Orono, ME - The University of Maine men's basketball team returns to the Cross Insurance Center on Thursday, Jan. 11 to host the Wildcats of New Hampshire in the Buffalo Wild Wings Border Battle.

Tickets are still available and can be purchased here or by phone at 207-581-BEAR.

Promotions:
The Black Bears welcome all Bananas Cub Club members to Thursday evening's game! All current Cub Club members are asked to check in at the will call table, located inside the main entrance to the Cross Insurance Center on Thursday night to claim their free ticket(s) to the game. The Black Bears will also be holding in an in-game giveaway where they will be giving out two "Conference Packs".

GAME INFORMATION:
DATE: Thursday, Jan. 11
TIME: 6:00 P.M.
SITE: Bangor, ME - Cross Insurance Center
2023 RECORDS: Maine 8-8, 0-1 - UNH 8-6, 0-1
VIDEO: ESPN +
LISTEN: goblackbears.com
LIVE STATS
TWITTER: @maineMBB
GAME NOTES

Last Time Out: Maine was defeated in their America East opener by Vermont, 65-58.

The Black Bears took a four-point lead into halftime and continued to lead against the reigning America East Champions until midway through the second half.

Kellen Tynes finished with 19 points, six rebounds and three steals. Peter Filipovity (11pts) and Jaden Clayton (10pts) rounded out the top-three scorers on the afternoon.

Black Bear Rankings: Following one contest in conference play, Maine is allowing the 70th fewest points per game in the NCAA at 66.2 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 (55th - Second in America East), fewest turnovers per game (71st - Second in America East), turnover margin (82nd - First in America East),  turnovers forced per game (First in America East) and free throw percentage (Second in America East).

Spotlights: Peter Filipovity: Filipovity has emerged as one of the most improved players in all of the America East. 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 - 13.4) and is up over four points per game from last seasons average (9.2 - 13.4) 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 - 7.4) across his three seasons at Maine and he has become a much more reliable defender for a strong defensive minded Black Bear squad. His 7.4 rebounds per game this season are the fourth-most in the America East.

Kellen Tynes: Tynes continues to be one of the most consistent and dominate defenders in all of college basketball. He is averaging 2.0 steals per game, which is the second most per game in the America East and ranks  him in the Top-65 nationally. He has 30 total steals through 15 games played on the season.

Despite his scoring average being down slightly from a season ago (14.3 - 13.8), Maine 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 12 of 15 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 (70), fifth in assists per game (4.4) and does so with the fourth-best assist-to-turnover ratio (1.61) in the America East. In the conference opener against Vermont, Clayton stuffed the stat-sheet with 10 points, four assists, three rebounds and two steals.

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 22.7 points per game for the Black Bears. They have hit a combined 49 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 43 steals (led by Wright-McLeish's 25) and have 7 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 eight 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 36.8% 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 eight starts, including seven-straight games with a blocked shot.

Program History against UNH: This will be the 224th meeting all-time between these two historic rivals. Maine holds the all-time series lead at 123-80.

Last season, the Wildcats swept the Black Bears in the season series, winning game one by 13 points and game two by 12 points.

-UMaine-