Men's Basketball Hosts Cairn on Tuesday Night

The Retrievers completed a seven-game home stand against Morgan State on Wednesday, Nov. 27.
UMBC just finished a stretch of seven games over a span of 17 days in November. All of those games were at home.
The Retrievers have won three of their last four contests after Saturday's victory at Towson.
UMBC is 27th in the country in 3-pt field goal percentage (40.4).
Senior guard Bryce Johnson is 6th in the America East in scoring (14.9 ppg.) while teammate Marcus Banks Jr. is 7th (14.4 ppg.)
Graduate student forward Josh Odunowo is fourth in the AE in field goal percentage (.545).
The Retrievers have recorded five of the top 12 scoring performances in the America East this season. They are third in the league in scoring (83.1 ppg.).

SERIES HISTORY
First meeting

LAST TIME OUT: UMBC RUNS AWAY FROM TOWSON TO WIN CHARM CITY CLASSIC

Senior guard Marcus Banks Jr. scored a game-high 22 points and led four Retrievers in double-figures as the visiting UMBC men's basketball team ran away from the Towson Tigers, 84-71, on Saturday afternoon at TU Arena. UMBC, who had not defeated Towson since 2012, broke an eight-game losing skid against their Beltway rivals and captured the Charm City Classic.
"I thought our guys played a fantastic game today," said UMBC Head Coach Jim Ferry. "We challenged ourselves after the Georgetown loss to be more connected on both ends of the floor. Today was probably our best defensive effort, and I thought we were the more physical team. We got the game played to our pace, and I give our guys credit for bouncing back and coming in here to beat an excellent team."
Banks Jr. converted 8-of-18 field goal attempts and was 5-for-11 from long-range. Sophomore point guard Ace Valentine tied his career-high with 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting and added four assists and a pair of steals. Graduate student forward Josh Odunowo (17 points) and senior guard Bryce Johnson (12 points, five assists, six rebounds) were also in double-digits. Junior forward Louie Jordan grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds and just missed a double-double with nine points (three treys).
The Dawgs shot 51.7 percent (31-for-60) and made 10-of-25 (40 percent) of their attempts from behind the arc. Defensively, UMBC held the hosts to 30-of-78 field goals (38.5 percent) and the Tigers hit just 7-of-26 (26.9 percent) of their long-range tries.
UMBC (6-5) led from start to finish as they jumped out to a 12-2 lead over the first 3:44 of the contest. The Retrievers hit all four attempts from behind the arc to open the game, including a pair by Banks Jr.
The Tigers (4-6) were within 14-9 just past the five-minute mark, but the Retrievers rattled off 11 consecutive points to claim a 25-9 advantage with 10:40 left in the stanza. Valentine scored seven of his 11 first-half points during the stretch, and Johnson added the other four.
The visitors held their largest lead of the half, 38-19, after Jordan's trifecta with 1:53 left before the break. The hosts went on a mini 5-0 spurt to trim the deficit to 38-24 at intermission.
The Tigers were within 48-36 at the 14:40 mark of the second half, but UMBC went on an 11-2 burst to widen their lead to 59-38 with 12:38 left. Banks Jr. ignited the stretch with a four-point play, then senior guard Devan Sapp splashed another triple. Odunowo capped the run with a fast break slam.

BOMBS AWAY

• UMBC leads the AE with 9.3 3s made per game this season, which ranks 77th in the country.
• The Retrievers 17 makes against Valley Forge were an America East single-game high.
• The Retrievers lead the league in 3-pt field goal percentage (.391)and are 17th in the nation.
• Marcus Banks Jr.(3.0) and Louie Jordan (2.1) rank 1st and 8th respectively in treys per game.
Jordan is 2nd in 3-pt percentage (.479) while Banks Jr. is 3rd (.452).

SHARING IS CARING

UMBC dished an America East high 31 assists in the win versus Valley Forge. It was their highest output since they handed out 29 vs. Coppin St. on 11/30/2022.
It was also the most in the conference since Maine and Bryant recorded 32 during the 2022-23 season.
The Retrievers lead the league in the league in the category at 15.9 pg.
Ace Valentine is 6th in the league with 3.6 helpers per game and is 2nd in assist/turnover ratio (2.4)

TAKING A LICKING & KEEP ON TICKING

Bryce Johnson drew a career-high eight fouls in back-to-back games against Coppin State and Saint Peter's.
Johnson leads the squad with 40 fouls drawn thus far in 2024-25.
Johnson is 73rd in the country with 51 free throw attempts.

A PROGRAM ON THR RISE

UMBC is enjoying their best stretch in program history as the Retrievers have gone a combined 149-113 (.568) over the past nine seasons. UMBC enjoyed three straight 20+ win seasons from 2016-17 to 2018-19. Their 25 victories in 2017-18 was a program-high.
UMBC became the first #16 seed to knock off a #1 seed when the Retrievers shocked Virginia, 74-54, in the 2018 NCAA Tournament.
Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena (formerly the UMBC Event Center) officially opened on Feb. 3, 2018, as the UMBC men's basketball team hosted the Vermont Catamounts before a capacity crowd of 4,753. Both the men's and women's basketball teams played their February and March games in the new facility, which included three post-season victories.
The on-campus facility can accommodate nearly 6,000 patrons for commencements, concerts, featured speakers, and other events. It includes spectator facilities, such as concessions, catering, hospitality, restrooms, security and guest services.

COACH FERRY

Jim Ferry is in his 23rd season as a collegiate head coach and his third at UMBC.
Ferry led the Retrievers to consecutive 18-14 records as well as an appearance in the America East Finals in 2021-22.
Prior to his arrival in Baltimore, Ferry served in 2020-21 as the interim head coach at Penn State. He 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 spent 10 seasons as head coach at LIU Brooklyn, guiding the program to unprecedented levels of success. He led the Blackbirds to the Northeast Conference regular-season titles and tournament championships in 2011 and 2012, including their first NCAA Championship appearance in 14 years.

MILESTONE WATCH
900 career points -Marcus Banks, Jr. (881)
900 career points - Bryce Johnson (816)
800 career points - Marlon Short (773)
600 career points, Josh Odunowo, (553)
200 career 3-pointers-Marcus Banks, (173)
450 career rebounds - Marlon Short (406).
300 career field goals - Bryce Johnson (280)
150 career 3pt-fg - Bryce Johnson (128).

UP NEXT
UMBC will travel to Georgia Tech on Wednesday, Dec. 18.

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