The University of Maine men's basketball program begins a three-game home stand on Thursday night as they host the NJIT Highlanders.
- Last Time Out -Â
The University of Maine men's basketball team came up just short in their comeback effort at Vermont on Saturday afternoon as they lost only their second conference game of the season, 55-49. Quion Burns scored 11 points and had 9 rebounds for Maine. Christopher Mantis led the Black Bears in scoring on the afternoon as he had 12 points as he attempted a season-high 11 three-pointers. Kellen Tynes moved into a tie for the All-Time steals record for Maine as he has 243 at Maine. Killian Gribben had a season-high 4 blocks.
- Two-Time Defensive Player of the Year... and More -Â
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.
Tynes is currently leading the NCAA with 75 steals on the season. He also ranks in the top-20 in the America East in scoring as he is averaging 12.7 PPG, which ranks third 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 12.9 per game.
Lopez is averaging 18.0 PPG in eight conference games, which is the fifth-highest mark in the conference. Lopez is also leading the America East in 3PT% at 53.7% and is fifth in the conference at 57.4% 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 150 total rebounds on the season is the 7th-most in the America East.
- NCAA Leaderboards -Â
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): 4.4 - Turnover Margin (14th-1st), 9.3 - Steals Per Game (22nd-1st), 15.3 - Turnovers Forced Per Game (25th-1st), 65.6 - Fewest Points Allowed Per Game (37th-2nd), 15.2 - Fewest Fouls Per Game (48th-3rd), 1.36 - Assist-to-Turnover Ratio (70th-1st), 75.0% - Free Throw% (71st-2nd), 10.9 - Fewest Turnovers Per Game (76th-1st), 46.8% - Field Goal% (78th), 35.4% - Three-Point% (99th), 11.7 - Fast Break Points Per Game (100th-2nd), 60.9% - Winning% (2nd in AE), 6.4 - Scoring Margin (3rd in AE) and 42.3% - Defensive Field Goal% (2nd in AE).
- 42 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 6-2 in America East action and five-games over .500 at an 14-9 record overall. Maine just had their longest winstreak under Coach Markwood snapped at Vermont as they had won six-straight games prior to the loss.
- History vs NJIT -
This will be the second matchup of the 2024-25 season for these two as the Black Bears took the first game of the season, 57-44. AJ Lopez and Kellen Tynes combined for 30 points on a night where the Black Bears held the Highlanders to just 33.3% shooting from the field. In the all-time series, NJIT holds a narrow lead at 8-5.
-UMaine-
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