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Fresh off a 79-66 win over Harvard in their only Orono home game of 2004, the University of Maine men’s basketball team is headed back on the road this weekend. The Black Bears will open America East play at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County tonight and face Morgan State on Saturday.
UMBC is 2-3 on the season. The Retrievers are led by Andrew Feely’s 11.4 points per game and 8.8 rebounds per game. It will be the first conference game for both teams. The Black Bears were picked to finish third in the pre-season coaches’ poll, while UMBC was projected to finish tenth.
“It’s early in the season for both of us,” said UMaine head coach Ted Woodward. “UMBC is 2-0 at home this year. It’s very difficult to win on the road in college basketball, so it’ll be a tough game.”
UMaine enters the weekend with a record of 3-2, riding a three game winning streak. The Black Bears lost their opener at Big East opponent Boston College and suffered a 68-67 buzzer-beating loss to Bethune-Cookman in Portland to start the season 0-2. The Black Bears then proceeded to hit the road and upset Atlantic-10 Rhode Island 47-44 and won at Dartmouth 58-52 before returning home and knocking off Harvard last week.
“Anytime you can go on the road and beat a quality Atlantic-10 team, it’s huge,” said Woodward. “The win at Dartmouth was big too, as was last week’s against Harvard. We take each game as its own and any win is a great win.”
The biggest difference between UMaine’s wins and losses has been defense. In each of their three wins, the Black Bears have held their opponent to under 40 percent shooting from the field.
“Defense is a key component to winning the way you want to win at this level,” said Woodward. “Rebounding is also a key statistic for us. We have some big, strong guys on the line, so rebounding should be an advantage.”
UMaine is led up front by senior forward Mark Flavin, a second team all-conference selection a year ago. Flavin averaged 6.3 boards a game and was second in the conference with 56 blocks last season, and currently ranks second on the Black Bears with 4.8 rebounds a game.
Another key player for the Black Bears is junior guard Kevin Reed, who led the nation in rebounding among players six feet two inches tall and under last year. A second team all-conference selection last year, Reed leads UMaine so far this season with 6.4 boards per game, and his 10.4 ppg is second on the team. Last weekend, Reed broke the all-time UMaine record for three-point field goals.
“Kevin is a tremendous shooter, the best I’ve coached in nineteen years in college basketball,” said Woodward. “That’s just the tip of what he brings to our team. He’s a great rebounder, and he has great heart, toughness and leadership.”
UMaine’s leading scorer is junior guard Ernest Turner, who sat out last season after transferring from UNLV. Turner is averaging 14 points per game and poured in a career high 22 points to lead the Black Bears over Harvard. Senior guard Chris Markwood is scoring 9.2 per pionts game to round out a fairly balanced UMaine offense.
“We have guys who can shoot, guys who can dribble and score, and guys who can post up and score,” Woodward said. “We have good balance and how we use that balance is going to be key for us.”
Looking ahead, UMaine will play a strong Big East team in the Providence Friars in two weeks at Providence. The Friars are led by first team All-American Ryan Gomes and coming off an NCAA appearance.
“We have guys who believe that we’re one of the better teams in the northeast,” said Woodward. “They have no fear of competing with anyone. We approach every game the same way whether it’s an exhibition or a Big East opponent. If we focus on our defense, rebounding, consistency, and offensive chemistry we feel like it’ll be hard for other teams to take those away from us.”
