University of Maine
Albany (N.Y.)
Maine Men's Basketball Opens Conference Play at Albany
1/3/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
at Albany | Live Stats | Live Video | Live Audio | Full Notes
SCOUTING MAINE
With 2015 brings the conference season for the University of Maine men's basketball season as the squad opens up in Albany, N.Y., Saturday to take on the Great Danes. The America East opener is slated to tip-off at 7 p.m. The Black Bears wrapped up all-but one conference game (still yet to be played) with a 1-11 record and a 1-1 home mark.
In its last game a short-benched Black Bears team all-but erased a 17-point deficit against Quinnipiac this past Monday but were unable to close the gap in the second-half, as the Bobcats played to an 81-64.
Till Gloger led the team with 19 points and six rebounds, while Shaun Lawton was next on the list with 11 points and five assists along with two steals. Rebounding was a huge issue as Maine went up against the No. 1 rebounding team in the country and lost the battle of the boards, 42-29.
Below are some scouting notes on the Black Bears:
- Maine is averaging 64.2 points per game while opponents are scoring 80.6
- Black Bears are struggling from long range, registering 29 percent from beyond the arc while hitting 41 percent from the floor.
- Zarko Valjarevic and Till Gloger currently pace the team on offense as the duo both are averaging 11.4 points per game. Shaun Lawton is close behind with 11.3 points per game average.
- Maine is getting outrebounded 37.3-30.3 for a -7.0 margin.
- Maine is looking for its first win on the road this season after going 0-9 away from the Cross Insurance Center.
- Marko Pirovic continues to pace the Black Bears in rebounds with 5.3 boards per contest.
- Aaron Calixte, who is logging 31.2 minutes per game and leads the team in assists, is dishing out 3.5 helpers per game.
- While Maine doesn't record a ton of blocks, Till Gloger leads in that stat with four in 12 games.
SCOUTING ALBANY
The Great Danes enter the contest with a 5-7 record but stumble into conference play having lost its last contest to Niagara 65-47. The loss snaps what was a three-game winning streak. The Great Danes dispatched Siena, Yale and Fairfield before succumbing to the Purple Eagles in Niagara Falls, N.Y.
Below are some notes about the Great Danes this season:
- The squad has three players average double figures as Peter Hooley (14.2), Sam Rowley (13.2) and Ray Sanders (12.8) all tally double-digit figures.
- The team is currently averaging 64.2 points while allowing 66.4 points per game.
- Albany is shooting 42 percent from the floor as a team while hitting 34 percent from beyond the arc.
- The Great Danes are averaging 32.6 rebounds per game while opponents are taking down 31.3 boards per contest.
- Albany is turning it over 12.8 times per game while opponents are averaging 12.9 giveaways per game.
- The Great Danes are thieving the ball 5.6 times a contest.
SERIES HISTORY AGAINST ALBANY
The Black Bears have had varied success against the perennial America East title contender as the series history currently stands at 12-18. However in its last 10 games the Black Bears have gone 2-8 against the Great Danes. The last win came two seasons ago on Feb. 2013, 66-52.
CURRENT BLACK BEARS AGAINST ALBANY
Shaun Lawton, Till Gloger and Zarko Valjarevic have all played the most against the Great Danes in the their individual series history. Valjrevic has seen the most success playing in 25.7 minutes per game (in four games) and has averaged 9.0 points per game and one assist per game. Lawton is averaging 22.4 minutes per game against the Great Danes along with 4.0 ppg, 1.6 rpg, 2.8 apg and 1.2 steals per game. Gloger on the other hand has seen 22.7 minutes per game against Albany along with 6.0 ppg, and 3.2 rpg.
ONLY ONE FIRST IMPRESSION
Since joining the America East in 1979-80 seasons, the University of Maine men's basketball team has had an above average record in conference openers. The Black Bears are 18-16 all-time when kicking off America East play and have a 5-5 record in the last ten. The Black Bears enter the 2014-15-conference opener with a streak on the line as the squad has won four-straight dating back to 2010-11 when the team defeated Boston University 65-52. Since then the Black Bears have dispatched Binghamton (2012, 76-61), Boston University (2013, 63-58), Binghamton (2014, 82-66).
The Black Bears have ever only opened conference play against Albany once, when Albany joined the conference in 2001, as the Black Bears won that matchup, 59-52.
