Orono, ME - The University of Maine men's basketball team hosts NJIT for Senior Day on Saturday, Feb. 14. The Senior Day ceremony will begin at 2:35 PM prior to the 3 PM tip-off.

Last Time Out -- The Black Bears were defeated by UMBC, 78-62.

TJ Biel had a game-high 23 points on 8-for-14 shooting from the floor and a career-high five three-pointers on eight attempts.

Maine held UMBC to 45% shooting from the floor and 17% from behind-the-arc.

Lean on the Defense -- The Black Bears are once again showing that their one of the top defenses in all of the NCAA.

After a mid-season spike that saw their defense jump into the 100's in the NCAA, the Black Bears have been playing some of the best defense in all of the NCAA to help drop their PPG allowed to just 69.4, the 69th-best mark in all of the NCAA and second in the America East.

Maine is also allowing just 30.3% of three-pointers to fall, the 35th-best mark in the NCAA, which leads the America East, along with their 7.7 steals per game, which is also the top spot in the America East.

Gray Reaches 1K -- Mekhi Gray, in his sixth season of basketball in the America East, reached the milestone that all players hope to achieve during their time in college basketball, the 1000-career points mark. He did so on Feb. 12 against UMBC. On the season, Gray has scored 199 points for the Black Bears, added to his 801 career points that he scored between his four years at NJIT and a few games played with UMass Lowell.

Impactful Players -- Logan Carey and TJ Biel have been the guys seeing the most minutes during conference play, and have responded with some impressive numbers.

Biel leads the duo in PPG at 15.5 in conference only games., followed by Carey at 11.1. Carey has dished out 32 assists and swiped 23 steals in the lead guard position while Biel has 16 blocks and 50 rebounds in the power forward/center role.

Series History -- This will be the 16th meeting all-time between these two opponents and the second matchup of the 2025-26 season.

NJIT holds a one-game lead in the series at 8-7 but the Black Bears grabbed the first matchup of the season back on Jan. 20, a 74-70 victory. TJ Biel had 21 points in that game while Yanis Bamba had 14 off the bench for Maine.

-UMaine-

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