Orono, ME - The University of Maine men's basketball team begins the 2024-25 season on Monday night against #7 Duke.

GAME INFORMATION:
DATE: Monday, Nov. 4
TIME: 7:00 P.M.
SITE: Durham, NC | Cameron Indoor Stadium
2023-24 RECORDS: Maine 15-17, 7-9 AE | Duke 27-9, 15-5 ACC
VIDEO: ACCN
LISTEN: goblackbears.com | 92.9 The Ticket
LIVE STATS
TWITTER: @maineMBB
GAME NOTES
 

- Two-Time Defensive Player of the Year - 

Kellen Tynes is the reigning Defensive Player of the Year in the America East, an award he was won in back-to-back seasons at the University of Maine. He is the only player in program history to win the award, which in turn has led to him being named a Left Driesell Award Finalist in back-to-back seasons. He led all of the NCAA in steals in 2022-23 with 98. He has 168 steals across his two seasons with Maine.

To go along with his two DPOY Awards, Tynes has been the second leading scorer for the Black Bears across his two seasons at Maine. He averaged 14.3 PPG in 2022-23 and 12.6 PPG last season, resulting in back-to-back America East All-Conference Third Team selections. Tynes enters the 2024-25 season at 938 career points.

- Conference Leading Assists -

Jaden Clayton made an immediate impact with the Black Bears when he set foot on campus in the fall of 2022 as he earned the title of Starting Point Guard for the Black Bears. Since his debut game, he leads all of the America East in total assists with 247, averaging 4.0 for his career across his 62 games started.

To pair with his assist numbers, Clayton has taken strides in improving his scoring and shooting percentages over the past two seasons at Maine. His scoring increased from 6.9 PPG to 9.2 PPG from his freshmen to sophomore season while shooting at a higher percentage from the field (38.8%-41.2%), three-point range (26.2%-30.0%) and at the free throw line (72.9%-79.7%).

- 28 and Counting -

Since taking over at the helm of the Black Bears in the summer of 2022, Chris Markwood has developed the Black Bears into a Top-60 defensive program, which is leading to more victories per season than Maine has seen in over a decade. His 28 wins across his opening two season are the most wins in a two-year span since the 2009-11 Black Bears that won 34 games.

- Transfers Making Immediate Impact -

Transfers have made an immediate impact in the Chris Markwood Era. Starting with Tynes, who asserted himself as one of the top players in the America East, Coach Markwood has brought in a number of highly impactful players who make up the core of the 2024-25 Black Bears.

AJ Lopez (UNH) and Quion Burns (LIU) made their impact felt out of the gate last season as they quickly became integral parts of Markwood's system. Lopez ranked fourth on the Black Bears in scoring a season ago while Burns ranked seventh. Burns 

concluded the 2023-24 campaign by averaging 11.4 PPG across his final five contests.

Killian Gribben (Siena), Christopher Mantis (Appalachian St.) and Ridvan Tutic (UNH) are among the players who are looking to compete for meaningful minutes and looking to become key contributors to a Black Bear team that is looking to continue their winning ways of the past few seasons.

- Fourth in America East Preseason Poll -

Maine was selected fourth in the America East preseason poll following a 7-9 Conference record last season, which put them in a three-way tie for fourth place. Maine ultimately was the sixth seed in the conference tournament due to tiebreakers.

The fourth place in the preseason poll for the Black Bears is their highest since the 2010-11 season. Maine is looking to host their first ever playoff game since the America East went to a higher-seed hosting format in 2015 and their first postseason victory since the 2004 Black Bears.

- Program History vs Duke -

Maine and Duke have only squared off once during the 2016-17 season, a 94-55 Blue Devils' victory.

-UMaine-