Orono, ME - The University of Maine men's basketball team heads to New Hampshire on Saturday afternoon as part of the Buffalo Wild Wings Border Battle.

Last Time Out -- The Black Bears were defeated by NJIT, 67-58.

Logan Carey had a team-high 20 points, seven rebounds and three assists for the Black Bears while Ace Flagg had a career-high five steals.

Maine held NJIT to just 26.7% shooting 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 69.3, the 66th-best mark in all of the NCAA and second in the America East.

Maine is also allowing just 30.2% of three-pointers to fall, the 27th-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 and 86th in the NCAA.

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 206 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 14.6 in conference only games., followed by Carey at 11.8. Carey has dished out 35 assists and swiped 24 steals in the lead guard position while Biel has 16 blocks and 53 rebounds in the power forward/center role.

Series History -- This will be the 209th meeting all-time between these two historic rivals and the second matchup of the 2025-26 season.

Maine leads the all-time series 125-83, but the Wildcats took the first game of the season back in January, 65-48. Nine different Black Bears scored in that contest, led by Keelan Steele's nine points.

-UMaine-

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