2021-22 Schedule | 2021-22 Roster
BALTIMORE-- The 2021-22 season will be a season of firsts in more ways than one for the UMBC men's basketball program. The team is coming off their first America East regular season title, fans will be back in attendance for the first time since the 2019-20 season, the team's home court has a new name (Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena), and a new coach will be at the helm.
Jim Ferry enters his first season as the Retrievers' bench boss, taking over a program that has seen a historic rise over the past five seasons.
Ferry will inherit a program that has risen to the top tier of the America East over the past five years. Last season, the Retrievers added to their string of success by winning their first America East regular season title, earning the top seed in the conference tournament. However, a new era of Retriever basketball will begin with Ferry, who becomes the tenth head coach in program history.
This year's version of the Black and Gold will feature a mix of familiar and new faces who all have the same mission in mind - getting back to the NCAA Tournament. The Retrievers will lean on veteran returners Darnell Rogers (Baltimore, Md./Indian Land (SC)/New Mexico JC), L.J. Owens (Annapolis, Md./Severn School/William & Mary), Keondre Kennedy (Atlanta, Ga.), and Dimitrije Spasojevic (Vrsac, Serbia) to lead the team.
NEW FACES:
Coach Ferry and his staff worked hard over the summer on the transfer portal, bringing in four players with Division I experience, as well as one high-level junior college transfer. Guard Ray Salnave (Elmont, N.Y.) comes to Baltimore after spending 2020-21 at DePaul. Prior to his time with the Blue Demons, Salnave spent four years at Monmouth and is approaching 1,500 career points. Hakim Byrd (Philadelphia, Pa.) transfers from Marist, with Anyang Garang (Adelaide, Australia) and Tre Edwards (Hamilton, Ontario) coming to Charm City from Oklahoma and Akron respectively.
Yaw Obeng-Mensah (Toronto, Ontario) joins the Retrievers after a couple of strong seasons at Santa Fe College and will add depth for the Retrievers on the wing. Walk-ons Kenny Sumpter (Havre de Grace, Md./Havre de Grace/Harford CC), and JC Harris (Gaithersburg, Md./Northwest) also join UMBC for the 2021-22 season. Harris is the son of former UMBC standout Dana Harris,'93,who is second all-time in career assists.
VETERAN PRESENCE:
The Retrievers will be one of the older teams in the country in 2021-22. UMBC is just one of three teams to have zero true freshmen on their roster, joining Penn State and Manhattan in that distinction.
FERRY FILE:
Ferry comes to Baltimore after serving in 2020-21 as the interim head coach at Penn State University. This past season, Ferry led the Nittany Lions to an 11-14 overall mark and a 7-12 Big Ten record that included wins over NCAA Tournament teams No. 14 Wisconsin, No. 15 Virginia Tech, Rutgers, and Maryland (twice). Ferry began his tenure as an assistant coach at Penn State in 2017-18 and was an integral part of the offensive resurgence for the Nittany Lions.
Prior to arriving in State College, Ferry was the bench boss at Duquesne. Ferry's Duquesne teams reached several milestones in his five years there, including a 17-win mark in 2015-16, a total reached only six times in the previous 43 years. The Dukes set a school record for points (2,704) that year and netted 322 three-point field goals, the third-highest total in Atlantic 10 history. During that season, Ferry celebrated his 300th career coaching win and the Dukes helped add to that total with their first postseason victory in nearly 50 years.
The Dukes posted other notable wins under Ferry, recording a victory at Atlantic 10 foe Temple in 2013, their first since 1995 and aAn upset of 10th-ranked Saint Louis on the Billikens' home court gave Duquesne its first road win over a top-10 team in more than five decades. Victories over teams in the Atlantic Coast, Big Ten, and Big 12 conferences helped the program make significant progress.
Prior to his five years at Duquesne, Ferry spent 10 seasons as head coach at LIU Brooklyn, guiding that program to unprecedented levels of success. Ferry led the Blackbirds to Northeast Conference regular-season titles and tournament championships in 2011 and 2012, including their first NCAA Championship appearance in 14 years.
Ferry, who owns a career record of 314-265 in 19 years as a head coach, entered the coaching ranks as an assistant at his alma mater, Keene State College, in Keene, New Hampshire, following his graduation in 1990. He then served as an assistant coach at Bentley College for seven years where he helped the Falcons win the 1992-93 Northeast 10 regular-season championship and earn a trip to the NCAA Tournament.
