Nine Teams, Nine Days – Over the next nine days we’ll take a look at each of the America East’s nine men’s basketball programs in a lead up to the 2023-24 season. The regular season begins on Monday, Nov. 6 with eight teams in action and the full schedule of contests can be found here.
Second-Year Head Coach Chris Markwood has his team on an upward trajectory and in his first season he built a group that competed every night. The team earned some of the program’s biggest wins in recent memory, highlighted by a 69-64 victory over Boston College. They were in nearly every conference contest and won three of their final four in the regular season to clinch the No. 7 seed in the tournament.
This season Markwood’s team will face actual expectations after being picked fifth and returning some of their top playmakers, but he isn’t worried about that.
“To be picked towards the bottom of the league the last few years and to see that climb a little bit shows that other teams and coaching staffs are starting to give us some respect,” said Markwood. “Now we have to live up to it. Our expectations are obviously even higher than that and those are the ones we’re trying to live up to.”
Leading the charge this season will be his three-headed backcourt of Kellen Tynes, Ja’Shonte Wright-McLeish and Jaden Clayton, possibly the best in the league. Tynes burst on the scene as a sophomore transfer, earning Defensive Player of the Year honors after leading the nation with 3.3 steals per game to go with 14.3 points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.8 assists per contest. Wright-McLeigh was second on the team with 40 three-point field goals last season, while Clayton averaged 6.9 points, 3.9 assists and 3.4 rebounds per game.
In addition to the guard play, Kristians Feierbergs is the team’s top returning post player after averaging 8.9 points and 5.1 rebounds per game. Sixth man Peter Filipovity is also back for his junior season down low after ranking third on the team in scoring at 9.2 per contest.
Maine plays Charlotte on the road to open the season, followed by a pair of home contests over the first week of the year. The Black Bears then head south to Florida for four games, including a matchup with USF on Nov. 22. They return to the Sunshine state to face FIU and UCF last in December before ending non-conference play at Minnesota. Maine opens conference action at Vermont on Saturday, Jan. 6 at 2 p.m.
Maine – Roster - Schedule
Head Coach: Chris Markwood
2022-23 Record: 13-17, 7-9 (7th)
Scoring Offense: 68.5 points per game (6th)
Scoring Defense: 69.7 points per game (4th)
Steals/Game: 9.47 (1st)
Returning Starters (4)
Kellen Tynes, G – 14.3 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 3.8 apg, 3.3 spg
Ja’Shonte Wright-McLeish, G – 7.8 ppg, 2.3 rpg
Jaden Clayton, G – 6.9 ppg, 3.9 apg, 3.4 rpg
Kristians Feierbergs, F – 8.4 ppg, 4.7 rpg
Notable Newcomers (6)
Adam Cisse, F – transfer from Manhattan
AJ Lopez, F – tranfer from UNH
Quion Burns, G – transfer from LIU
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