BURLINGTON, Vt. – For the 19th time in league history, it will be the top two seeds that decide the America East men’s basketball champion.
#1 Vermont hosts #at 2 UMass Lowell at Patrick Gymnasium on the campus of the University of Vermont on Saturday at 11 a.m. and have the call on ESPN2 and ESPN+. The game will also be broadcast on Westwood One radio nationally and on Sirius XM.
The Catamounts survived challenges from UAlbany in the quarterfinals and New Hampshire in the semifinals to reach the championship game while UMass Lowell beat UMBC in overtime in the quarters and outlasted Bryant in the semis.
Find all the live coverage links at #AEPlayoffs Central.
#1 Vermont (27-6, 15-1)
- Vermont is making its eighth championship game appearance in the last nine years and 17th all-time.
- The Catamounts are 7-2 all-time at Patrick Gym in title games.
- UVM seeks its league-record 11th title.
- The Catamounts have won nine-straight games and 18 of their last 19 overall.
- The Catamounts won their eighth-straight regular-season title, the longest streak of any team in the country.
- Vermont is the top defensive team in the conference and the country, holding teams to just 63 points per game, the 10th-best mark in the nation.
- Shamir Bogues earned the league’s Newcomer of the Year honors and was also a first-team All-Conference and All-Defensive selection. He averages 10.9 points and 5.1 boards. TJ Long is the Catamounts’ leading scorer at 12.2 ppg and was a third-team selection while Aaron Deloney was a second-team choice and provides 10.9 ppg.
#2 UMass Lowell River Hawks (22-9, 11-5)
- UMass Lowell is in its third championship game in the last five years and seeks its first title. It is trying to become the 14th different school to win an #AEHoops title.
- The River Hawks have won six of their last eight games.
- UMass Lowell has registered its second-straight 20-win season after earning a program-record 26 victories last season.
- The River Hawks lead the conference in scoring margin at +9.8 and are the top scoring team averaging 80.6 points per game.
- Max Brooks (first team), Ayinde Hikim (second team) and Quinton Mincey (third team) pace the River Hawks. Brooks averages 12.9 points on 63 percent shooting and added 7.4 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game. Ayinde leads the teams with 14.7 points per contests and 5.1 assists while Mincey, the league’s Sixth Man of the Year, averages 14.3 points off the bench.
- Assistant coach Jon Iati is making his eighth America East championship game appearance. He played for UAlbany in the 2005 and 2006 tilts and was an assistant in four games with the Great Danes before joining the UMass Lowell staff last year.
The Matchup
- It’s just the second time since 2001 that the title game features the same two teams at the same venue as the previous season. Vermont beat UMBC in 2019 after the Retrievers had won the 2018 crown.
- The 49 combined wins by the two teams top last year’s total of 48 and are the most since Vermont and UMBC had 50 entering the 2018 title game.
- Vermont swept the season series from UMass Lowell.
- In the first meeting on Jan. 25, Shamir Bogues had 19 points, eight rebounds and three steals while Ileri Ayo-Faleyi had a double-double of 15 points, 10 boards and five blocks to lead UVM to a 72-65 overtime win.
- Vermont dominated the second meeting, leading by as many as 26, in a 74-62 win. Aaron Deloney scored a career-best 33 points in the win.
- This is just the second #AEPlayoffs meeting between the two teams. Vermont won the only other meeting which came in last season’s America East title game. The Catamounts overcame a four-point halftime deficit and outscored UML by 17 after the break to claim its 10th #AEHoops crown.
Fun Facts
- Reigning champions have returned to the America East championship game 73 percent of the time (29 out of 40 seasons) they were in the tournament, including this year.
- This will be the 19th time the top seeds have met for the league crown with the No. 1 seed having gone 13-5 previously.
- It will be the 11th America East championship game ever to be played at Patrick Gym, making it the host for nearly 25 percent of all #AEPlayoff title games ever played.
ABOUT AMERICA EAST
Founded in 1979, the America East Conference is an elite NCAA Division I athletic conference that fosters an environment for student-athletes to become champions. Comprised of academically renowned, like-minded member institutions located in the Northeast region of the United States, America East is committed to broad-based excellence and progressive in its approach to supporting its more than 3,500 student-athletes across 18 sponsored sports. For more information, visit www.AmericaEast.com and follow the America East Conference its social media channels, @AmericaEast.
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