HARTFORD, Conn. - With an unbreakable grip on the eighth seed in the upcoming America East Tournament and no scenario where that will change, the University of Maine men's basketball program will wrap up their regular season at Hartford on Tuesday evening.

Maine at Hartford

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GAME NOTES (PDF)

Date: Tuesday, March 3rd

Time: 7:00 PM

Site: Chase Arena, MORE INFO

CAPSTONE PROJECT

Maine's last regular-season game of the 2019-20 season features a journey down to Hartford to take on the Hawks, with Maine's place in the standings being entirely unaffected by the results of the contest. With a 26-point drubbing of UMBC last Saturday at the Cross Insurance Center, Maine clinched the eighth and final spot in the America East playoffs, and will take on Vermont in Burlington in the opening round for the fifth straight season. 

LAST TIME OUT

Maine picked up a critical America East victory over UMBC on Saturday afternoon, taking down the Retrievers at the Cross Insurance Center by a 74-48 final.

The key to this one was a 28-6 Maine run between the 8:57 mark of the first half and the 12:23 mark of the second, where Maine distanced themselves for good. The Black Bears started the half on a 13-2 run, and never looked back to cruise to the 74-48 win.

Andrew Fleming led the way, with 21 points on 9-14 shooting, alongside six rebounds and a +31 rating on the day. Stephane Ingo recorded his first career double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds, along with three blocks. Sergio El Darwich dropped in 13 points and just missed a double-double with nine rebounds, and a game-high six assists. Nedeljko Prijovic rounded out the double-digit scorers with 20 points, his third game of 20+ points this season.

A LOOK AT THE HAWKS

Hartford has been rolling in 2020, as they sit in the third-place spot in the conference entering today's action. They've posted a 16-14 overall record alongside a 9-6 mark within the conference, as they try to reach double-digit wins in the America East for the third straight season.

No one player dominates this Hawks offense, as nobody ranks in the top-15 of the conference in points per game but four players rank in the top-30. Hunter Marks and Moses are tied for the team lead at 10.5 a contest, joined by Traci Carter (9.7, 24th) and Miroslav Stafl (9.1, 30th).

Hartford's perimeter defense ranks among the nation's elite, as they hold opponents to a 27.5% mark from beyond the arc, just behind the nation's leading Arkansas and their insane 26.2% performance. They also lead the conference and rank in the top-80 across the nation in steals per game (7.4, 78th nationally) and total steals (221, 71st nationally). 

BIG WINS BACK ON THE MENU

In the second year of Coach Richard Barron's tenure, Maine has two 20+ point wins against 

America East foes in one season for the first time since 2003-04 with Saturday's 26-point win over UMBC and January's 23-point victory over Binghamton.