Greyhounds Go Dancing
For the first time in 50 years, during their 2024-25 season, the men’s basketball team won the NCAA Division II East Regional Championship and advanced to the Elite Eight in Evansville, Indiana.
The Assumption men’s basketball team started their 2024-25 season ranked 10th in the Northeast 10 (NE10) Conference preseason coaches’ poll. They finished their season in a different top 10, however – the Elite Eight, to be exact – with the top teams in all of Division II basketball.
The Greyhounds’ most recent season was truly one for the history books, as they became only the sixth team in program history to win the NCAA Division II East Regional Championship, and the first since 1975.
The Greyhounds’ historic run in 2025’s March Madness began with a matchup against Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU), who had just won the Northeast 10 Basketball Championship. The Hounds sailed past SNHU, winning 92-66, advancing them to the second round of the Division II tournament against Dominican University.
In that game, the Greyhounds defeated the Chargers 81-75, with the team hitting 26 of 38 (68.4%) free throws and Tayeshawn Cunningham-Pemberton ’27 leading the team in scoring with 19 points. With that win, the Greyhounds advanced to their first Sweet 16 appearance since 2008.
The Sweet 16 saw the Greyhounds capture a 97-90 win against the St. Thomas Aquinas College Spartans. Assumption claimed the Division II East Regional Championship trophy for the first time in 50 years and was the lowest seeded team to win the trophy since 2005.
The Greyhounds’ historic run came to an end in the Elite Eight, when the team fell to top-seeded Nova Southeastern, 102-93, after a hard-fought game in Ford Center in Evansville, IN. Zee McCown ’28 led the team in scoring for that game with 21 points while also adding three rebounds, three assists, and two steals.
The team’s final record for the season was 22-9 (14-6 against NE10 opponents) – the most wins since the 2008-09 season, when the Hounds won 23 games.
“We have a group that always believes in what we have as a team, and from the beginning of the year, we thought we had something special,” Coach Scott Faucher told the Worcester Telegram & Gazette in March. “It’s a group that’s really connected, and this year we started to develop a sense of toughness and raised the bar as a program.”
In addition to the men’s success, the women’s basketball team also made an appearance in their NCAA Division II Tournament for the third consecutive year. This was the first time in history they have made three straight NCAA appearances, and their 10th program appearance overall.
The 2025-26 basketball season kicked off for the men’s team on November 14 against Chestnut Hill College, and the women’s team on November 15 against D’Youville University.