This season has been tough for UMBC, but the Retrievers have shown some improvement lately.
In the past three games, UMBC (2-10) has limited opponents to 55 points or less, 37.6 percent on field goals and 33.3 percent on 3-point attempts. And over that span, the team has won twice.
UMBC coach Aki Thomas said the defense has been the most consistent aspect of the team.
"Defense is all effort and passion and desire to want to get stops and rebounds, and our guys have that," he said Monday afternoon. "They practice that way, and they play that way.
"We do a really good job of keeping the ball out of vulnerable areas like the middle and rebounding the ball defensively. I think those are the things that have really made us the defensive team that we are right now."
UMBC allowed Longwood, Kennesaw State and Lehigh to convert exactly 33.3 percent of their 3-point attempts, but took extra care to contain each team's top perimeter players.
Longwood's Quincy Taylor, Kennesaw State's Nigel Pruitt and Lehigh's Austin Price combined to connect on 31.8 percent (7 of 22) of their shots from behind the 3-point line.
"For us, it's all about our close-outs," Thomas said. "… Guys that are really good shooters and even guys that are mediocre shooters, if you give them a chance to get into a rhythm, Division I basketball players will knock those shots down. So we want to take away those rhythm 3s, and scouting helps with that. Guys close out hard on those 3-point shooters."
The Retrievers will test their 3-point defense Friday at 7 p.m. at the RAC Arena in Catonsville when NJIT visits. The Highlanders have converted 35.8 percent of their 3-pointers, including 64.7 percent in a 72-70 upset of then-No. 17 Michigan on Dec. 6.
Asked if he will remind the players about NJIT's win against the Wolverines, Thomas chuckled and said: "I don't have to remind them of that. Everyone has got their computers and their iPads. Everyone knows everything. … As soon as we said we were playing NJIT, you could hear the rumbling and the guys going, 'Yeah, they beat Michigan, and they played Villanova tough in the first half.'
"So our guys know them, and they'll be prepared to come out. The good thing is, we'll be at home, and hopefully, we can protect our home court against a very good NJIT basketball team."