Bob Walsh had hoped that playing an exhibition game at the University of Southern Maine would provide his University of Maine men’s basketball team with some important experience while exposing the program to fans in Greater Portland.
The Black Bears learned some important and tough lessons from Saturday’s 78-73 loss to the Huskies.
Walsh did not witness the kind of effort and intensity he had hoped from his ballclub as Division III USM picked up an emotional victory over Division I UMaine.
“It was a step backwards for us from the way that we had learned to compete and learned to trust each other throughout our first three or four weeks of practice,” said Walsh, who was disappointed in what he saw.
Walsh attributed some of it to the players adjusting to a new coaching staff, different systems and each other’s tendencies. On the other hand, the Black Bears clearly did not go into the game with the proper mindset and overlooked USM.
“In our sort of de-brief when we talked to our guys, a couple of the guys said, ‘yeah, we did kind of feel like a Division III team, it wouldn’t be much of a problem,’” Walsh said.
That does not coincide with Walsh’s philosophy of making sure the Black Bears don’t feel as though they are entitled to anything as they work toward rebuilding the program.
“I reminded them very clearly, who are we as a program to not take anybody for granted. We as a team, as a group, have never won anything, we’ve never won a single game together,” said Walsh, who expects a different approach moving forward.
Saturday’s loss was not the first for a UMaine men’s team against a Division III opponent in the last 30 years. USM beat the Black Bears 65-58 on Dec. 2, 1986, while Husson University of Bangor edged UMaine 73-72 on Dec. 3, 1997.
The game was intended to provide an early measuring stick for this UMaine team.
“The purpose of playing a game like that, against a team that I knew was well-coached and would be prepared to beat us, and on the road, was to learn as much as possible about our group,” Walsh explained.
“I think we learned an awful lot about each other the first time we stepped out on the floor in public to play in competition,” he added.
UMaine gets another chance to exhibit its skills and resolve on Thursday when it faces Division III Husson in a 7 p.m. contest at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor.
“Husson’s a really good team. They won 26 games last year,” Walsh said.
“Hopefully our mentality is a lot better, we’re mentally tough, and we’ve learned some things about our team that will allow us to move forward.”