Orono, ME - The University of Maine men's basketball team begins their America East Playoffs on Saturday, March 7 at NJIT.

Season Review -- The Black Bears concluded the regular season with an 8-23 record and a 6-10 conference record, leading to the sixth-seed for the America East Playoffs.

Conference Awards -- The Black Bears had three members of their program earning a regular season honor, highlighted by TJ Biel being named to the All-Conference Second Team. Biel led the Black Bears in a number of major categories, those being: Points Per Game (11.9), Blocks (38), Total Rebounds (125) and Minutes Played (961). His 38 blocks were the third-most in the America East, leading to him being named to the All-Defensive Team as well.

Logan Carey joins Biel on the America East All-Defensive Team as his 48 steals were the second-most in the conference and led the Black Bears on the season. His 28 steals in conference-only games were the second-most in the league.

Ace Flagg rounds out the group earning honors as he was named to the All-Rookie Team. He averaged 6.4 PPG, 3.9 RPG, 1.5 APG and 1.3 SPG across 31 games. He was one of three Black Bears to appear in every game on the season.

Defense Travels -- The Black Bears concluded the regular season with the 51st best defense in the country as they allowed just 68.7 PPG, the second-best mark in the America East.

The Black Bears have the 14th-best defense in the country in terms of defending the three-pointer, allowing just 29.7% to fall. Maine also ranks in the top-100 in steals per game (80th-7.8 per game) and turnovers forced (91st-12.9 per game).

Series History -- This will be the 17th meeting all-time between these two programs and third of the season.

NJIT leads the all-time series 9-7 as they two sides split the season series. Each team took one on the road this season against one another as they played one of the most evenly matched series between two America East schools this season.

The Black Bears took the first game back on Jan. 10, 74-70, before NJIT took the second game on Feb. 14, 58-67.

Logan Carey averaged 15.5 PPG against the Highlanders during the regular season while Ace Flagg averaged 10.5 PPG and 6.5 RPG. TJ Biel had 21 points against the Highlanders during their first meeting.

-UMaine-

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