ORONO, Maine — The University of Maine men’s basketball team faces a rugged weekend schedule with three games in as many afternoons as part of the inaugural Steve Wright Classic tournament to be held at Case Gymnasium on the campus of Boston University.
The Black Bears will play Boston University at 4 p.m. Saturday, then face Northeastern at 2 p.m. Sunday before closing out the event against LIU-Brooklyn at 3 p.m. Monday.
“My roommates and I were joking about how it’s almost like how it used to be in AAU, just playing a bunch of games in a bunch of days,” said UMaine junior guard Aaron Calixte. “I think it’s pretty cool to play games back to back like that and see how we respond with not having practice and not being able to watch much film between the games.”
Coming off a season-opening split in Virginia last weekend with an 80-67 loss to Atlantic Coast Conference contender Virginia Tech followed by an 80-68 victory over Longwood, coach Bob Walsh’s club hopes to take some defensive momentum into the BU tournament.
“A lot of the mistakes we did make on the defensive end were effort mistakes,” said guard Aaron Calixte. “They weren’t mistakes we can’t fix, and that’s a good sign because there were a lot of things we can fix easily in practice and by watching film for the season to come.”
The Bears have allowed just 69 points per game through its first two starts, well below the 86.9 points yielded per game last season.
UMaine has switched from fullcourt defensive pressure to a halfcourt mentality, and the early returns are optimistic — even against a Virginia Tech team that shot 45 percent from the field.
“We couldn’t handle their athleticism in transition in the second half, but we felt that when we didn’t give them transition opportunities we could get stops in the halfcourt,” said Walsh of facing the Hokies, who scored 99 points in their follow-up victory over High Point on Tuesday night.
UMaine was more dominant defensively against Longwood, limiting the Lancers to 38.6 percent shooting from the field and recording eight ‘kills’ during the contest, six in the second half. Each kills represents three consecutive possessions without allowing the opponent to score.
“We wanted to limit Longwood in transition and did a great job of that,” said Walsh, “which meant our halfcourt defense could control the game and it did.”
The Black Bears also limited their mistakes on the offensive end with 11 turnovers against Virginia Tech and seven against Longwood. UMaine averaged more than 16 turnovers a game last year.
“It’s more just everybody trusting each other,” said junior guard Wes Myers, the transfer from Niagara who averaged a team-high 16.5 points in his first two games for UMaine. “Knowing when we’re going to cut or go back door and coming to the ball when a guy needs help, we’re just making sure we’re there for each other.”
Those early trends will be tested against the three fellow mid-majors the Black Bears will face this weekend.
Northeastern is off to a 3-0 start that includes a 10-point win over BU and a 64-61 victory earlier this week at UConn, while LIU-Brooklyn is 2-0 after a 65-61 win over Loyola (Md.) on Wednesday night. Boston University has not played since its season-opening loss to Northeastern.
“All three programs are used to winning,” said Walsh. “BU won 19 games last year, played in the postseason and were picked second (in the Patriot League preseason poll). Northeastern was in the NCAA tournament two years ago and is off to a great start this year, and LIU is not far removed from three straight NCAA appearances so it’s good competition and a good chance to challenge ourselves.
“We want to be a program that’s used to winning, so it’s good to challenge ourselves against programs that already are used to winning.”
