2025–26 America East Conference men's basketball season
College basketball season
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The 2025–26 America East men's basketball season began with practices in September 2025 and will end with the 2025 America East men's basketball tournament in March 2026. This is the 46th year of competition in men's basketball for the America East Conference.
| 2025–26 America East men's basketball season | |
|---|---|
| |
| League | NCAA Division I |
| Sport | Men's basketball |
| Teams | 9 |
| Regular season | |
| Season champions | UMBC |
| Season MVP | TJ Hurley, Vermont |
| Top scorer | Angel Montas Jr., UMass Lowell – 20.0 ppg |
| Tournament | |
| Champions | UMBC |
| Runners-up | Vermont |
| Finals MVP | DJ Armstrong Jr., UMBC |
| Conf. | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Team | W | L | PCT | W | L | PCT | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UMBC † | 14 | – | 2 | .875 | 24 | – | 9 | .727 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vermont | 12 | – | 4 | .750 | 22 | – | 12 | .647 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| NJIT | 10 | – | 6 | .625 | 16 | – | 17 | .485 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UMass Lowell | 9 | – | 7 | .563 | 15 | – | 18 | .455 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Albany | 7 | – | 9 | .438 | 11 | – | 21 | .344 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Maine | 6 | – | 10 | .375 | 8 | – | 24 | .250 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bryant | 5 | – | 11 | .313 | 9 | – | 22 | .290 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| New Hampshire | 5 | – | 11 | .313 | 9 | – | 21 | .300 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Binghamton | 4 | – | 12 | .250 | 8 | – | 23 | .258 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| † 2026 AmEast tournament winner | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Head coaches
| Team | Head coach | Previous job | Season | Overall record |
America East record |
NCAA Tournaments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albany | Dwayne Killings | Marquette (asst.) | 5th | 51–76 (.402) | 25–41 (.379) | 0 |
| Binghamton | Levell Sanders | Binghamton (asst.) | 5th | 55–67 (.451) | 30–36 (.455) | 0 |
| Bryant | Jamion Christian | Pallacanestro Trieste | 1st | 0–0 (–) | 0–0 (–) | 0 |
| Maine | Chris Markwood | Boston College (asst.) | 4th | 48–48 (.500) | 24–24 (.500) | 0 |
| UMBC | Jim Ferry | Penn State (Interim HC) | 5th | 60–68 (.469) | 30–36 (.455) | 0 |
| UMass Lowell | Pat Duquette | Northeastern (asst.) | 13th | 175–188 (.482) | 95–108 (.468) | 0 |
| New Hampshire | Nathan Davis | Bucknell | 3rd | 24–39 (.381) | 13–19 (.406) | 0 |
| NJIT | Grant Billmeier | Maryland (asst.) | 3rd | 13–46 (.220) | 6–26 (.188) | 0 |
| Vermont | John Becker | Vermont (asst.) | 15th | 329–132 (.714) | 193–34 (.850) | 6 |
Notes:
- Season includes the 2025–26 season.
- Record numbers are through the end of the 2024–25 season.
Preseason
Preseason coaches poll
| 2025–26 America East Preseason Coaches Poll[1] | ||
|---|---|---|
| Rank | Team (First place votes) | Points |
| 1 | Vermont (7) | 63 |
| T2 | Maine (1) | 47 |
| T2 | Albany | 47 |
| 4 | UMass Lowell (1) | 39 |
| 5 | Binghamton | 37 |
| 6 | Bryant | 35 |
| 7 | UMBC | 31 |
| 8 | NJIT | 13 |
| 9 | New Hampshire | 12 |
Preseason All-Conference Team
| All-Conference Team[2] |
|---|
| Quincy Allen, Bryant |
| TJ Hurley, Vermont |
| Demetrius Lilley, Binghamton |
| Amir Lindsey, Albany |
| TJ Long, Vermont |
| Josh Odunowo, UMBC |
Regular season
Player of the Week Awards
|
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Postseason
America East tournament
The conference tournament will be played from March 8 to March 15, 2026. All tournament games will be hosted at the higher seed's campus site. Teams are reseeded after quarterfinals.
NCAA Tournament
The conference champion will receive an automatic bid to the 2026 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament.
Conference awards
| 2026 America East Men's Basketball Individual Awards | ||||||
| Award | Recipient(s) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player of the Year | TJ Hurley, Vermont | |||||
| Coach of the Year | Jim Ferry, UMBC | |||||
| Defensive Player of the Year | Okechukwu Okeke, Albany | |||||
| Sixth Man of the Year | Caden Diggs, UMBC | |||||
| Rookie of the Year | David Bolden, NJIT | |||||
| Newcomer of the Year | Gus Yalden, Vermont | |||||
| Reference:[19] | ||||||
| 2026 America East Men's Basketball All-Conference Teams | ||||||
| First Team | Second Team | Third Team | Defensive Team | Rookie Team | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TJ Hurley, Vermont Jah’Likai King, UMBC Amir Lindsey, Albany Angel Montas Jr., UMass Lowell Gus Yalden, Vermont |
DJ Armstrong Jr., UMBC TJ Biel, Maine Ari Fulton, NJIT Sebastian Robinson, NJIT Ace Valentine, UMBC |
Belal El Shakery, New Hampshire Austin Green, UMass Lowell Okechukwu Okeke, Albany Jeremiah Quigley, Binghamton Xavier Spencer, UMass Lowell |
TJ Biel, Maine Logan Carey, Maine TJ Hurley, Vermont Josh Odunowo, UMBC Okechukwu Okeke, Albany |
Tyler Bike, New Hamshire David Bolden, NJIT Ace Flagg, Maine Timofei Rudovskii, Bryant Ty Tabales, Bryant | ||