UMBC Head Basketball Coach Aki Thomas suspended Forwards Brett Roseboro and Will Wise for an altercation at practice on Friday. Neither player traveled with the team to Boston for their game against the Terriers on Saturday. Roseboro was averaging nearly 10 points and six rebounds per contest. He has been one of the Retrievers best defenders this season. Wise has seen action in just six games this year and has played just 21 minutes. UMBC forward Chase Plummer is expected to start in place of Roseboro in Today’s game against Boston University.

UMBC opens its tenth America East Conference campaign with a tough two-game road swing, which begins at Albany on Wed., Jan. 2.  Due to the women’s basketball team hosting Albany at the same time (7:00 p.m.), there will be no local radio coverage for this contest. Follow the Retrievers’ progress on Twitter @UMBCAthletics.

RETRIEVER UPDATE: UMBC (2-11) suffered another tough loss to a Northeast Conference opponent, falling 58-55, at Mount St. Mary’s to close out non-conference play on Dec. 29. SR G Brian Neller’s fall-away three from 23 feet just before the horn sounded hit the front rim and the Retrievers slipped to 1-5 in games decided by eight points or less. SR G Ryan Cook led a balanced effort with 12 points and continues to lead the team with 17.0 ppg. JR C Brett Roseboro posted his fourth double-double of the season (10 pts./10 rebs.), but 19 Retriever turnovers derailed the effort.

DANE UPDATE:  Albany (11-3) has won eight of its last nine games, including a 57-50 win over Brown on Monday, Dec. 31. SR G Jacob Iati, the reigning co-Player of the Week in America East, led the Danes with 16 points after a 25-point effort at Navy on Dec. 28. Iati and backcourt mate Mike Black share scoring honors for Albany with 16.1 ppg.

WHO’S UP NEXT:  UMBC gets back to Baltimore in the wee hours on Thursday morning, and returns north on Friday to prepare to compete at Maine on Saturday, Jan. 5 at noon.

The UMBC men’s basketball has completed the exam period and returns to action on Sat., Dec. 22 when they travel to Chicago to take on DePaul University at Allstate Arena. It will be the first-ever meeting on the hardwood between the Retrievers and the Blue Demons. The game will also be televised regionally by the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network as part of the Big East Conference package.

RETRIEVER UPDATE: After good efforts vs. Towson, George Mason and American, UMBC (2-9) struggled vs. MEAC foes Norfolk State and Coppin State, falling by 17 and 19 points respectively. CSU hit its first eight shots from the floor and never trailed in a 80-61 victory on Dec. 12. SR G Ryan Cook led UMBC with 17 points vs. the Eagles and leads America East in scoring at 17.8 ppg. JR C Brett Roseboro posted his third double-double in five games vs. Coppin State.

BLUE DEMON UPDATE:  DePaul (8-3) has won six straight games, including a hard-fought 69-64 victory over No. Illinois on Dec. 16. Two Baltimore natives lead DePaul- JR F Cleveland Melvin leads the squad in scoring (17.4) and rebounding (8.0), while JR G Brandon Young is at 16.7 ppg and a team high 4.7 assists per game.

WHO’S UP NEXT:  UMBC concludes the non-conference portion of its schedule on Sat., Dec. 29 when they travel to Emmitsburg, Md. for the first time since 2003 to take on Mount St. Mary’s. Tip time is set for 2:00 p.m.

For the sixth consecutive season, the UMBC men’s basketball team will face American University. The Eagles have won three of the previous five meetings, including the last two. Tip-off time is set for 7:00 p.m. All home basketball games are streamed with full play-by-play audio in HD on www.umbcretrievers.tv.

RETRIEVER UPDATE: UMBC (2-6) cut a 19-point first half deficit to as few as six points in the second half, but host George Mason hung on for a 74-63 victory at the Patriot Center on Dec. 4. Brett Roseboro led a balanced attack with 14 points. Chase Plummer scored all 13 of his points in the second half and Ryan Cook also tallied all 12 of his points in the final 20 minutes. Cook leads the squad with 16.6 ppg and 7.3 rpg, while Roseboro has scored 46 points in his last three outings.

EAGLE UPDATE: American (3-5) took on cross-town rival Howard at Burr Gymnasium on Dec. 4, but lost a close decision, 55-50. SR F Stephen Lumpkins just neared a double-double with 10 points and eight rebounds. AU has dropped three of its last four and are 1-4 on the road to date Lumpkins leads the squad in scoring (16.1 ppg) and rebounding (7.3) and is shooting 55.3% from the floor. SO G John Schoof has hit 15-of-26 shots from behind the arc.

WHO’S UP NEXT: UMBC travels to Norfolk State for a contest with the 2011-12 NCAA Championship second round participants on Sun., Dec. 9 at 4:00 p.m. The game will be broadcast on   Q1370/www.q1370.com.

For the first time since 1999, UMBC will meet the George Mason Patriots in men’s basketball as the Retrievers visit the Patriot Center on Tues., Dec. 4. Tip-off time is set for 7:00 p.m. The game will also be televised by the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network with Jason Knapp and Craig Esherick on the call.

