Despite UMBC men’s basketball feeling the impact of the transfer portal, head coach Jim Ferry is confident in his team’s chemistry as it gears up for what it hopes is a successful season.
UMBC had an underwhelming season in 2023-24, going 11-21 overall and bowing out of the America East playoffs in the first round. Ferry is back for his fourth season with the Retrievers and believes his team can take a step forward this season.
UMBC last earned the America East’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament in 2018.
“I do think that this group, we can compete to put ourselves again back in that top half of the league and host playoff games and try to make a run at the championship,” Ferry said on Glenn Clark Radio Oct. 30. “But I do think we have the group and having some guys with more experience and again another year playing within our system, I’m really looking forward to this season.”
The 2023-24 season proved to be a crucial learning experience for Ferry’s team, allowing the coach to identify areas for growth with players who were committed to improve. This created a spark that ignited a late-season drive, but it ultimately came too late.
The Retrievers won four of their final seven games to close out the season.
“To be quite honest, our guys really fought and got better,” Ferry said. “We just focused on getting better, which for those guys that follow my programs my teams do get better every year toward the end of the year. By the last 10 games, we were playing top-150 basketball both offensively and defensively.”
UMBC lost Dion Brown (19 points per game in 2023-24) and Franck Emmou (7.1) to the transfer portal, but the Retrievers retained other essential contributors from last year’s roster, setting the stage for the team to build on past challenges and continue its growth.
“What’s nice about that now is that we have eight returners back,” Ferry said. “We have several starters back. We are significantly further ahead right now than we certainly were last year at this point, just because the foundation was laid last year. We have an exciting group.”
Ferry trusts returning guards Marcus Banks Jr., Bryce Johnson and Ace Valentine to pick up the slack. Their experience and leadership will be critical for the Retrievers this season. Banks averaged 15.1 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game a year ago.
“I’ll put those guys up against anybody in our league,” Ferry said of his backcourt. “… You’re talking about three guards that have experience at the college level, three guards that have experience playing in our system, three guards that are different from each other but understand each other. If we can get all those guys clicking together at the same time, I think I feel pretty comfortable putting those guys up against anybody in our league.”
UMBC is 2-1 entering its matchup against Coppin State on Nov. 14. Ferry believes the Retrievers have made significant strides, setting them up for a strong start.
“Just having the foundation laid and figuring out who we are, how we need to play defensively to cause disruption, to protect the rim, to rebound the basketball, and again, we are just significantly further ahead in that regard but it’s also on the offensive side we are further ahead,” Ferry said.
For more from Ferry, listen to the full interview here:
Photo Credit: Courtesy of UMBC Athletics