DURHAM, N.H. – Part of the beauty of conference play in college basketball is that teams get a fresh start. A bad non-conference run with one loss after another doesn’t matter on the bottom line, although that can weigh on a team’s psyche and affect their play in conference games. One example of that is UMBC, a team that won one game in non-conference play but is tied atop America East after an 82-76 win at New Hampshire on Monday night.
The young Retrievers haven’t exactly had a memorable season thus far. They entered Monday night’s game with just one win on the season, back in December against winless Towson. Only three of their 11 losses had come by single digits. Their best holdover, Chris De La Rosa, left the team in late November. They came in surrendering almost 77 points per game and turning the ball over nearly 17 times per game. And the shooting numbers on offense were nothing to brag about, either.
But now UMBC is 1-0 in America East play and has a new lease on life for the moment. They’re tied atop the standings with the part of the season that matters, because America East will not place a team in the NCAA Tournament as an at-large this season. And if they were going to get their second win at some point this season, Monday night wasn’t the worst time in the world for that to happen.
Monday night’s game looked like it might be more of the same, as New Hampshire led almost the entire first half. The Wildcats even had a ten-point lead in the final seconds, but a late three-pointer by Chase Plummer made it a seven-point game at the half. The second half was where everything changed, and it was symbolic of what the team has done through all the adversity they’ve faced.
“I think our guys really stayed together,” head coach Randy Monroe said.
After UNH went up 43-38, UMBC took over the game with a 15-2 run. They led for much of the remainder of the game, although the Wildcats briefly regained the lead in the final minute before a big three-pointer by Brian Neller (17 points) put them ahead for good. They overcame one more in-game obstacle, as it would have been easy for this team to mentally fold after losing the lead late the way the did.
With that, the Retrievers finally had something on the bottom line to show for their efforts. Monroe said effort hasn’t been a problem, so having a game go in the left-hand column for a change can certainly help this team.
“The things we keep talking about are resolve, resilience, and every day coming in,” said the UMBC mentor. “It hasn’t been easy for our guys, but one of the things I notice and really appreciate about them is the fact that they don’t quit, they come in every day at practice. They do the things they need to do to make themselves better, to make our team better.”
Plummer has broken out this season as America East’s second-best rebounder thus far and the team’s leading scorer, continuing that on Monday with a game-high 23 points and seven rebounds. He’s a big part of the team out-rebounding opponents, which is perhaps the one statistical area in which the team has done well, with help from the wings and Jake Wasco, who had a double-double on Monday with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Wasco is the team’s only senior, so this team surely has more growing pains ahead.
Certainly, Plummer’s development comes from more minutes and having a year under his belt, but he comes from a winning program as he played at powerhouse St. Patrick’s in New Jersey. While foul trouble has at times dogged him this season, the development has been there and should continue given who is around him.
“Every day in practice, I feel like guys are getting after it,” said the sophomore forward. “They’re helping me see my flaws, and helping me get better with the things I’m good at. It’s easy when guys have confidence in you, and I believe the confidence they’ve put in me has helped me show that to the rest of the conference.”
Neller has emerged as one of the best shooters in the conference, while Ryan Cook is right there with Plummer and Neller in scoring. They were three of the five Retrievers who scored in double digits on Monday, the first time all season that has happened. Depth is not a strength of this team right now, so the Retrievers need to get a lot out of their top seven and some balance in the scoring column won’t hurt.
The Retrievers have fought through a lot of adversity thus far. The feeling on the team is that the chemistry hasn’t suffered and they have weathered a storm. Now, they’re 1-0 in conference play and tied for the lead, and all the non-conference losses don’t matter.
