Men’s Basketball Starts 2021-22 Campaign at UMass on Tuesday

UMBC men’s basketball gets the 2021-22 season underway at UMass on Tuesday night.

GAME NOTES

BALTIMORE-- UMBC men's basketball gets the 2021-22 season underway at UMass on Tuesday night. The Retrievers are coming off an America East Regular Season title a year ago with a new coaching staff ready to take the Retrievers to new heights.

UMass Game Info:
What: UMBC Retrievers (0-0) at UMass Minutemen (0-0)
Where: Mullins Center - Amherst, Mass.
When: Tuesday, November 9 - 7:30 p.m.
How to Watch: Live stream on ESPN+ and NESN Plus, live stats at UMassAthletics.com
Social Media: @UMBC_MBB, @UMBCAthletics, #RetrieverNation, #AEHoops

Scouting the Retrievers:

The Retrievers kick off their 55th season of basketball and 36th in Division I on Tuesday, coming off a regular season title a season ago.
Jim Ferry begins his first season at the helm of the Retriever program, becoming the 10th coach in program history that sees nine returners from last year's team including guards L.J. Owens (Annapolis, Md./Severn School/William & Mary), Darnell Rogers (Baltimore, Md./Indian Land (SC)/New Mexico JC), and reigning Sixth Man of the Year Keondre Kennedy (Atlanta, Ga.).
Rogers averaged 9.8 ppg and 1.5 apg shooting 38 percent from the floor and 40 percent from three in 2020-21.
Owens and Kennedy each had stellar seasons a year ago with Owens pouring in 9.1 ppg and Kennedy adding 8.2 ppg.

Scouting the Minutemen:

UMass comes into the new season after finishing the shortened 2020-21 campaign at 8-7, 6-4 A10. The Minutemen were selected to finish 9th in the 14 team Atlantic 10 Conference.
The Minutemen lost their top two scorers from a year ago, and return Noah Fernandes who average 11.1 ppg and 4.2 rpg, shooting 43 percent from the floor and just under 40 percent from three. Fernandes led the team with 57 assists in 15 games, good for a 3.8 apg average.
Javohn Garcia also returns for UMass who averaged 10.4 ppg.
UMass held opponents to just 73.0 ppg and forced 14.7 turnovers per game last season.

All-Time Series:

This will be the first meeting all-time between UMBC and UMass.

Newcomers:

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.

Ferry Era Begins:

Ferry will look to become the fifth head coach to win their first game as head coach, joining Billy Jones (1974-75), Earl Hawkins (1988-89), Randy Monroe (2004-05), and Ryan Odom (2016-17) to achieve the feat.
Ferry became the 10th head coach in program history.
The New York native has made stops at Penn State, Duquesne, and LIU in the Division I ranks while also coaching at Adelphi and Plymouth State during his 20 year career with a 325-278 career record.
He has made NCAA Tournament appearances with LIU and Adelphi, while helping Duquesne to a second round appearance in the 2016 CBI Tournament.

Milestone Watch:

Several Retrievers are approaching career milestones in 2021-22. L.J. Owens is approaching the 1,000 point mark, needing just 302 points to achieve the mark. He is also just seven games away from 100 career games played.
Darnell Rogers needs 182 points and three games played to reach 500 career points and 50 games played.
Newcomer Ray Salnave needs just 234 points to reach 1,500 career points after scoring 1,266 during his time at Monmouth and DePaul.

Up Next:

The Retrievers will make their home debut at the newly named Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena on Monday, Nov. 15 against Penn State York.
Tip-off at The Peake is set for 7 p.m. on ESPN3.

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