# 2020–21 Northeast Conference men's basketball season

The 2020–21 Northeast Conference men's basketball season began with practices in October 2020, followed by the start of the 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season in November. Conference play started in January and ended in March 2021.
The NEC tournament was held in March with the higher-seeded team hosting each game.

## Changes from last season

Robert Morris left the conference and joined the Horizon League.

## Head coaches

| Team | Head coach | Previous position | Year at school | Overall record | NEC record | NEC tournament championships |
| Bryant | Jared Grasso | Iona (asst.) | 3 | 25–37 | 14–22 | 0 |
| Central Connecticut | Donyell Marshall | Buffalo (asst.) | 5 | 35–78 | 19–53 | 0 |
| Fairleigh Dickinson | Greg Herenda | UMass Lowell | 8 | 92–127 | 59–65 | 2 |
| LIU | Derek Kellogg | UMass | 4 | 49–51 | 28–26 | 1 |
| Merrimack | Joe Gallo | Robert Morris (asst.) | 5 | 81–45 | 14–4 | 0 |
| Mount St. Mary's | Dan Engelstad | Southern Vermont | 3 | 20–43 | 13–23 | 0 |
| Sacred Heart | Anthony Latina | Sacred Heart (asst.) | 8 | 90–131 | 58–66 | 0 |
| St. Francis Brooklyn | Glenn Braica | St. John's (asst.) | 11 | 145–170 | 93–85 | 0 |
| Saint Francis (PA) | Rob Krimmel | Saint Francis (asst.) | 9 | 119–133 | 78–64 | 0 |
| Wagner | Bashir Mason | Wagner (asst.) | 9 | 131–117 | 83–59 | 0 |
Notes:
* All records, appearances, titles, etc. are from time with current school only.
* Year at school includes 2020–21 season.
* Overall and NEC/NCAA records are from time at current school and are before the beginning of the 2020–21 season. Because the current LIU athletic program inherited the athletic history of LIU Brooklyn, Kellogg's record includes his two seasons at LIU Brooklyn before the LIU athletic merger.
* Previous jobs are head coaching jobs unless otherwise noted.

## Preseason
### Preseason coaches poll

Sources:
| Rank | Team |
| 1. | Fairleigh Dickinson (6) |
| 2. | LIU (4) |
| 3. | Bryant (tie) |
| 4. | Mount St. Mary's (tie) |
| 5. | St. Francis Brooklyn |
| 6. | St. Francis (PA) |
| 7. | Merrimack |
| 8. | Wagner |
| 9. | Central Connecticut |
| 10. | Sacred Heart |
 first place votes

### Preseason All-NEC team

Sources:
| Recipient | School |
| Damian Chong Qui, (Junior, Guard) | Mount St. Mary's |
| Ty Flowers (RS-Senior, Forward) | LIU |
| Chauncey Hawkins (Senior, Guard) | St. Francis Brooklyn |
| Jahlil Jenkins, (Senior, Guard) | Fairleigh Dickinson |
| Elyjah Williams, (Senior, Forward) | Fairleigh Dickinson |

