The UMBC men’s basketball team has had a dynamic offense so far this season thanks to a combination of depth, shooting and unselfishness … but don’t overlook an intriguing freshman the Retrievers have sprinkled into the mix for the past several weeks.
The Retrievers are No. 74 in the country in adjusted offensive efficiency, according to KenPom, a college hoops analytics site. That’s the highest mark among nine America East teams. They’re third in the conference in scoring (77.8 points per game), second in 3-point shooting (36.6 percent) and first in assists (15.6 per game).
UMBC also has seven players averaging 8.1 or more points. One of those is Dion Brown, a freshman from Great Barrington, Mass. The 6-foot-3, 180-pound guard is averaging 8.5 points per contest in 11 games off the bench. He didn’t debut until Dec. 10 as he worked his way back from an injury.
Brown scored 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting (3-of-3 from long range) in his team’s 80-69 win against New Hampshire on Jan. 21, which pushed UMBC to 14-7 overall and 4-2 in the America East. It marked Brown’s fifth game in double figures thus far.
“I really don’t mind what my role is,” Brown said following the game. “If I’m open, I’m going to shoot. I’ve always been a pretty gifted offensive player, so I know my shots. I know what I can and can’t make. I had some pretty not-so-smart left-handed hooks with two guys on me in the game. Sometimes I take crazy ones. Sometimes I make crazy ones. But like I said, any role I can fill, I’ll fill it.”
The Retrievers were really barking during a 50-point first half, shooting 61.3 percent from the field and 63.6 percent from 3-point range. Nine players scored during the stanza for UMBC, which got 32 points from starters and 18 from reserves. It was a 20-minute snapshot into how the Retrievers like to play ball under second-year coach Jim Ferry.
Graduate guard Colton Lawrence scored 13 points during the contest, all in the first half. He loves the depth his squad has at this point of the season.
“I haven’t always been able to say that, that I have so much trust in the bench coming in and just feeling comfortable when they’re out there,” Lawrence said. “While Dion’s there as a freshman, he goes out there and we don’t miss a beat. He’s engaged. He’s willing to learn. That goes across the whole roster. On any given night any one of us could have a bad a night, but we have enough talent to pick everyone up all the way around. It’s definitely a blessing.”
Brown played varsity ball for three seasons at Monument Mountain Regional High School in Massachusetts, then played a season at Vermont Academy before tackling Division I hoops. He had a standout career at Monument Mountain but suffered a torn ACL in February 2022 while at Vermont Academy.
It didn’t take long for Brown to show what he was all about once he was cleared to play. He scored 21 points off the bench at Loyola on Dec. 13, just his second college game. Brown credited UMBC’s veterans for helping him in practice when he was working his way back into form.
“I messed up often, honestly,” Brown said. “I always just had an older guy … ‘Hey, next time do this or do it this way.’ So I’ve just always had someone who’s older to really just guide me along the right path, which made it so easy to get back. I feel like I’m almost the same age. Obviously, I’m not, but I feel like we’re all just brothers and together regardless of age and we all just pick each other up and help each other out.”
Brown’s shooting has been especially welcome for the Retrievers. He has made 11 of 17 shots from deep so far, providing some scoring punch off the bench in doing so.
“If I don’t like the shot he took, he probably knows it before I even say something to him,” Ferry said. “He just has to play off of what’s given, [which] all the guys have to do. Just play what the defense gives you. We have five guys on the floor that can score at all times. It’s more about his energy and his athleticism, and he’s a really competitive kid which obviously really helps.”
RETRIEVERS NOTEBOOK
STEPPING UP DEFENSIVELY: Where UMBC head coach Jim Ferry was most pleased with his team’s performance against New Hampshire was on the defensive end in the second half, when the Retrievers held the Wildcats to 29.4 percent shooting. Defense has been a work in progress for UMBC, which ranks eighth in the league in adjusted defensive efficiency, seventh in scoring defense (73.6 points per game) and last in 3-point defense (39.2 percent).
UMBC had allowed 81 points a few days earlier to UMass Lowell, which shot 50.7 percent from the field. Ferry liked how his players bounced back.
“The second half, which was really good to see because it’s been a little bit of an issue with us … we really came out and guarded,” Ferry said. “We really locked in and guarded collectively with toughness. They got some offensive rebounds, but we were getting them to miss so many shots.”
SEAMLESS ADJUSTMENT FOR LAWRENCE: At the end of last season, Ferry lost his four top scorers — Keondre Kennedy, Darnell Rogers L.J. Owens and Szymon Wojcik — and had to find some offense. One of his top pickups was guard Colton Lawrence, a transfer out of Division II Bentley.
Lawrence, who spent five seasons with the Falcons, scored 15.7 points per game last season to cap off his career at Bentley. The 6-foot-3, 205-pound guard has been a seamless fit in Ferry’s offense, averaging a team-best 13.6 points per game and making 35.7 percent of his threes.
Lawrence said defending quicker guards has been an adjustment, but the bigger change has actually been the demands of a Division I schedule. UMBC played four games from Jan. 14-21, for example.
“We just played four games in [eight] days. Being able to really challenge yourself every single night and get into that competitive mindset — and there’s a lot of sitting around the hotel and stuff, that’s stuff that I wasn’t used to,” Lawrence said. “Coach warned me before the season that it would take some adjusting, but hopefully toward the end of the year I’ll start to get used to it. You’ve got to put it on yourself to get into that mindset as much as you can.”
WHERE UMBC STANDS: The America East standings are tightly packed at the top. The Retrievers are one of four teams with two conference losses, and two other squads have three losses. UMBC now hits the road for tilts at NJIT (Jan. 25) and Vermont (Jan. 28) before heading back home for a showdown against Binghamton (Feb. 1).
“In this league, more than ever — and it’s not just a coaches’ cliché — it is totally about getting better,” Ferry said. “Whether you win the game or you lose the game, just get better. Because when March comes around, in this league whoever’s playing the best basketball is going to win the tournament and go to the NCAA Tournament. That’s it. … So just focus on getting better.”
Photo Credit: Gail Burton