UMBC men’s basketball coach Jim Ferry believes the Retrievers have become a “different team” with the benefit of a seven-game homestand, which concluded with a 92-69 win against Morgan State on Nov. 27.
UMBC (5-4) will spend the next several weeks on buses, but Ferry is pleased with how his team grew in the friendly confines of Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena in Catonsville. Most recently, the Retrievers lost three games to Saint Peter’s, Hampton and Boston University before beating Howard and Morgan.
All in all, it was a productive November.
“If you look at the way we played against Saint Peter’s, we’re a different team now and that was only what, two weeks ago? We’ve been very inconsistent, as a lot of teams are,” Ferry said. “… We’re inconsistent because we’re still trying to figure out who to play together. We’re really figuring out our strengths, our weaknesses. We want to play a certain way. It’s getting these guys to do so on a consistent basis.”
How Ferry wants his team to play was on display against Morgan, with UMBC assisting on 21 of 29 made baskets. The Retrievers went 14 of 26 from 3-point range, with crisp ball movement leading to open look after open look. Senior guards Marcus Banks Jr. and Bryce Johnson, junior guard Chaydon Stone and junior forward Louie Jordan all hit multiple 3-pointers.
UMBC is averaging 83.1 points per game through its first nine contests, good for third in the nine-team America East. The Retrievers are second in the conference in adjusted offensive efficiency, according to KenPom, a college hoops analytics site.
“The games that we’ve struggled scoring have been when we’ve tried to go one-on-one or we’ve dribbled more than we’ve passed,” Ferry said. “We addressed it. We showed a lot of film over the past week and a half to reinforce it, but the guys have come out and done it. If we continue to build on it from here, then I think we can a pretty good offensive team.”
Sophomore guard Ashton Reese, who came off the bench to score seven points and dish out two assists, says UMBC’s process following games helped the team get better in November.
“Just practice, watching film, breaking it down, emphasizing four passes to get that open shot has really helped our offense a lot,” Reese said. “And that’s why we shot [53.8] percent from three [against Morgan].”
The Retrievers now hit the road for seven of their next eight games, including trips to Georgetown on Dec. 2 and Towson on Dec. 7. Johnson (15.8 points per game), Banks (13.3) and Columbia graduate transfer forward Josh Odunowo (10.8) lead UMBC in scoring, while sophomore guard Ace Valentine (3.8 assists) has emerged as one of the team’s top playmakers.
Now the Retrievers will look to next the step in their development away from home.
“The court’s the same, right? The rim’s 10 feet high. It’s about how we play no matter who we’re playing against,” Ferry said. “It’s good. We need to go on the road. Preseason’s all about just getting better and getting ready for league play. It’s so hard getting home games at our level, so when we have the opportunity to get them, we’ve got to take them whenever we can and that’s what led to this crazy November.”
Photo Credit: Courtesy of UMBC Athletics