## NEC regular season
### Player of the week

Throughout the regular season, the Northeast Conference offices named player(s) of the week and rookie(s) of the week.
| Week | Player of the week | Rookie of the week |
| November 30, 2020 | Mark Flagg, St. Francis (PA) | Pier-Olivier Racine, FDU Maxwell Land, St. Francis (PA) |
| December 7, 2020 | Peter Kiss, Bryant | Joe Munden Jr., FDU |
| December 14, 2020 | Travis Atson, St. Francis Brooklyn Elyjah Williams, FDU | Joe Munden Jr., FDU |
| December 23, 2020 | Michael Green III, Bryant | Mike Sixsmith, Sacred Heart |
| January 11, 2021 | Peter Kiss (2), Bryant Tyler Thomas, Sacred Heart | Matas Spokas, Sacred Heart |
| January 18, 2021 | Alex Morales, Wagner Damian Chong Qui, MSMU | Josh Reaves, MSMU |
| January 25, 2021 | Jordan Minor, Merrimack Damian Chong Qui (2), MSMU | Maxwell Land (2), St. Francis (PA) |
| February 2, 2021 | Eral Penn, LIU Jahlil Jenkins, FDU | Bryce Johnson, Sacred Heart |
| February 8, 2021 | Alex Morales (2), Wagner | DeLonnie Hunt, Wagner |
| February 15, 2021 | Alex Morales (3), Wagner Damian Chong Qui (3), MSMU | DeLonnie Hunt (2), Wagner |
| February 23, 2021 | Ty Flowers, LIU | DeLonnie Hunt (3), Wagner |
| March 1, 2021 | Alex Morales (4), Wagner | Mike Sixsmith (2), Sacred Heart |
| School | Player of the week Awards | Rookie of the week Awards |
| Bryant | 3 | 0 |
| Central Connecticut | 0 | 0 |
| Fairleigh Dickinson | 2 | 3 |
| LIU | 2 | 0 |
| Merrimack | 1 | 0 |
| Mount St. Mary's | 3 | 0 |
| Sacred Heart | 0 | 4 |
| St. Francis Brooklyn | 1 | 0 |
| Saint Francis (PA) | 1 | 2 |
| Wagner | 4 | 3 |

### Against other conferences

| NEC vs Power Conferences | Record |
| ACC | 1–2 |
| Big East | 0–4 |
| Big Ten | 0–4 |
| Big 12 | 0–0 |
| SEC | 0–0 |
| NEC vs Power Conferences Total | 1–10 |
| Other NCAA Division I Conferences | Record |
| America East | 2–3 |
| AAC | 0–0 |
| A-Sun | 0–1 |
| Atlantic-10 | 1–1 |
| Big South | 0-0 |
| Big West | 0–0 |
| CAA | 0–2 |
| C-USA | 0–0 |
| Horizon League | 0–0 |
| Ivy League | 0–0 |
| MAAC | 0–2 |
| Mid-American | 0–0 |
| MEAC | 1–0 |
| OVC | 0–0 |
| Patriot League | 0–2 |
| SoCon | 0–0 |
| Southland | 0–0 |
| SWAC | 0–0 |
| The Summit | 0–0 |
| Sun Belt | 0–0 |
| WAC | 0–0 |
| WCC | 0–0 |
| Other Division I Total | 4–11 |
| NCAA Division I Total | 5–21 |
| As of December 29, 2019 In bold are the Power Five conferences. ||
| NEC vs Power Conferences | Record |
| ACC | 0–0 |
| Big East | 0–0 |
| Big Ten | 0–0 |
| Big 12 | 0–0 |
| SEC | 0–0 |
| NEC vs Power Conferences Total | 0–0 |
| Other NCAA Division I Conferences | Record |
| America East | 0–0 |
| AAC | 0–0 |
| A-Sun | 0–0 |
| Atlantic-10 | 0–0 |
| Big South | 0-0 |
| Big West | 0–0 |
| CAA | 0–0 |
| C-USA | 0–0 |
| Horizon League | 0–0 |
| Ivy League | 0–0 |
| MAAC | 0–0 |
| Mid-American | 0–0 |
| MEAC | 0-0 |
| OVC | 0–0 |
| Patriot League | 0–0 |
| SoCon | 0–0 |
| Southland | 0–0 |
| SWAC | 0–1 |
| The Summit | 0–0 |
| Sun Belt | 0–0 |
| WAC | 0–0 |
| WCC | 0–0 |
| Other Division I Total | 0–1 |
| NCAA Division I Total | 0–1 |

