- Last Time Out - 

The University of Maine men's basketball team took down UMBC on Saturday afternoon for their 8th America East Conference victory of the season as the got the win, 73-50. Jaden Clayton set a new career-high in assists as he had 11 on the afternoon. Clayton also had 4 steals on the defensive end of the floor. Quion Burns recorded his third double-double of the season as he had 13 points and 11 rebounds. AJ Lopez finished with a game-high 17 points while Mantis had 14 off the bench for Maine. The eight conference wins are the most since the 2010-11 season (9-7).

- Two-Time Defensive Player of the Year... and More - 

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. On Feb. 6, Tynes broke the program record for most steals in a career as he registered his 244th steal in 85 games played, breaking the previous record held by Marty Higgins of 243 in 115 games played. Tynes is currently second in the NCAA with 81 steals on the season. He also ranks in the top-20 in the America East in scoring as he is averaging 12.6 PPG, which is the third most on the Black Bears and 20th in the America East.

- 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-17 in the America East in scoring. Lopez leads the Black Bears with 15.4 PPG (8th in America East) while Burns averages the second-most points on the team and 17th in the America East at 12.8 per game.

Lopez is averaging 18.4 PPG in nine conference games, which is the third-highest mark in the conference. Lopez is also leading the America East in 3PT% at 51.0%, leading in FT% at 88.6% and is fifth in the conference at 57.1% from the field overall in conference games.

Burns recently had his best two offensive performances in back-to-back games as a Black Bear as he scored a career-high 28 points on 9-for-16 shooting from the field and 4-for-5 from behind-the-arc and UMass Lowell before scoring 26 points on 9-for-12 shooting a perfect 5-for-5 from three-point range. His 170 total rebounds on the season is the 7th-most in the America East.

- NCAA Leaderboards - 

Maine sits in the top-three in the America East in 14 of the 28 major categories that the NCAA tracks, while also being ranked in the top-100 in all of the NCAA in all 14 categories. Highlighted by the defense and limiting turnovers, Maine's national and conference rankings sit as follows (National-America East): 4.5 - Turnover Margin (11th-1st), 9.5 - Steals Per Game (14th-1st), 15.3 - Turnovers Forced Per Game (21st-1st), 65.3 - Fewest Points Allowed Per Game (29th-2nd), 15.2 - Fewest Fouls Per Game (36th-3rd), 75.47 - Free Throw% (51st-2nd), 1.42 - Assist-to-Turnover Ratio (52nd-1st), 46.9% - Field Goal% (70th-3rd), 10.8 - Fewest Turnovers Per Game (71st-1st), 7.0 - Scoring Margin (90th-2nd), 64.0% - Winning% (96th-1st), 42.2% - Defensive Field Goal% (98th-2nd) and 35.4% - Three-Point% (99th-3rd).

- 44 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. He has the Black Bears off to their best conference start in over 15 years as they sit at 8-2 in America East action and seven-games over .500 at an 16-9 record overall. Maine recently had their longest win streak under Coach Markwood snapped at Vermont as they had won six-straight games prior to the loss. With one more win, the Black Bears will clinch their first winning-regular season record since 2009-10 (19-11).

- History vs Vermont -

This will be the second matchup of the 2024-25 season for these two as Vermont handed Maine one of its two losses in conference play in the first go-around with a 55-49 victory in Burlington. Quion Burns and Chris Mantis combined for 23 points on the night. All-time, Vermont leads the series 82-70 as Saturday will mark the 153rd meeting all-time between these two historic rivals. Maine is looking to snap its losing streak against the Catamounts as it stands at 29-straight.