Three games into the season, the UMBC men's basketball team has yet to come out on the winning side of a game. After dropping a big lead to Morgan State, the team came out and gave fans quite a show against Loyola but then never got anything going against George Washington.

To kick off the week, UMBC lost a close game to Loyola, 69-66. While the Retrievers came up short, the two teams treated the fans with a great game to watch as there were 10 lead changes and eight ties.

In the first five minutes of the game sophomore Chauncey Gilliam scored nine points off two threes, a dunk, and a free throw but, after a strong start to the game, he scored just one more point prior to intermission.

"They went to a zone [defense] so we tried to rotate the ball as much as we could to get a good shot," Gilliam said.

But unlike in their opener when Morgan State switched to a zone defense, they did not struggle to score; instead they stayed on Loyola's heals the entire game and eventually took the lead.

"We settled down a little bit more. We were eager to get started again and prove we were a good team and we did a better job offensively, especially when Loyola went to the zone," coach Randy Monroe said. "When they went to the zone we settled in and when Morgan went to the zone we looked like we didn't know what was going on so I was happy with us being in more of an attack mode in that situation."

While Monroe did say there are no moral victories, he was happy with the team's execution both offensively and defensively in the second half. With Loyola ahead by 10 points at intermission the game looked to be going the way of the Morgan State game but instead the team cut the lead to two in six minutes, and took the lead with seven minutes remaining.

Though Gilliam struggled down the stretch in the first half, he scored 12 points in the second half for a career high 22 point game. Matt Spadafora (10 points, seven rebounds), and freshman Shawn Grant (11 points, 3-4 from three point range) combined for 28 points to get UMBC back into the game.

"UMBC is a good team but just trying to find out who their main guy is," said Loyola coach Jimmy Patsos. "I was afraid Gilliam would find his way, and he did, and Shawn Grant looks like he's real so that looks like their one-two punch."

But with 1:19 remaining in the game and Loyola up by one point, point guard Chris De La Rosa, who scored six points with eight assists, three steals, and three rebounds, went up for the go-ahead jumper. While the ball looked to be going in, it rimmed out and UMBC would not see a lead again.

"I thought Chris had a great look," Monroe said. "It was just unfortunate, the shot just didn't fall but I'll tell you what, if he doesn't take that shot again he's coming out of the game because I want him to be able to do that."

A major reason for UMBC's big comeback was a risky switch to a five-guard set. With their big men either struggling or in foul trouble, there was not much choice, but their speed got the Retrievers back in the game.

"We usually have Robbie and the four little sports cars but we had the five little sports cars out there," Monroe said. "Those guys can play, they make big plays when they have to and I'm certainly not afraid to put them in the game at one time because they make things happen."

But when it came time for De La Rosa to hit a game-tying three, Loyola made an immediate foul to allow a chance to just two points, essentially sealing the game with 2.7 seconds left.

While UMBC came back from the Morgan State loss with a strong showing against Loyola, they struggled to get anything going on either side of the game against George Washington despite Grant scoring a career high 14 points and Gilliam scoring eight with six rebounds.

With foul trouble to the UMBC big men for a third straight game as Jackson fouled out and Jake Wasco and Adrian Satchell each had four fouls, Monroe called for the five-guard set, but this time George Washington used their size advantage to shut down the UMBC offense, and passed the Retriever defense to win the game 94-51.

"I think this team can be good if we improve defensively where we have a big gaping hole," Monroe said. "We're not getting stops when we need them and the other team is scoring and we're not stopping their momentum."