ORONO, Maine – Following a hard-fought 63-50 defeat to Denver in the season-opener on Tuesday night, the Maine Black Bears continue their west-coast swing with a matchup against the Utah Runnin' Utes on Thursday night at the Jon M. Huntsman Center.
Utah and Maine are slated to tip-off at 7:00 pm MT/9:00 pm ET, with the game being broadcasted nationally on the Pac-12 Network, and through the air waves locally on 96.1 WGUY FM and on the TuneIn app
HOW TO WATCH: Fans with Spectrum in the Bangor area will be able to watch the game on channel 375. There will also be a livestream online available through the Pac-12 Network.
DENVER SUMMARY: With the Black Bears holding a 39-38 advantage with 11:05 left in the second-half, the Denver Pioneers constructed a 20-5 scoring run over the next 7:35, as the Pioneers held on to a 63-50 victory over Maine in the season-opener at Magness Arena on Tuesday night. The Black Bears (0-1) were tied at the half (27-27) with the Summit League foe, but were outscored 36-23 in the second frame.
Andrew Fleming led Maine with 10 points on 4-of-8 shooting, followed by
Isaiah White (9 points),
Vilgot Larsson (8 points)
Terion Moss (8 points) and
Mykhailo Yagodin (7 points).
A GLANCE AT UTAH: The Runnin' Utes put together a 23-12 record last season, including a 11-7 mark in the Pac-12. Utah fell to Oregon in the postseason conference tournament, but the Utes rallied for four wins in the NIT, advancing all the way to the championship game against Penn State. Utah fell 82-66 in Madison Square Garden in its final game of the season to the Nittany Lions. In the preseason this season, Utah defeated the College of Idaho 96-76, with five Utes registering double-figures. Timmy Allen led the pack with 18 points on 6-of-11 shooting. In the Pac-12 preseason poll, Utah was selected 8
th of 12 total teams, and return starters in Sedrick Barefield and Parker Van Dyke from last year.
CLEANIN' THE GLASS: There were plenty of positives to take away from the first game of the
Richard Barron era for the UMaine men. The Black Bears finished with 40 rebounds, compared to 37 from Denver. A season ago, the Pioneers ranked as a top-100 team in rebounds per game, averaging 36.93 boards. In his first game action in 616 days (3/1/17),
Vincent Eze led the squad with 10 caroms, while Fleming (6), Larsson (6) and Moss (5) all contributed at least five boards a piece.
BLACK BEAR DEBUTS: Larsson, Moss, Yagodin,
Lewis Wang,
Solomon Iluyomade and
Sergio El Darwich all saw their first game action on Tuesday night. The newcomers provided over-half (27 pts.) of Maine's 50 total points.
FLEMING HITS 30: With 10 points against Denver, Fleming now has 30 games with double-figure scoring in his career.
UP NEXT: Following the contest with the Runnin' Utes, Maine caps the trip out west with a meeting with the San Francisco Dons at War Memorial at the Sobrato Center on Saturday at 2:00 pm PT/5:00 pm ET.
-UMaine-
