ORONO - The University of Maine men's basketball program is set to begin their 2020-21 season on Saturday afternoon, the 101st season of Maine Basketball and the third under Head Coach
Richard Barron, after a 287-day gap since their last time on the hardwood in competition.
The Black Bears dive right into America East conference play with a set of games against the Hartford Hawks at Chase Arena. The second to last game of last season took place right here, as the Black Bears closed the regular season with their first win over the Hawks since 2017, a 71-65 romp. The win delivered the program's most overall wins (9) and America East wins (5) since the 2012-13 season.
A LOOK BACK
As mentioned, the 2019-20 season was the second under Head Coach
Richard Barron with the program's most overall wins (9) and America East wins (5) since the 2012-13 season. They did so in convincing fashion at times, as Maine had two 20+ point wins against America East foes in one season for the first time since 2003-04 with a 26-point win over UMBC and a 23-point victory over Binghamton.
Maine closed the season with two conference wins, sealing the seventh overall seed in the conference tournament and a trip to Burlington to take on the second-seeded defending champion team from Vermont in the first round. A layup at the 11:21 mark of the second half brought Maine within one, as the Black Bears opened the half on a 17-6 run to claw back into the game. The Catamounts put the clamps on from there, holding Maine to just seven points over the final 11 minutes to advance to the America East Semifinals.
The postseason saw seniors
Andrew Fleming and
Sergio El Darwich take home Third Team All-Conference honors, while
Mykhailo Yagodin was honored as an All-Academic selection.
A LOOK AT THE HAWKS
Entering his 11th year as head coach of the Hartford men's basketball in 2020-21, John Gallagher, who was named the 10th coach in the 70-year history of the program in 2010, led the Hawks to the program's most successful two-year run since Hartford transitioned to Division I in 1984-85, combining for 37 wins in 2017-19. Coming one victory shy of matching the school record for regular-season victories in 2018-19, he piloted Hartford to a program-record 19-win season in 2017-18.
The 2019-20 season was successful as well, as Hartford had earned a spot in the conference championship game against Vermont before the untimely cancelation of the season.
In 2020-21, the Hawks have got off to a 3-2 start so far with wins over local rivals Central Connecticut State and Fairfield (twice). The two losses came at the hands of UConn (57-79) and Villanova (53-87) to open the season. Moses Flowers leads the offense with 15.0 points per game so far, along with 6.6 rebounds a game. Traci Carter is the other double-digit scorer on the roster with 10.0 ppg.
A LOOK AHEAD
Although the value of schedules in 2020 is minimal, the Black Bears are scheduled to stay on the road for their next contest. They're slated to take on Boston College in Chestnut Hill on Tuesday afternoon.
For the latest news and updates regarding Maine men's basketball, stay tuned to GoBlackBears.com and the @MaineMBB social media channels.