### Conference matrix

This table summarizes the head-to-head results between teams in conference play.
| | Bryant | CCSU | FDU | LIU | Merrimack | MSMU | Sacred Heart | SFB | SFU | Wagner |
| vs. Bryant | – | 0–2 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 |
| vs. Central Conn. | 2–0 | – | 1–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 |
| vs. Fairleigh Dickinson | 0–2 | 1–1 | – | 0–2 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 |
| vs. LIU | 2–0 | 0–2 | 2–0 | – | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 1–1 |
| vs. Merrimack | 2–0 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 1–1 | – | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 2–0 |
| vs. Mount St. Mary's | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 0–2 | – | 1–1 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 2–0 |
| vs. Sacred Heart | 0–0 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | – | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 |
| vs. St. Francis Brooklyn | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–1 | – | 1–1 | 2–0 |
| vs. Saint Francis (PA) | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | – | 2–0 |
| vs. Wagner | 2–0 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 0–2 | – |
| Total | 10–4 | 5–13 | 8–10 | 9–9 | 9–9 | 9–7 | 9–7 | 9–9 | 5–13 | 13–5 |

### All-NEC honors and awards

At the conclusion of the regular season, the conference selects outstanding performers based on a poll of league coaches, below are the results.
| Honor | Recipient |
| Player of the Year | Alex Morales, Wagner |
| Coach of the Year | Bashir Mason, Wanger |
| Defensive Player of the Year | Nana Opoku, Mount St. Mary's |
| Rookie of the Year | DeLonnie Hunt, Wanger |
| Most Improved Player of the Year | Tyler Thomas, Sacred Heart |
| All-NEC First Team | Damian Chong Qui, Mount St. Mary’s |
| All-NEC First Team | Elijah Ford, Wagner |
| All-NEC First Team | Peter Kiss, Bryant |
| All-NEC First Team | Alex Morales, Wagner |
| All-NEC First Team | Eral Penn, LIU |
| All-NEC Second Team | Ty Flowers, LIU |
| All-NEC Second Team | Michael Green III, Bryant |
| All-NEC Second Team | Chauncey Hawkins, St. Francis Brooklyn |
| All-NEC Second Team | Jahlil Jenkins, Fairleigh Dickinson |
| All-NEC Second Team | Tyler Thomas, Sacred Heart |
| All-NEC Third Team | Travis Atson, St. Francis Brooklyn |
| All-NEC Third Team | Ramiir Dixon-Conover , Saint Francis (PA) |
| All-NEC Third Team | Jordan Minor, Merrimack |
| All-NEC Third Team | Mikey Watkins, Merrimack |
| All-NEC Third Team | Elyjah Williams, Fairleigh Dickinson |
| All-NEC Rookie Team | Malik Edmead, Merrimack |
| All-NEC Rookie Team | DeLonnie Hunt, Wagner |
| All-NEC Rookie Team | Maxwell Land, Saint Francis (PA) |
| All-NEC Rookie Team | Joe Munden Jr., Faireigh Dickinson |
| All-NEC Rookie Team | Mike Sixsmith, Sacred Heart |

## Postseason
### NEC tournament

Due to complications caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, only the top four teams in the Northeast Conference were eligible to compete in the 2021 NEC tournament. Teams were seeded by record within the conference, with a tiebreaker system to seed teams with identical conference records.
| Semifinals Saturday, March 6, 2021 ESPN3 | Semifinals Saturday, March 6, 2021 ESPN3 | Semifinals Saturday, March 6, 2021 ESPN3 | Championship Tuesday, March 9, 2021 ESPN2 | Championship Tuesday, March 9, 2021 ESPN2 | Championship Tuesday, March 9, 2021 ESPN2 |
| 1 | Wagner | 60 | | | |
| 4 | Mount St. Mary's | 66 | | | |
| 4 | Mount St. Mary's | 66 | 4 | Mount St. Mary's | 73 |
| | | | 2 | Bryant | 68 |
| 2 | Bryant | 85 | 2 | Bryant | 68 |
| 3 | Sacred Heart | 55 | | | |

### NCAA tournament

| Seed | Region | School | First Four |
| #16 | East | Mount St. Mary's | vs Texas Southern, L 52-60 |