The UMB men’s basketball is sitting at 8-13 with three games remaining in the 2010-11 season. The three-win improvement over last year is nothing to sniff at, especially considering how young the Beacons are. Michael Mitchell Jr. and Issac Jenkins, who are averaging 13.4 and 12.2 PPG respectively, lead the team in scoring; both will be returning next year for their senior seasons as well. Some highlights for the year were a nail biting season opening win vs. Eastern Nazarene and a game winning three point shot by Jenkins with 0.6 seconds left to defeat Southern Maine.
This season shows a great deal of promise for the Beacons going forward. When asked about this season coach Charlie Titus said: “We have improved. No question. I talked about changing the culture of our team, and we’ve really done that, we suffered from losing our backcourt players. You have to have good guard play to win at this level. Serge is gone for good but Jason (White) will be back next year, he’s focusing on academics right now. Out of 10 players, we have 7 first years. Mike Mitchell will be back next year as well”.
Titus touched on a major story for this year’s squad and that was departures of Jason White and Sergio Florence. White will be returning next year, after taking a year off due to academics, but Florence has left UMB with no intention of returning. Without those two veterans, the Beacons were a very young team and many freshman were forced to step up.
“I think they all have matured”, said Titus. “One thing you hate to have is all of your freshmen having to make a contribution early. But, it will help over the next three years because they get experience that otherwise, they never would have gotten” .
Another story line this year is the graduation of stand out senior forward Pat Joseph. Joseph has been averaging a solid 11 PPG this year and leaves behind a legacy of being not only a great player but a great student. When asked about the senior, coach Titus said:
“He’s been a really good player, a hard worker, and a solid citizen at this university. As far as his study habits and academic achievements are concerned, he’s been a big contributor to UMB.”
Joseph will surely remain in the hearts of Beacons fans for many years to come.
A real sign of improvement this year for the Beacons was their trips to Kissimmee, Florida, where they scored an upset win over Colby-Sawyer. The Beacons also played Baldwin-Wallace down to the final minutes, almost sneaking out with yet another win.
According to Titus, “I thought the trip to Florida against Colby and the Baldwin game in Florida made our improvements clear. This is clearly a much better team than last year. We beat Colby 69-65 and played Baldwin Wallace very close.”
In those games as well as many others, some unexpected contributors have stepped up in big spots. When asked about next years contributors, Titus told the MassMedia, “There have been a number of them. I think Yusuke Fukata and Geoff Ebbs have been great, and so has Mbara Cisse.”
The team is unique because it lacks a star scorer, but it is well rounded and very young, with plenty of potential for growth. Titus is hopeful about the future of the Beacons being quoted as saying:
“I think we have a nice foundation. We’ll be ok no doubt, the young kids have been a lot more focused than you generally get with all the distractions we’ve had this year and we have most of our team coming back next year with more experience”.
