Orono, ME - The University of Maine men's basketball program begins their final road trip of the regular season on Thursday as they travel to UAlbany.
 

- Last Time Out - 

The University of Maine men's basketball team fell to Vermont on Saturday, Feb. 15 in a close contest in Orono, 65-61. Kellen Tynes finished with 19 points while Quion Burns finished one rebound shy a double-double as he had 16 points and 9 rebounds. Jaden Clayton ended with 7 points and 5 assists while Killian Gribben and Christopher Mantis both had 6 points off the bench.

- 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 82 steals on the season. He also ranks in the top-20 in the America East in scoring as he is averaging 12.8 PPG, which is the third most on the Black Bears and 19th 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-18 in the America East in scoring. Lopez leads the Black Bears with 15.0 PPG (10th in America East) while Burns averages the second-most points on the team and 18th in the America East at 13.0 per game.

Lopez is averaging 17.2 PPG in 11 conference games, which is the sixth-highest mark in the conference. Lopez is also leading the America East in 3PT% at 50.0%, leading in FT% at 89.2% and is fifth in the conference at 54.6% from the field overall in conference games. Lopez is shooting 90.1% from the FT line on the season, which is the 14th best in the NCAA.

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 179 total rebounds on the season is the 6th-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 11 of the 14 categories. Highlighted by the defense and limiting turnovers, Maine's national and conference rankings sit as follows (National-America East): 4.3 - Turnover Margin (12th-1st), 9.4 - Steals Per Game (16th-1st), 15.2 - Turnovers Forced Per Game (21st-1st), 65.3 - Fewest Points Allowed Per Game (29th-2nd), 14.8 - Fewest Fouls Per Game (35th-3rd),  1.41 - Assist-to-Turnover Ratio (58th-1st), 75.2% - Free Throw% (63rd-2nd), 15.3 - Assists Peg Game (76th-1st), 46.8% - Field Goal% (79th-3rd), 10.8 - Fewest Turnovers Per Game (78th-1st), 6.6- Scoring Margin (95th-2nd), 61.5% - Winning% (2nd in AE), 42.4% - Defensive Field Goal% (2nd in AE) and 35.4% - Three-Point% (3rd in AE).

- 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 8-3 in America East action and six-games over .500 at an 16-10 record overall. Maine recently had their longest winstreak under Coach Markwood snapped at Vermont as they had won six-straight games prior to a the loss.. With one more win, the Black Bears will clinch their first winning-regular season record since 2009-10 (19-11) and their first ever home playoff game in America East history.

- History vs UAlbany -

This will be the second matchup of the 2024-25 season for these two as Maine defeated UAlbany in Orono back on Jan. 11, 87-66. Chris Mantis (17), Jaden Clayton (16), AJ Lopez (16) and Kellen Tynes (10) all scored in double-digits in the victory. Maine shot 56.4% from the field and 47.8% from three-point range on the night while holding the Great Danes to 43.1% from the field and just 27.8% from three-point range. Maine also forced 20 turnovers while only committing 10.