Men's Basketball Looks to Clinch America East Playoff Berth At NJIT on Thursday Evening

UMBC is 4-11 on the road this season.
The Dawgs are 4-5 all-time against the Highlanders.
The Retrievers clinch an America East Conference Tournament playoff berth with a win on Thursday.
NJIT rallied from a 22-point halftime deficit to win in Baltimore, 75-74, on Jan. 27.
SO guard Dion Brown is 5th in the country with 222 field goals and is 32nd with 550 points. He broke UMBC's sophomore scoring mark at Binghamton on Feb. 15.
Junior guard Marcus Banks, Jr. is 37th in the NCAA with 78 treys.
Graduate student forward Max Lorca-Lloyd is 16th in the nation in rejections at 2.31 per game.
The Dawgs are 56th nationally in 3-point field goal accuracy at 36.4 percent.
The Retrievers are 62nd in the country with 78.6 ppg.
The Retrievers have led at the half in 10-of-14 America East contests.

SERIES HISTORY

UMBC and NJIT have met nine times, with the Highlanders now holding a 5-4 lead.
The Retrievers have won three of the last five contests.
NJIT rallied from a 22-point halftime deficit to shock the Retrievers this past January in Baltimore.
Last season, the Highlanders defeated the Retrievers, 69-65, in Newark, NJ. The Dawgs returned the favor with a 72-63 triumph in Baltimore.

A GLANCE AT THE HIGHLANDERS

NJIT has dropped four straight after upsetting Vermont and UMass Lowell in back-to-back contests.
Freshman guard Tariq Francis is the top America East Rookie of the Year candidate as he paces the Highlanders in scoring at 14.5 ppg. He's been named AE Rookie of the Week eight times.
Another freshman, Sebastion Thomas, has earned the same award three times and is averaging 5.9 ppg.
Senior guard Mekhi Gray averages 10.1 ppg. and 4.7 rebounds.
Graduate student guard Elijah Buchanan is netting 12.7 ppg. and 5.5 rebounds .

BROWN RACING UP THE ALL-TIME SCHOOL CHARTS

It's been a breakout season for super sophomore Dion Brown.
Brown, a two-time AE Player of the Week this season, broke Jairus Lyles' sophomore record of 482 set in 2015-2016 and now has 550 points.
Only seven players at UMBC have scored 500 points in a season and just three have hit the 600-point mark.
Brown needs 21 points to have the 5th-highest scoring season in UMBC history.
His 222 field goals this season is already a sophomore record and ranks 5th in the NCAA in the category. He needs just four field goals to have the third-most in UMBC single-season history.
Brown's 19.0 points per game is currently the sixth-highest single-season average in history (Jairus Lyles, 23.0).
His 217 rebounds is the third-most by a sophomore, the 2nd most in UMBC history.
Brown is currently on pace to score over 1,500 career points and grab 500 rebounds. Only three players (Rick Moreland '83, John Goedeke '79 and Reggie Nance '81) have ever accomplished that feat.

WHO'S HOT

Brown is shooting 55 percent (107-194) over his last 12 contests.His 21.5 ppg. in AE games now leads the league and he's second in rebounding at 9.6 pg. His 79 offensive rebounds is also an overall league-high this season. Brown has produced 20 or more points in six of his last eight games and is averaging 23.7 ppg. during the span.
Junior guard Marcus Banks Jr. has splashed at least one trey in 16 straight games. He's second in the AE in 3-pt field goals per game (2.7) and is 6th in 3-pt accuracy (35.5). He's averaging 18.3 ppg. in conference contests, which ranks 7th in the league. He's also averaging a league-best 3.1 treys per game in AE contests. Banks is 43rd in the NCAA with 78 treys and has moved into 9th on UMBC's single-season top-10 in the category. He needs just four more to move up to 4th.
Graduate student forward Max Lorca-Lloyd is tied for tops in the league with 2.3 blocks per game and is 15th in rebounding (5.4 pg.). He's averaged 8.8 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.5 blocks in AE play. He's now 5th on UMBC's single-season list with 60 rejections.
FR guard Franck Emmou has shot the ball extremely well in his first season in Baltimore. Emmou, who recently scored a career-high 24 points at UAlbany, is 29-for-56 (.518) from 3-point territory and is 42-for-48 (.875) from the foul line this season. He's 65-for-134 (.485) from the field overall. Emmou is a spectacular 16-for-27 (.592) from deep in conference play and is netting 8.3 ppg.
Regimantas Ciunys has seized on his opportunity over the past six games as he's averaged 10.7 points and 5.9 rebounds in just over 21 minutes off the bench. He recorded a career-high 22 points on 9-of-11 shooting against UAlbany on February 17. Ciunys also recorded his first career double-double at Binghamton.