Orono, ME - The University of Maine men's basketball team begins America East Action on Saturday afternoon at Vermont.

GAME INFORMATION:
DATE: Saturday, Jan. 6
TIME: 2:00 P.M.
SITE: Burlington, VT
2023 RECORDS: Maine 8-7, 0-0 - Vermont 10-5, 0-0
VIDEO: ESPN +
LISTEN: goblackbears.com
LIVE STATS
TWITTER: @maineMBB
GAME NOTES

Last Time Out: Maine wrapped up non-conference action with a loss at Minnesota, 80-62.

Peter Filipovity had a career-high 13 rebounds in the performance, which he paired with 16 points for his fourth double-double of the season.

Kellen Tynes had 13 points and seven assists while Kristians Feierbergs had 14 points and six rebounds.

Black Bear Rankings: Maine enters conference play allowing the 77th fewest points per game in the NCAA at 66.3 per game, which ranks third in the America East.

Maine ranks in the Top-100 national in a number of key categories and in the top-three in the America East, including: Steals per game (51st - Second in America East), turnover margin (76th - First in America East), fewest turnovers per game (82nd - Second in America East), turnovers forced per game (First in America East) and free throw percentage (First in America East).

Spotlights:
Peter Filipovity: Filipovity has emerged as one of the most improved players in all of the America East through non-conference action. In year two of being a part of Markwood's system, Filipovity has seen his scoring average nearly triple from his first season at Maine (4.8 - 13.5) and is up over four points per game from last seasons average (9.2 - 13.5) all while becoming a more efficient scorer of the basketball (47% - 57%).

To go along with the spike in scoring, he has seen a large increase in his rebounding totals (2.6 - 5.7 - 7.3) across his three seasons at Maine and he has become a much more reliable defender for a strong defensive minded Black Bear squad.

Kellen Tynes: Tynes continues to be one of the most consistent and dominate defenders in all of college basketball. He is averaging 1.9 steals per game, which is the second most per game in the America East and ranks  him in the Top-80 nationally. He has 27 total steals through 14 non-conference games played.

Despite his scoring average being down slightly from a season ago (14.3 - 13.4), Maine has played a much stronger non-conference schedule and Tynes has continued to be one of the most consistent players on the Black Bears as he has scored in double-figures in 11 of 14 games on the season, including three games of 20 or more points (season-high 26 against Holy Cross).

One season ago, Tynes became the first Black Bear in program history to be named a Conference Defensive Player of the Year, a National Semifinalist for Defensive Player of the Year and his numbers were above anyone else in the entire NCAA. Tynes led the country with 98 steals (excluding the NCAA Tournament) and his average of 3.27 steals per game also led the country and were the most in the NCAA in three years.

Jaden Clayton: Clayton is one of the best facilitators of the basketball in the America East. He ranks fourth in total assists (66), fifth in assists per game (4.4) and does so with the fifth-best assist-to-turnover ratio (1.65) in the America East.

Impact at the Forward Position: The Black Bears have run out a trio of small forwards/power forwards this season that have been a big part of the teams early season success. The transfer additions of AJ Lopez and Quion Burns, paired with fifth-year forward, Ja'Shonté Wright-McLeish, has combined to score 23.9 points per game for the Black Bears. They have hit a combined 47 three-pointers, shooting 34.5% from behind the arc as a group. The trio has been just as effective on the defensive end of the floor as they have on the offensive side. They have collected 42 steals (led by Wright-McLeish's 25) and have 11 blocks as a group.

One-Two Punch at Center: Maine began the season running Kristians Feierbergs in the starting five, with Adam Cisse first off the bench as the backup big-man. Over the past seven contests, Maine has flipped the script and inserted Cisse into the starting five with Feierbergs off the bench, which has led to some greatly improved results for both players in their production.

Feierbergs began the season shooting 2-for-17 (11.7%) from three-point range, but since coming off the bench his numbers have skyrocketed to shooting 37.5% from behind the arc and he has three of his top-four scoring performances of the season coming off of the bench.

Meanwhile, Cisse has made a much greater impact on the defensive end of the floor while running in the starting lineup as he has averaged 1.1 blocks per game in his seven starts, including six-straight games with a blocked shot.

Program History against Vermont: This will be the 150th meeting all-time between these two rivals, with Vermont leading the all-time series 79-70. Last season, the Catamounts swept the Black Bears in the season series, 2-0.

Home Conference Opener: Maine hosts UNH on Thursday, Jan. 11 at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor for their home conference opener.

-UMaine-