University of Maine
Utah Valley University
Men's Basketball Travels to Utah Valley for Season Opener
11/12/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Notes
OREM, Utah--The University of Maine men's basketball team travels to take on the Utah Valley Wolverines in the Black Bears' season-opener on Friday at 9 p.m. Jim Churchill will have all the action on the Black Bear Sports Network.
Game Storylines
The University of Maine men's basketball team (19-11 last season, 11-5 in America East) plays its first game of the regular season against the Utah Valley University Wolverines (12-18, 5-7 Great West Conference).
The Black Bears are coming off a season that saw them notch the third-most wins in program history and a third place finish in America East.
The Wolverines placed fourth in their conference a year ago, and are led by Jordan Swarbrick who led the team in scoring, rebounding, assists and steals a year ago.
Maine returns 11 players and four starters from last season's squad.
Maine is led by First Team All-America East selection Gerald McLemore, who is the leading returning scorer on the team with 14.6 points per game.
McLemore led America East and ranked second in the nation with 102 three-pointers made.
Senior co-captain Sean McNally also returns after a season that saw him ranked fourth in the conference in rebounding as well as blocks en route to All-America East Third Team honors.
Sophomore Murphy Burnatowski will look to take the next step after being named to the All-Rookie Team last season.
Maine's RPI improved 133 spots from the 08-09 season to last season (285-152).
Maine was selected as the America East favorite according to the Sporting News, was selected second by Lindy's College Basketball Preview and third by the America East Coaches' Poll and by Rivals.com.
Maine is looking for its third-straight opening game victory.
