Men’s basketball
MAINE vs. UMAINE-PRESQUE ISLE
Time, site: Saturday, 2 p.m., Cross Insurance Center, Bangor
Records: UMaine 1-4, UMaine-Presque Isle 1-2
Series, last meeting: UMaine leads 3-0; UMaine 133-58 in 2009
Key players: Maine — 6-2 G Wes Myers 15.0 points per game, 5.2 rebounds per game, 2.6 assists per game; 6-6 G Ilker Er, 8.6 ppg; 6-7 F Andrew Fleming, 8.2 ppg, 4.8 rpg; 6-7 F Marco Priovic, 8.0 ppg, 5.2 rpg; 6-8 center Vincent Eze, 6.4 ppg, 4.8 rpg; UMaine-Presque Isle — 6-0 G Kevin Collins, 15.3 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 2.3 apg; 6-2 G Kristijan Gavrilovski, 7.7 ppg, 5.0 rpg; 6-5 F Kim Collins, 7.7 ppg; 5-10 G Nick Lenhard, 6.3 ppg; 6-2 F Jordan Cook, 6.0 ppg
Game notes: Coach Bob Walsh’s Black Bears will be playing their first home game against Division III entry UMaine-Presque Isle. UMaine comes in looking to snap a three-game losing skid, having dropped all three games at the Steve Wright Classic at Boston University. Myers is the only Black Bear averaging more than 10 points per game. UMPI is coming off a two-point victory over Central Maine Community College after dropping its first two contests of the season. Maine will be without starting point guard Aaron Calixte, who suffered a fracture in his foot during a practice last week and will be out for at least a month.
Men’s college hockey
MAINE vs. BROWN UNIVERSITY
Time, site: Saturday, 7 p.m., Cross Insurance Arena, Portland
Records: UMaine 4-7-3, Brown 1-7-0
Series, last meeting: UMaine leads 10-2, UMaine 2-1 on Dec. 7, 2005
Key players: Maine — RW Blaine Byron (6 goals, 6 assists), RW Mitch Fossier (6 & 4), C Cam Brown (1 & 9), LW Nolan Vesey (3 & 5), C Chase Pearson (4 & 3), D Rob Michel (2 & 3), G Rob McGovern (4-5-3, 2.87 goals-against average, .917 save percentage); Brown — C Sam Lafferty (0 & 8), LW Charlie Corcoran (4 & 3), RW Max Willman (4 & 1), D Max Gottlieb 0 & 5), RW Tyler Bird (1 & 2), D Connor Wynne (1 & 1), G Gavin Nieto (0-6-0, 4.86, .862)
Game notes: The Black Bears will be looking to give the Portland crowd a better showing than they did on Nov. 4 when they got thumped by Boston College 6-1. These are two of the lowest scoring teams in college hockey with UMaine ranking 41st out of 60 schools (2.57 goals per game) while Brown is 57th (1.88). Brown is also 57th in team defense, allowing 4.25 gpg, while UMaine is 44th (3.36). UMaine has scored two goals or less in seven of its last nine games. UMaine has failed to score on its last 26 power-play opportunities and is 58th in the country with the man advantage (7.6 percent) but Brown is 50th in penalty killing (78 percent). Willman has a five-game points streak (4 & 1) and he and linemates Lafferty and Corcoran have scored 45 percent of Brown’s goals. Fossier is questionable after sustaining an upper body injury in Saturday’s 2-2 tie at Vermont. Sophomore Michel has scored his first two college goals over his last four games. Lafferty is tied for fourth in the country in assists per game with one.
Women’s college basketball
MAINE vs. UTENNESSEE-CHATTANOOGA
Time, site: Sunday, 6 p.m., MassMutual Center, Springfield, Mass.
Records: UMaine 2-4, UT-Chattanooga 3-4
Series, last meeting: first meeting
Key players: Maine — 5-8 G Sigi Koizar (13.7 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 2.3 apg, 1.7 steals per game), 6-2 F Laia Sole (9.5 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 3.2 apg), 5-11 G Blanca Millan (7.2 ppg, 2.5 spg), 5-10 G Tanesha Sutton (7 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 1.5 apg), 5-8 G Julie Brosseau (5 ppg); UT-Chattanooga — 5-10 G Queen Alford (11.6 ppg, 2.9 rpg), 6-2 F Jasmine Joyner (10 ppg, 9 rpg, 3.3 blocks per game, 1.7 apg), 5-4 G Chelsey Shumpert (9.2 ppg, 2.2 apg, 2.2 rpg), 5-11 G Keiana Gilbert (9.1 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 2.6 apg), 5-8 G Lakelyn Bouldin (8.9 ppg, 2.1 rpg)
Game notes: UT-Chattanooga returned all but one player off last year’s 24-8 team that made the NCAA Tournament for the third straight year under Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame coach Jim Foster. Foster has guided the Mocs to an 85-20 record through three-plus seasons. He has a career record of 868-327. He also coached at Ohio State, St. Joseph’s (Penn.) and Vanderbilt (Tenn.). Bouldin has hit 40.7 percent of her three-pointers. UMaine coach Richard Barron will be looking for some consistency from his young team. He will also hope his team can shoot the ball better as UMaine is just hitting 36.2 percent of its field goal attempts and 25.4 percent from beyond the three-point arc. Three of the Mocs’ losses have come to teams ranked in the top 23 and two of UMaine’s have come at the hands of top 10 teams.