There are a myriad of factors for why UMES – with a 10-10 overall record and a 3-2 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference mark – has already clinched its first double-digit win total since the 2010-11 season.
One has been the Hawks' adeptness at steals. They rank third in the league with 153 steals and fourth with 7.7 thefts per game.
The team has been especially aggressive in the past three games, compiling 37 steals. First-year coach Bobby Collins attributed the emphasis to a mistake he made in a 69-60 loss at NJIT on Jan. 7.
"A lot of it has to do with the way we played against NJIT," he said Thursday. "I called our pressure off for whatever reason, and I felt like I had been the distraction. I told my team that I took the blame for that loss because we didn't play as hard as we should have.
"It also hit me that in order for us to play hard, I've got to put my team in situations to play hard. We started picking up our pressure defense, and that's something we've done a very good job [of] basically because of the way we use our bench. Our bench is coming through for us and giving us a lot of energy."
Steals have increased, but so has UMES' penchant for giving the ball away. The program's 317 turnovers are the third-worst total in the MEAC and they have the fifth-lowest turnover differential at -2.4 per game.
Collins pointed out that he has asked 6-foot-3, 210-pound senior Ishaq Pitts to move from his forward position to point guard, and the backup point guard is a walk-on in junior Travis Trim.
With players in new roles and still developing a level of comfort with Collins and the coaching staff, Collins said he's willing to accept mistakes here and there.
"It's a learning process," he said. "We're trying to build a winning process, but along the way, I still have to be patient. I want to be 20-0. I don't want to be 10-10. But I've got to remember that it's a process and I've got to be patient."