{"id":160048,"date":"2025-09-16T04:27:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T04:27:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/160048\/"},"modified":"2025-09-16T04:27:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T04:27:09","slug":"umbc-hoops-reloads-for-a-new-era-hopes-to-climb-america-east-ladder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/160048\/","title":{"rendered":"UMBC Hoops Reloads for a New Era, Hopes to Climb America East Ladder"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Continuing our tour of America East basketball, we turn our attention to the UMBC Retrievers. Coming off a 13-19 overall season with a 5-11 conference record, the Retrievers faced a quarterfinal exit in the America East tournament at the hands of eventual champion Bryant. Now, head coach Jim Ferry is banking on a fresh injection of talent to change the team\u2019s fortunes for the 2025-26 season<\/a>. The new-look roster features a blend of youth and experience, headlined by a redshirt fifth-year transfer, two freshmen, and a handful of graduate students.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a look at the new faces ready to don the black and gold.<\/p>\n

The Freshmen Guards<\/p>\n

Coach Ferry is bringing in a pair of promising guards to build for the future.<\/p>\n

Riley Jacobs, a 6-8 forward from Alexandria, Virginia, arrives from St. Stephen & St. Agnes, where he earned First Team All-VISAA honors in 2025. Named the Alexandria Sportsman Club Boys Basketball Athlete of the Year, Jacobs is a skilled frontcourt player with a bright future. He intends to major in business education at UMBC.
\nSaahil Thakkar, a 6-1 guard out of Germantown, Maryland, joins the Retrievers after helping Northwest High School to a regional championship in the 2024-25 season. Thakkar is known for his clutch play, highlighted by a game-winning shot against Magruder. The guard, who scored 15 points in that game, has aspirations of one day becoming a basketball coach himself.<\/p>\n

Veteran Transfers Bring Playoff Experience<\/p>\n

The heart of UMBC\u2019s new class is its group of experienced transfers, many of whom are looking to make an immediate impact.<\/p>\n

Cougar Downing, a 6-2 guard and a redshirt fifth-year transfer from Eastern New Mexico, is the headliner. Downing is a proven scorer who started all 26 games for Eastern New Mexico, averaging 12.2 points and 2.3 rebounds per game while shooting an impressive 45.8% from three-point range (65-of-142). He also brings a season of Division I experience from Arkansas Little Rock, where he averaged six points per game with eight double-digit scoring efforts.
\nDevin Ceaser, a 6-1 guard, comes from Old Dominion. In 30 games with the Monarchs, Ceaser averaged 9.3 points, 1.9 rebounds, and a steal per game, with those numbers rising to 10.7 points and 2.2 rebounds in conference play. His knack for scoring will be a key asset for the Retrievers\u2019 backcourt.
\nCaden Diggs, a 6-8 forward also from Old Dominion, is seeking more playing time at UMBC. In his limited minutes with the Monarchs, Diggs averaged 2.9 points, and he\u2019ll look to carve out a bigger role in Coach Ferry\u2019s system.
\nPaul Greene, a 6-6 graduate student, arrives from Southern New Hampshire University with a resume full of accolades. He was named NE10 All-Conference Second Team and NABC East All-District Second Team. Greene is a double-double machine, averaging 13.8 points and 12.1 rebounds per game in 28 starts, along with 21 blocks.
\nJah\u2019likai King, a 6-2 graduate student guard, transfers from New Haven University, where he was named to the NE10 All-Rookie team in 2023-24. King brings a strong track record of production, averaging 15.8 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 3.4 assists in 28 starts during his last season.
\nD.J. Armstrong, a 6-4 graduate student from Texas Permian Basin, provides versatility at the guard and forward spots. Armstrong led his team in three-point (36.6%) and free-throw shooting, while averaging 12.3 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 1.5 assists per game in 28 starts.
\nJosh Odunowo, a 6-6 forward from Columbia University, brings Ivy League experience to the frontcourt. Odunowo led the Ivy League in field goal percentage in 2023-24 at 61.1% and had 19 blocks on the season. After not playing in 2024-25, he will be a critical piece for the Retrievers\u2019 interior game.<\/p>\n

With a mix of battle-tested transfers and talented underclassmen, UMBC is poised to make a serious run at climbing the America East standings. The Retrievers are banking on this infusion of new talent to turn last season\u2019s challenges into a new era of success.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll be back next week with another look at America East Basketball.<\/p>\n

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Author Profile\"John<\/p>\n

John Doucette<\/p>\n

\t\tContinue Reading<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"0 0 Read Time:3 Minute, 38 Second Continuing our tour of America East basketball, we turn our attention…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":160049,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[89648,402,4044,398,400,401,99,85839,2415,8936],"class_list":["post-160048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-basketball","tag-america-east-basketball","tag-basketball","tag-college-basketball","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-basketball","tag-ncaabasketball","tag-sports","tag-sports-blog","tag-sports-news","tag-umbc-retrievers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=160048"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160048\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/160049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=160048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=160048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=160048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}