ORONO, Maine -- Highlighted by a visit to the defending national champions and trips out to the west coast and Hawaii, the 2019-20 University of Maine Men's Basketball non-conference schedule was released on Thursday. Maine will host five non-conference games this season, including a matchup against Maine Maritime at the Portland Expo on November 24.

NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULE
 
"We have a challenging but fun non-conference schedule for the upcoming season," said head coach Richard Barron. "Our players enjoy the challenges of playing such good teams. We're excited to learn and grow together and know that we will be prepared for the America East season."
 
Before the regular season begins, Maine will host two preseason exhibition contests at the Cross Insurance Center, with the Black Bears facing Husson (Oct. 27) and McGill University (Nov. 3).
 
Maine will open the regular season on its home court for the first time since 2011-12, when the Black Bears host Merrimack. The game marks the Warriors first game after reclassifying to Division I. As a Division II member in 2018-19, Merrimack put together a 22-10 record, winning the NE10 Championship.
 
Maine will meet its first of three Ivy League foes in its second game of the campaign, trekking to Cambridge to play Harvard. The meeting marks the ninth overall meeting between the two New England schools and the first since 2008-09.
 
The Black Bears will then head to the west coast for the second consecutive season, taking on Portland on Nov. 16 and Washington on Nov. 19. The Huskies went 27-9 in 2018-19, advancing to the second round of the NCAA Tournament after earning an at-large berth.
 
After returning from Seattle, Maine will meet Maine Maritime in the second game of a doubleheader at Portland Expo on Nov. 24. The UMaine women open the day with a matchup against Navy at 1:00 p.m. The matchup with Maine Maritime marks the first time the Black Bear men have played at the Portland Expo since Feb. 6 2016 against UMBC.
 
The Black Bears will begin a four-game road trip on Nov. 27 against the defending national champion Virginia Cavaliers. UVA finished 2018-19 with a 35-3 overall record, taking down Texas Tech 85-77 in overtime to win its first national championship in school history.
 
A trip to Storrs, Conn. To play UConn is next on the docket for the Black Bears on Nov. 30. The long-time Yankee Conference foes will meet for the 101^st time and the first since the season-opening game of the 2015-16 season.
 
The squad follows the matchup with the Huskies with another longtime former conference foe with the Huskies' nickname. The Black Bears will face the Northeastern Huskies for the 111^th time in series history in Boston on Dec. 4. The two schools first faced off in 1920-21, with Maine earning a 29-13 win in Beantown. The defending CAA Champions completed their season after a 87-53 loss to Kansas in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
 
Maine completes the four-game road trip against Central Connecticut State on Dec. 7. The Black Bears and Blue Devils battled in an instant-classic at the Cross Insurance Center a season ago, as the Blue Devils were able to rally past two game-tying buzzer-beater three-pointers from Sergio El Darwich to defeat Maine, 93-90, in two overtime periods.
 
Maine heads home to Bangor for the first time since the season-opener on Dec. 12 against Dartmouth. The Black Bears will then take on Quinnipiac at the Cross Center on Dec. 15.
 
Two road games remain to close out 2019, as Maine takes on Atlantic 10 foe UMass on December 20. Maine wraps up the year in scenic Honolulu, taking on Hawaii for the first time in program-history. It won't be the Black Bears' first trip to the Aloha State, as Maine played UCLA (L, 83-62), Florida A&M (W, 83-73) and BYU (W, 77-66) in Laie, Hawaii during the Pearl Harbor Invitational in the 1999-00 season.
 
After the new year, Maine closes out the non-conference schedule at home against Columbia on Jan. 2.
 
The full 2019-20 schedule with the America East schedule will be released in the coming weeks. All dates and times are subject to change.
 
-UMaine-