Bob Walsh readily admits he and his staff have been hard on the University of Maine men’s basketball team during the first 40 days of the 2014-15 season.
The first-year coach is determined to establish a winning culture through hard work, commitment to defense and poise under pressure.
In the wake of Sunday’s loss at Northern Illinois, during which UMaine led by 21 points in the first half but let it slip away in the second half, Walsh was determined not to linger on the Black Bears’ shortcomings.
Actually, he saw in them considerable resolve.
On Monday, Walsh had dinner with former UMaine standout Kevin Reed, who is the athletic director at Bangor Christian Schools.
“We talked about when he played here [2003-07], how good the coaching staff was at making the players feel appreciated, and feeling important,” Walsh said. “I don’t know that I’ve done a great job with that, because we’ve been pretty demanding.”
That helped Walsh carry a distinctly upbeat approach into Tuesday’s pregame practice.
“I woke up [Tuesday] saying our guys have got to feel good about what we’ve done,” he said.
The players responded.
“There was nobody down. There was nobody depressed. There was nobody feeling sorry for themselves,” Walsh said.
UMaine’s collective confidence and fight shone through during Tuesday night’s game at the Cross Insurance Center. The Black Bears battled throughout and emerged with an emotional 82-81 overtime victory against Wagner.
“Coach preaches composure every day, so that’s what we came into the game knowing,” said junior guard Shaun Lawton.
“Second half we settled down, stayed composed a little bit and toughed it out,” he added.
Senior guard Zarko Valjarevic provided the exclamation point, a 15-footer as time expired. Only a few minutes after his exuberant celebration from atop the media table, he tried to provide some perspective.
“This is one win,” Valjarevic said. “This feels great to [get] a first win, but we have a long way to go.”
Looking back, Walsh was impressed how his Black Bears had responded after the loss at Northern Illinois.
Valjarevic said rather than lament the fact they had squandered a large lead in that loss, the players were able to draw confidence from their first-half successes.
“The last game I think we tasted that we actually can do it in the first half, so we actually started to trust the system a little bit more,” Valjarevic said.
“We’re all here together. When we lose we’re together. When we win, together,” he added.
UMaine heads back on the road Saturday for a 3 p.m. contest at Dartmouth in Hanover, New Hampshire.
One area the UMaine men will have to shore up considerably if they hope to win games is their defense.
In spite of what appears to be a grittier defensive approach this season, the Bears have given up 83.3 points per game while allowing opponents to shoot 54 percent (179-for-330) from the field through six games.
That includes 45 percent from beyond the 3-point arc, which also ranks last among America East teams.
UMaine leads the league in steals (7.5 per game).
At the offensive end, the Black Bears have demonstrated good balance and unselfishness. Lawton leads the way at 12.8 ppg, followed by junior forward Till Gloger (10.8 ppg) and Valjarevic (9.2).
UMaine’s 14.2 assists per game are tops in America East.