Nobody knew what to expect of UMass Lowell in 2013-14, not even head coach Pat Duquette.

America East coaches tabbed the River Hawks and their Division II roster to finish last in their inaugural Division I season, but that’s where the expectations stopped.

“We had no idea what to expect,” Duquette said. “None of us had coached in the league. We had a new staff, [our team was] full of players recruited to play in a different league at a different level. We disregarded all expectations. We just talked about building the program the right way and defining progress on our own terms. And we never spoke about wins and losses ever.”

Progress took a tangible form, as UMass Lowell finished 10-18 overall with an 8-8 America East record. The River Hawks took a 23-23 tie into halftime of their season opener at then-No. 7 Michigan but lost 11 of their first 12 games. They hit their stride in conference play.

“I felt like our team competed at the Division I level every game,” Duquette said. “We didn’t get any type of positive results in terms of wins and losses until second semester, but we competed and we made a ton of progress even when we were 1-11.”

At the start of conference play, the River Hawks proved their progress and took the league by surprise. They opened their AE slate by defeating UMBC and Binghamton in back-to-back games, before taking a thrilling overtime match against defending conference champion Albany.

Senior guard Akeem Williams, who led UMass Lowell with 15.8 points per game, did not expect the hot start from his team to begin America East play.

“I think it was a little bit of a surprise just because of the fact that it was our first year,” Williams said. “People said going in we may only win one game or two games. I think when we started to win a few we were a little surprised.”

UMass Lowell cooled off after its hot opening, but still managed to finish with an even record in conference. While they struggled against the league’s elite teams, recording no victories against No. 1 Vermont and No. 2 Stony Brook, the River Hawks managed to get the better of the AE’s weaker competition, going 7-1 against opponents in the lower half.

Their .500 mark would have been good for the No. 5 seed in the upcoming AE tournament, finishing ahead of Maine, New Hampshire, Binghamton and UMBC. But due to the NCAA rule that a team transitioning to the Division I level must wait four years to compete in postseason play, Lowell’s season is over.

Duquette and Williams each said the rule did not catch them by surprise.

“I think we knew the situation going in, so it wasn’t that disappointing,” Williams said. “But with the success we had, we were a little bit upset because we felt like we could have made some noise in the tournament.”

Instead of preparing for a quarterfinal matchup against Albany, Lowell will look ahead to next season, an unfortunate circumstance for a team that could have had an outside chance to win the conference title this season. However, Duquette views this year as a success for a team that many thought would struggle to win a single game.

“I still think it is going to be a long process, and we’ve got a long way to go,” Duquette said. “But regardless of wins and losses, we did a lot of things to establish a strong foundation this year.”