas 18.8 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 4.0 apg, 1.7 spg, .496 FG%
6-1/195 sr Matt Harris 12.4 ppg, 3.3 rpg, .841 FT%, .379 3-pt FG%
6-3/185 jr Ryan Jones 10.2 ppg, 4.4 rpg
6-4/190 so Rinardo Perry 9.7 ppg, 1.1 spg
6-7/225 jr Josh Gantz 8.4 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 1.2 spg, 1.2 bpg, .485 FG%
Lowell roared out of the gates, starting the year 5-1, before dropping 11 of its next 12. But ... there's hope. They just went into Binghamton and pulled out a nice eight-point win despite 13 and 19 from the kid Bruce (!) and 26 from Show, who did nothing here.
Thomas is my favorite non-Seawolf player in the conference. Just a blue-collar worker who uses his body and the rim so well to score inside despite being just 6-2. Think about that a 6-2 post guy. I don't care what league you're in; that's tough to do.
We've won each of the last nine contests between the teams by double digits; of course that's skewed by the Warney years. Even last year though, we handled our business, in part because we rained threes on them in both contests 11 makes in an 11-point win here, 11 more in another 11-point win there. I think we could do work inside against what's an undersized lineup, but we haven't shown much of an inside presence either. Could we see more of Petras, with seemingly no answer in the paint for him? Not all the time, but I hope they aren't afraid to feed him in the post, and he even has a nice little jump shot. Jake! Who'd have thunk it, right?
We could be anywhere from 4-2 to 1-5 at this point. I think we're 3-3 on the way to 8-8 or 9-7.
Should we worry about this freshman class? And recruiting in general? The noobs aren't doing anything at this point, with Long and Mac on the bench, and minimal production from Olaniyi and Ochefu. I know they're just freshmen, but they aren't exactly trending upward (and neither are the sophomores Almonacy and Garcia).
Seawolves by six here.