With two non-conference games remaining before beginning America East play, third-year University of Maine men’s basketball coach Chris Markwood likes the progress his Black Bears have made so far.
The Black Bears have won four of their last five and six of their last eight entering a 1 p.m. Saturday game at Stony Brook (N.Y.).
UMaine is 8-5 after going 15-17 overall a year ago and 7-9 in league play. The Black Bears started 8-5 last season as well.
“We’re still an unfinished product but we’re moving in the right direction,” said Markwood. “We’ve been shooting the ball much better over the last six to seven games than the first four or five.
“Hopefully, that will continue to creep up for us which I think it will,” Markwood added.
The Black Bears have shot 49.9 percent from the floor and 37.9 percent beyond the 3-point arc over their last eight games after shooting 41.6 percent and 23.4 percent, respectively, over their first five contests.
Their overall shooting percentage is 46.7 percent from the floor and 31.4 percent from long distance.
“We have to keep growing. I like the group we have and the pieces we have. We have had a different guy step up each game or it has been multiple guys. That’s our strength,” said Markwood.
Senior guard A.J. Lopez leads the team in scoring averaging 13.9 points per game. He is shooting 46.7 percent from the floor and 42 percent from long range.
Lopez has scored in double figures 10 times and is shooting 58.5 percent from the floor and 50 percent from beyond the 3-point arc over his last four games.
Senior guard Quion Burns is averaging 13 ppg and, like Lopez, he has scored in double figures 10 times. He has shot 60 percent from the floor over his last eight games.
“Quion’s last four to five games have been really good and A.J. has been very consistent from the start,” said Markwood.
Graduate student guard Kellen Tynes is averaging 12.6 points along with five assists. He has averaged 6.75 assists over his last eight games.
Tynes is a two-time America East Defensive Player of the Year who led the nation in steals two years ago with 98.
He currently has 39 steals, which is second most in the nation among players from 355 Division I schools, and his average of three steals per game is tied for fourth.
He has had eight games with three or more steals and the point guard has turned the ball over just once or not at all in seven of the 13 games.
Junior guard Jaden Clayton has averaged 4.2 assists per game and has had eight games with at least four assists. He has dished out an average of 5.6 assists over his last four games and also had five games with three or more steals. He is chipping in 6.6 points per game.
Clayton has turned the ball over just 24 times and Tynes has 20 turnovers.
“Kellen and Jayden’s assists numbers are through the roof right now and they aren’t turning the ball over very much, either,” said Markwood. “Even if they aren’t scoring, they are making the game easy for everybody else, offensively.”
Senior forward and Appalachian State transfer Christopher Mantis was brought in to provide the Black Bears with a quality 3-point shooter and he has heated up after a slow start.
Mantis, who is averaging 8.1 points per game, has shot 51.4 percent from long distance over the past eight games after a 20 percent showing in his first five.
“He has given us a big lift,” said Markwood, who played for Notre Dame and the University of Maine and was an assistant coach at Vermont, Northeastern and Boston College. “He has shot it well of late. And that will continue to rise as he continues to get more comfortable with us and his role.”
Markwood said he has a “three-headed monster” at the five spot (center) in 6-10 juniors Keelan Steele and Ridvan Tutic and 6-10 senior Killian Gribben.
“All three of those guys have had their (good) moments and we love all three of them,” said Markwood. “On any given night, any one of them or all three of them can come through for us. We like the mix there. We’re able to throw all of those bodies out there and they consistently present a problem for other teams with their size and mobility.”
Steele, who missed all of last season and appeared in only six games two years ago due to injury, is averaging 6.4 points and 2.9 rebounds in 13.8 minutes per game; Gribben has produced 6.3 points and 2.7 rebounds in 16.4 minutes and Tutic has supplied 3.1 points and 2.3 rebounds in 9.1 minutes per game.
Tutic missed all of last season due to knee surgery.
Defensively, Markwood said his team has “laid a nice foundation.”
UMaine has allowed 66.5 points per game which is 71st best in the country. The Black Bears are 45th in turnovers forced with 15.31 and their turnover margin of plus-four (turnovers forced minus turnovers committed) is tied for 32nd.
Their 9.2 steals per game is 43rd most.
UMaine is averaging 73.4 points per game.
An area of concern for Markwood is rebounding.
UMaine is getting outrebounded 34.5 to 32.5.
“That’s an area we’ve been really hyper-focused on since the start of the season,” said Markwood. “We have great size at the five spot and good length on the perimeter but we aren’t overly big and strong on the perimeter. That’s a minor weakness and we have to turn it into a strength. We have to get better at it.”
Markwood said if the team can improve its rebounding it could translate into more wins.
He said he is also hoping to develop more depth with guards Logan Carey and Caleb Crawford headlining the list of players who could contribute more. The other players who have received playing time are guard Isaac Bonilla and forward Novak Perovic.
Following the Stony Brook game, UMaine will host Boston University on Sunday, Dec. 29 at 2 before beginning league play at Bryant on Saturday, Jan. 4 at 2.
“We’ve got to play really good basketball against a Stony Brook team that’s going to be very competitive and tough,” Markwood added.
