At the start of the America East schedule, it appeared as though the University of Maine’s men’s basketball team was going to follow the script of previous Black Bear teams that struggled in early season conference play.
After jumping out to an 18-10 lead in their league opener at Bryant, the Bulldogs steamrolled the Black Bears 41-7 en route to an 81-55 win.
The Black Bears’ home opener in America East wasn’t going much better as they trailed Binghamton 40-32 at the half.
But UMaine rallied in the second half to post an 82-71 win and the Black Bears followed that up with an impressive 87-66 win over Albany and then a 57-44 road win over the New Jersey Institute of Technology.
UMaine’s 3-1 start in conference play is the program’s best since the 2010-11 team got off to a 9-1 start. The combined four-game league record of the previous 13 UMaine teams leading up to this season was 15-37.
“Defensively, we’ve really locked up,” said UMaine third-year head coach Chris Markwood. “The second half of that Binghamton game was more of ourselves in terms of the defensive side of the ball. We gave up 40 in the first half and held them to 31 in the second half which is on par.”
UMaine is giving up an average of 66.3 points per game, which is second best in the league and 55th best among 355 Division I teams in the country.
“We got back to that in the second half of the Binghamton game and when we’re doing that, it opens up the game, offensively. We got some easy points in transition. Everybody starts feeling a little bit better. You’re going against a looser defense, too.”
The defensive catalyst is graduate student guard Kellen Tynes.
The two-time America East Defensive Player of the Year, who led the nation in steals with 98 during the 2022-23 season, is currently second in the country in steals among players at the 355 Division I teams with 65. He is two behind the University of California San Diego’s Hayden Gray.
“He is a game-changer on that side of the ball,” Markwood said. “He is really disruptive. He embraces guarding the other team’s best player. He is a ballhawk. He is always around the ball. He has been tremendous during this stretch.”
Tynes has averaged five steals per game in the three wins, in addition to 15.7 points and seven assists.
Senior guard A.J. Lopez has averaged 18.3 points in the three victories and shot 55.9 percent from the floor.
“He’s playing a really high level of basketball,” Markwood said.
Junior guard Jaden Clayton is averaging 11 points and 4.7 assists in the three games.
“Jaden is a really steadying force and he has shot the ball well,” Markwood said.
Senior guard Christopher Mantis has given the Black Bears 9 ppg off the bench in the three games and has shot 7-for-15 beyond the 3-point arc (46.7 percent).
Markwood said he has also received noteworthy contributions from senior guard Quion Burns (8 ppg, 6.7 rebounds) during the stretch along with the post trio of “mobile and athletic” juniors Killian Gribben, Ridvan Tutic and Keelan Steele.
Sophomore guard Logan Carey has also been productive off the bench.
“That’s the strength of our team. It’s not the same guy every night. A lot of guys can carry us in a game and give us a big lift, offensively,” Markwood said.
He likes where his team is presently.
“I like the group. We’re playing good basketball right now,” Markwood said.
“It’s still early but if the team can keep putting its best foot forward, we can beat anyone in the league.”
UMaine’s defense will be tested on Saturday when the Black Bears play the highest-scoring team in the league, the University of Maryland Baltimore County. Game time in Baltimore is 1 p.m.
UMaine is 11-8 overall while UMBC is 9-9 and 1-2, respectively.
UMBC is averaging 82.9 points per game.
Lopez leads the Black Bears in scoring at 14.7 points per game. He is also grabbing 2.7 rebounds. Tynes is next at 12.8 ppg along with 5.1 assists, 3.4 steals and 3.5 rebounds. Burns is averaging 11.2 points and a team-high 6 rebounds.
UMBC has been sparked by senior guards Bryce Johnson (17.8 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 2.7 apg) and Marcus Banks Jr. (14.1 ppg, 4.4 rpg. 2.2 apg) along with graduate student forward Josh Odunowo (11.1 ppg, 5.3 rpg).