Men’s Basketball Returns to New York For Midweek Matchup at UAlbany

UMBC men’s basketball will return to upstate New York for a midweek rematch against UAlbany on Wednesday night. The Retrievers are riding a three-game win streak after pulling out a gutsy 70-68 win at Binghamton on Saturday.

BALTIMORE– UMBC men's basketball will return to upstate New York for a midweek rematch against UAlbany on Wednesday night. The Retrievers are riding a three-game win streak after pulling out a gutsy 70-68 win at Binghamton on Saturday. Senior Keondre Kennedy (Atlanta, Ga.) capped his strong week with a 17 point performance that earned him America East Player of the Week honors on Monday.

UAlbany Game Info:
What: UMBC Retrievers (9-10, 4-4 AE) at UAlbany Great Danes (9-12, 5-4 AE)
Where: SEFCU Arena - Albany, N.Y.
When: Wednesday, February 2 - 7:00 p.m.
How to Watch: Live stream on ESPN+, and ESPN app, live stats at UAlbanySports.com
Social Media: @UMBC_MBB, @UMBCAthletics, #RetrieverNation, #AEHoops

Scouting the Retrievers:

The Retrievers are riding a three-game win streak, most recently defeating Binghamton on the road, 70-68 on Saturday. UMBC got a pair of free throws from Darnell Rogers (Baltimore, Md./Indian Land (SC)/New Mexico JC) with 1.8 seconds left to pull ahead. It was the first time since 2010 UMBC hit a free throw in the final five seconds to win a game.
Keondre Kennedy leads with the Retrievers averaging 14.4 ppg and is second on the team at 5.2 rpg this year. He is shooting 48 percent from the floor and is the team leader with 19 steals.
Rogers and L.J. Owens (Annapolis, Md./Severn School/William & Mary) are also in double figures at 10.6 and 10.2 ppg respectively. Rogers is dishing out a team best 3.1 apg, fourth best in the America East.
Yaw Obeng-Mensah (Toronto, Ontario) is leading the team on the glass with 5.4 rpg.

Scouting the Great Danes:

The Great Danes will be playing their third game in five days after dropping a 73-61 contest at Vermont on Monday. The game was a rescheduled make-up from earlier in the season. UAlbany is just 3-4 at home this year.
Matt Cerruti and Jamel Horton lead the Great Danes at 11.5 and 11.4 ppg respectively. Cerruti is shooting a blistering 44.9 percent from three and 45.5 percent from the floor.
Justin Neely leads the team on the glass, grabbing 5.4 rpg.

All-Time Series:

This will be the second meeting this year and the 42nd all-time with the Great Danes leading the series 29-12. UAlbany won the first game between the two just a couple weeks back, 66-54.
UMBC had won the previous three matchups and have won the last three on the road in the series.

Kennedy Honored:

Keondre Kennedy was named America East Player of the Week on Monday after a stellar week that saw the senior average 24.0 ppg and 8.0 rpg in a pair of wins.
The Atlanta native started the week by setting a career high 31 points with seven rebounds against NJIT. He followed that performance with a 17 point, nine rebound performance against Binghamton.

Among the Best:

UMBC sits 22th nationally in team free throw percentage at 77.0, going 255-331 from the charity stripe this season.
The mark is good for first in the conference.

Milestone Watch:

L.J. Owens is approaching the 1,000 point mark, needing just 109 points to achieve the mark.
As a team, the Retrievers are on pace to have their best season from the foul line in program history. UMBC is currently at 77.0 percent from the charity stripe. The previous best was 75.5 percent in 1986-87.

Up Next:

UMBC will return to Baltimore for a pair of games, starting with New Hampshire on Saturday, Feb. 5.
Tip-off with the Wildcats at The Peake is set for 5:30 p.m. on ESPN3.

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