Orono, ME - The University of Maine men's basketball program continues their four-game road trip with a stop at Duquesne on Wednesday Night.

GAME INFORMATION:
DATE: Dec. 11, 2024
TIME: 7:00 PM
SITE: Pittsburgh, PA - UMPC Cooper Field House
2023-24 RECORDS: Maine 6-5, Duquesne 2-7
VIDEO: ESPN+
LISTEN: goblackbears.com
LIVE STATS
TWITTER: @maineMBB
GAME NOTES
 

- Last Time Out - 

The University of Maine men's basketball team was defeated on Sunday, Dec. 8 at Fordham.

The Black Bears struggled in the early parts of the game to find an offensive rhythm but were able to head into halftime on a 9-4 run as they trimmed the first half deficit down to 37-23. Killian Gribben and Keelan Steele both had 6 points each to lead the way in scoring. Jaden Clayton had 4 rebounds and 2 assists while Kellen Tynes had 2 steals.

Maine came out and started the second half on a 8-2 run, leading to the extended 17-6 run to get back to within single digits at 38-31. Fordham pushed the lead back out to double-digits as they were able to defeat the Black Bears on Sunday afternoon, 87-72. 

AJ Lopez finished with a career-high 24 points in the contest.

Steele finished with 10 points and 5 rebounds while Clayton had 4 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists.

- 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 first 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 recently scored his 1000th career point as part of a 12-point outing against Holy Cross.

Over his past five games, Tynes has registered 22 steals.

-Wings Making Impacts-

Quion Burns and AJ Lopez and making the most of their first season as starters for the Black Bears as they are both ranked in the Top-15 in the America East in scoring. Lopez leads the Black Bears with 14.1 PPG while Burns averages the second-most points with 13.0 PPG.

Burns has scored in double-digits in six of his last seven games for the Black Bears, including a season-high 21 in a comeback victory over Navy. Lopez has scored in double-digits in nine of 11 games on the season for Maine and scored a career-high 24 against Fordham on 12/8/24.

-Bench Production Ramping Up-

The Black Bears have seen a steady climb in their bench production over their past few games, lead in a major way by Killian Gribben and Christopher Mantis.

The two are combining for 14.4 PPG, but both have registered their season-highs in scoring in the last six games with Mantis scoring 17 against Holy Cross on Nov. 24 and 15 against UMA last time out, while Gribben scored 12 against Elon on Nov. 29.

- 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.

- 34 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.

 - NET Rankings -

On Dec. 5, the Black Bears were ranked 148th in the Country in Net Rankings, their highest under Chris Markwood in his three seasons. Maine is currently the 69th ranked defense in the country.  The Black Bears are 34th in the country in turnovers forced per game with 15.73 forced per game. Maine is the sixth-best free throw shooting team in the country as they shoot 81.6% from the line.

-UMaine-