RETRIEVER UPDATE:  SR G Ryan Cook scored 18 of his game-high 22 points in the second half and JR C Brett Roseboro posted career highs with 19 points and 10 rebounds as the host Retrievers (2-5) never trailed in a 66-62 victory over Towson (3-4) on Dec. 1. The win snapped a four-game slide for UMBC and gave the Retrievers (2-5) a two-game winning streak over their beltway rivals.

PATRIOT UPDATE:  George Mason gave a great effort, but came up just short in a  69-62 setback vs. Maryland in the BB&T Classic held at the Verizon Center on Dec. 2. GMU had won three consecutive games, including a narrow 48-45 home triumph over Boston U. on Nov. 24. Sharrod Wright is the lone Patriot averaging in double figures, but the junior guard is at a robust 15.1 points per game. Mason also had a home victory over Virginia (63-59) to open the season.

WHO’S UP NEXT:  UMBC will play for the fourth time in eight days on Thurs., Dec. 6 when they host the American University Eagles. Tip time at the RAC Arena is 7:00 p.m.

In its 46-year varsity basketball history, the Towson Tigers are UMBC’s most frequently-contested opponent and the two squads will meet for the 54th time on Saturday, Dec. 1 at the RAC Arena. Tipoff time is set for 7:00 p.m. (EST)  and the game will be streamed on www.umbcretrievers.tv.

RETRIEVER UPDATE:  Visiting Canisius scored the last nine points of the first half and opened the second half on a 9-1 run to break open a close game and proceed to defeat UMBC, 83-65 at the RAC Arena on Thursday. SR G Ryan Cook (16.6 ppg, 8.0 rpg) led UMBC with 16 points, while JR C Brett Roseboro posted a career-high 13 points in the setback. UMBC has dropped four straight and is -36 in rebounding in those losses.

TIGER UPDATE:  Towson competed in the 2012 Comfort Suites Invitational where they won three out of four games, including a victory over Radford (75-67).  JR F Jerrelle Benimon is the Tigers key threat on offense leading the team with an average of 14.7 points per game. Towson took on the Loyola Greyhounds on Nov. 26., and fell, 65-53. FR G Jerome Hairston led the Tigers with 13 points. Towson has yet to play a home game this season.
MORE IN-SEASON UPDATES

*The loss to Penn was UMBC’s fourth consecutive setback to start a season…The 48 first-half points scored by UMBC was the most in the first 20 minutes by the Retrieves since tallying 49 in a 91-54 win over Stevenson (Md.) on Nov. 15, 2008.

*UMBC snapped a three-game losing streak in home openers, when they defeate Eastern on Nov. 12.

*The Retrievers led the first two games at the half and have led  three of the first four games with 10:00 remaining in regulation.  They have led four of six  games at some point in the second half.

*Brian Neller hit his first four 3-point field goals at Penn, missed his next 13 attempts before hitting four of his final nine vs. Central Connecticut.

*UMBC starting post players of Chase Plummer and Brett Roseboro combined total of one free throw attempted through two games. Plummer attempted 180 (6.0 per game) in 2011-12, the third-highest single-season figure in school history.  He bounced back wtih an 8-of-11 effort at Loyola.

*Both Penn and Loyola hit 50.9 percent from the floor vs. the Retrievers.

*The Retrievers scored 70 points or more in each of the first four games of the season.  The last time they accomplished that feat was in the championship season of 2007-08.  The streak was snapped as UMBC tallied 46 points at Marquette.

*After enjoying healthy rebound margins vs. Penn and Eastern, UMBC was -17 at Loyola, although the Greyhounds were only +3 in second-chance points in the game. The Retrievers are -36 in total rebounds in the current four-game slide.

*UMBC hit ten 3-point field goals (10-of-22) vs. Central Conn. State, burying double figures from behind the arc for the first time since converting in double figures since Jan. 20, 2011 at Hartford. They made 12 in that game and the 10 vs. the Blue Devils halts a streak of 44 straight with single-digit treys.

* Ryan Cook and Chase Plummer both recorded double-doubles vs. CCSU, marking the first time a pair of UMBC players stuffed the stat sheet in that manner since Justin Fry and Laurence Joliceour did so vs. VMI on Nov. 14, 2010.

* Central Connecticut had the outright lead over UMBC in approximately five minutes over the final 25 minutes of play.

* UMBC did manage to hold Marquette to a season-low 28 first-half points on Nov. 26 in Milwaukee.

*  UMBC is just 6-of-41 (14.6%) from behind the arc in the last two games.

* UMBC is in the midst of a stretch where they are playing five times in an eight-day span.

* UMBC’s reserves are shooting a combined 53.8 percent (49-of-91) from the floor through six games.
WHO’S UP NEXT:  UMBC continues its five-game in eight-day stretch on Tues., Dec. 4 when they travel to Fairfax, Va. to take on George Mason. Tip-off is 7:00 p.m. and the game will be televised by MASN-TV.