In 1998-99, Plymouth State hired Ferry to guide its program and saw the first-year head coach compile 22 wins, the highest single-season total in the Panthers' history, a mark that still stands. The Panthers captured a share of the Little East Conference title and played in the ECAC New England Tournament championship game.
Ferry returned to his home state to lead Adelphi University, compiling an 82-11 record in three seasons from 1999-2002. His 1999-2000 team advanced to the NCAA Div. II Sweet Sixteen and his 2000-01 and 2001-02 teams made back-to-back trips to the NCAA Div. II Elite Eight. The 2001 squad claimed a No. 1 with 31-straight wins and in his two final two seasons, the program had only four losses combined. He was recognized as the USBWA Basketball Times Division II Coach of the Year following the 2000-01 season and was the NIT/MBWA Division II Coach of the Year in 2000, 2001, and 2002.
COACHING STAFF:
Coach Ferry has assembled a very talented staff around him, bringing in coaches with various experiences at all levels of basketball in Danny Lawson, Josh Pelletier, and Evann Baker. Lawson comes to Charm City after recently serving as the head coach of DIII Emmanuel College for three seasons. Lawson rejoins Ferry on the sidelines, having served as an assistant at Duquesne during his tenure in Pittsburgh. He also has experience in the NBA working as an assistant video coordinator during the Boston Celtics 2008 championship season.
Pelletier will be a familiar face for Retriever fans, having served as an assistant coach at America East rival UAlbany the previous seven seasons. Like Lawson, Pelletier was part of a Jim Ferry staff at Duquesne for one year in 2013-14 as the director of basketball administration. The New York native recently was inducted into the Upstate New York Basketball Hall of Fame, and currently holds the career scoring record at his alma mater, LaSalle Institute.
Baker, a DMV native, returns home after spending the last four years as the video coordinator at Akron. Prior to joining the Zips, Baker was a graduate manager at Penn State for two seasons. Baker was a standout at Archbishop Carroll High School, earning Gatorade Player of the Year honors in 2006 and currently ranks ninth all-time in Washington, D.C. high school basketball in single-game scoring with 51 points. In addition to coaching, Baker is the director of communications for Education Goals Opportunities and Sports (E.G.O.S), a non-profit organization.
Caesar Adim comes to Baltimore and will serve as a graduate assistant for the Retrievers. Adim most recently served as an athletics operations assistant at Kentucky where he was an event and support manager for men's basketball. Prior to his tenure in Lexington, Adim worked at his alma mater, UMass, holding roles of program assistant and senior manager for the Minutemen. He was in charge of video and day-to-day operations. He also has experience as an NCAA Tournament Team Ambassador.
Jake Brudish and Will Bass remain on staff with Brudish taking over as the Director of Basketball Operations, and Bass as the Director of Player Development, Performance and Welfare.
SCHEDULE:
UMBC has put together a schedule that will challenge the Retrievers in the non-conference season. UMBC opens up the season at UMass before making their home debut against Penn State York on November 15. The rest of the opening month will see UMBC travel to Longwood for an MTE against Western Carolina and host Lancers. Also part of the MTE will be a home game against American right before Thanksgiving, with the month closing after the holiday at Pitt.
The Retrievers open December at home against Columbia before three straight on the road at Delaware, Georgetown, and Princeton. Two of the final three non-conference games will be at "The Peake" against UNCG and Radford, with a game against Mount St. Mary's on the road sandwiched between.
The conference looks to be as deep as it ever has with the Retriever traveling to New Hampshire and Stony Brook to open conference play.
#AEHoops POLL:
UMBC men's basketball was picked to finish fifth in the annual #AEHoops preseason coaches poll. Stony Brook was picked by the coaches to finish atop the conference, earning 77 points and five first place votes. Vermont and New Hampshire were picked to finish second and third with the Catamounts earning four first place votes (74 points) and the Wildcats picking up the other first place vote (64 points).
Defending champion Hartford was picked just ahead of the Retrievers in fourth place with 56 points, with UMBC garnering 49 points. UMass Lowell (43 points), UAlbany (34 points), and NJIT (23 points) rounded out the top eight. Maine and Binghamton were picked ninth and tenth with 16 and 14 points respectively.
The season will get underway on Tuesday, November 9 when the Retrievers head to Amherst to take on UMass. Tip-off is slated for TIME on BROADCAST. UMBC will make their home debut at Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena on Monday, November 15 against Penn State York at 7 p.m. That contest
