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UMBC (7-4) at Loyola-Maryland (4-7) – 7:00 PM ET (ESPN+)
Tonight’s UTR Game of the Day heads to Charm City for the Baltimore City-County rivalry between the UMBC Retrievers and the host Loyola Greyhounds. Loyola got off to a decent 4-4 start, but are currently on a 3-game losing streak that includes losses against Coppin State, Hampton and Mount St. Mary’s. The Greyhounds were held to a season-low 34 points against The Mount in their last outing on Saturday; tonight will be the final game before final exams begin on Loyola’s campus tomorrow.
The Retrievers already have gone 2-0 against other Baltimore teams; this includes wins against Coppin State and Morgan State that are part of their current 4-game winning streak. Colton Lawrence has averaged over 15 points a game for UMBC thus far in their season. They will still have a pair of nonconference games against William & Mary and Maryland before beginning America East play.
OTHER NEWS, NOTES, AND GAMES (From the Puppet):
-Texas needed overtime to get by Rice, but managed to get the win despite all the off the court controversy that’s surrounding the program right now.
-Arizona State picked up their tenth straight win as they knocked off a Creighton team that’s fallen to 6-5. The game seesawed back and forth with both teams going on big runs, but Arizona State held on 73-71. Both these teams appear to be going in different directions right now.
-New Mexico remains unbeaten after picking up an exciting 67-64 win over a pretty good San Francisco team.
-FURMAN AT NC STATE. If NC State wants to establish themselves as a tournament caliber team then they need to hold serve in games like this. Furman is good and should make quite a bit of noise in the SoCon, but this is still the kind of game that a team that lands inside the bubble should routinely win.
-MARSHALL AT UNC GREENSBORO. A win for Marshall gets them to 10-1 and gives them their 4th road win of the year.
-UMASS LOWELL AT RHODE ISLAND. UMass Lowell is off to a really good start and this looks to be another winnable road game for them. They’re coming off a big win at UMass, can get to 12-1 on the year, and pick up their sixth true road win of the season.
-PRINCETON VS IONA (Union, NJ). These are both really good UTR teams that may have an outside shot at making a run at the bubble.
-SOUTHERN MISS AT LAMAR. A win for Southern Miss gets them to 10-1 and gives them their third true road win.
-MEMPHIS AT ALABAMA. Memphis is coming off a big win against Auburn, and Alabama is coming off a massive win at Houston, so both teams are coming in with tons of confidence and momentum. Memphis could probably benefit from this more than Bama can, but it should turn out to be a huge win for whoever pulls it off.
-NC Central @ LSU
-Southern @ Xavier
-The Citadel @ North Carolina
-NC A&T @ Houston
-Eastern Washington @ Texas Tech
-TAMUCC @ Arizona
-New Orleans @ Boise State
-UTSA @ Utah
-Cal Poly @ Washington