GLOGER GOING STREAKING
Till Gloger has really come into his own this season and is being utilized as a focal point in the Black Bear offense. Due to that focus, the junior forward has started a bit of a streak as he has tallied double-figure points in four-straight games, after scoring 19 against Quinnipiac on Monday. Gloger has scored double-digits six times this season including a season-high 21 against Wagner in the team's only win of the season. On that run the Bochum, Germany native is averaging 14.5 points and 5.2 rebounds per game.
APPROACHING 500
Last season, senior Zarko Valjarevic joined the 500-point club mid-season and this year it appears Till Gloger is making the push to join him. Gloger has begun a double-figure streak and is surging his way to the mid-century point. Gloger enters this weekend with 446 points, needing just 54 points to break into the plateau. Shaun Lawton is also getting close as he has 444 points in his three-year career.
MAINERS GETTING THE START
The University of Maine has had a surprise entry in the starting lineup the last two games as Greenbush, Maine native; Garvey Melmed made has made his first two career starts against Seton Hall and Quinnipiac this past week. If that wasn't enough to excite the Maine community, Melmed served as the second "Mainer" to get called in the "starting five" combining with Beal's Island native, Garet Beal. It was the first time since the 2010-11 season where two residents of the state of Maine had their names called for the starting lineup. The duo of Troy Barnies and Sean McNally were the last "Mainer" tandem to be called in the starting lineup on March 5, 2011 when the Black Bears fell to Hartford in the quarterfinals of the America East tournament. Barnies and McNally both had their names called to start, in the same game,18 times during that season.
22 IS WILD
Zarko Valjarevic is starting to heat up for the Black Bears as the senior has posted back-to-back 22-point efforts against Boston College and Army before an illness caused him to miss the last two contests against Seton Hall and Quinnipiac. When looking through the record books it's the first time in his career that Valjarevic has ever posted back-to-back 20-point games. In his sophomore season he posted three 20-point games with two of them coming in three tries, scoring 21 against Vermont on Jan. 22 and then following it up two games later against New Hampshire on Jan. 30 as he poured in 20. He has had six 20+-point games in his career and goes for three-straight against Albany.
THE FRESHMAN 30
Aaron Calixte has been one of Maine's brightest spots so far this season as the freshman has come in and made an immediate impact for the Black Bears. Calixte is currently averaging 31.2 minutes per game, which is third on the team behind Lawton and Valjarevic. More impressively though is he is second in America East in freshman minutes played. First-year man Jourdan Grant from UMBC has the most (averaged) minutes played this season in the America East with 32.0. Binghamton's Romello Walker 29.5 is third on that list.
CAREER DOUBLE-FIGURE GAMES LEADERBOARD
While double-figure games are fairly common The Black Bears' Zarko Valjarevic is approaching 30 double-figure games in his career. He is currently at 28 all-time at Maine while the next highest is Till Gloger with 18. Gloger just passed Shaun Lawton as they both had 15 entering the game against Army but Gloger notched 10 points and Lawton failed to break double-figures. The Bochum, Germany native did it again against Seton Hall and Quinnipiac as well. As far as 20+ point games go, Valjarevic now has six in his career while Gloger has three and Lawton has one.
DOUBLE-DIGIT TRIO
The Black Bears offense has seen its ups and downs this season but the squad has relied on three players that are currently averaging double-figures. Both Zarko Valjarevic, who has been hampered by illness the last two games and Till Gloger lead the team with an 11.4 points per game mark. Shaun Lawton is right on their trail as he averages 11.3 points. Gloger is on a tear in his last four games, registering double-figures in each, while Zarko had notched 20+ points in his last two contests before going down with illness.
AMERICA EAST RANKINGS
The Black Bears, while having a competitive non-conference schedule rank fairly high in several categories when compared to their America East peers. The Black Bears are No. 1 in the conference in assists per game with a 13.8 mark. Maine is also tied for second in steals per game 6.8 mark.
When it comes to Individuals, Till Gloger is ranked 11th overall with Valjarevic ranked 12th in points per game. Gloger is also ranked third in field goal percentage with a .559 mark. Freshman Aaron Calixte is also entering conference play with a prominent second-place ranking in assists pregame with a 3.5 mark, just behind fellow freshman peer, Jourdan Grant from UMBC. Shaun Lawton I second in steals behind Grant with a 2.1 mark.
Valjarevic is ranked first in 3-pointers made coming into conference play as he is averaging 2.4 long-range buckets per game.
