Orono, ME - The University of Maine men's basketball program begins their four-game road trip on Sunday, Dec. 8 at Fordham.

GAME INFORMATION:
DATE: Dec. 8, 2024
TIME: 12:00 PM
SITE: Bronx, NY - Rose Hill Gym
2023-24 RECORDS: Maine 6-4, Fordham 5-5
VIDEO: ESPN+
LISTEN: goblackbears.com
LIVE STATS
TWITTER: @maineMBB
GAME NOTES

- Last Time Out - 

The University of Maine men's basketball program topped 100 points on Tuesday night for the first time on the season as they defeated UMA, 103-51. After a back-and-forth contest across the opening 12 minutes of the contest, the Black Bears ended the contest out scoring UMA 80-27 over the final 28 minutes as they picked up their sixth win of the season.

Seven different Black Bears scored double-digit points in the victory as Christopher Mantis (15) lead all scorers. Quion Burns (13), AJ Lopez (12), Keelan Steele (12), Logan Carey (11), Kellen Tynes (10) and Isaac Bonilla (10) rounded out the scorers for the Black Bears in double-digits. Jaden Clayton and Tynes both had 8 assists while Tynes led the contest in steals with 5. Burns and Carey both had 7 rebounds while Novak Perovic had 6 rebounds and 6 assists off the bench.

- 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 four games, Tynes has registered 19 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. Burns leads the Black Bears with 13.6 PPG while Lopez averages the second-most points with 13.1 PPG.

Burns has scored in double-digits in six-straight games for the Black Bears, including a season-high in a comeback victory over Navy.

Lopez has scored in double-digits in eight of 10 games on the season for Maine and has also made two or more three-pointers in seven of the 10 games for Maine.

-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 13.6 PPG, but both have registered their season-highs in scoring in the last five 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 -

As of Dec. 5, the Black Bears are ranked 148th in the Country in Net Rankings, their highest under Chris Markwood in his three seasons. Maine is currently the 41st ranked defense in the country and is Top-70 in a number of defensive categories: 39th - Turnovers Forced Per Game (15.7), 66th - Three-Point% Defense (29.3). Maine is also doing the small things at a high level on the offensive side of the ball, as they are 11th in the NCAA in free throw% (80.6) and 66th in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.44).

-UMaine-