Men’s College Basketball
MAINE vs. MASSACHUSETTS
Time, site: 7 p.m. Friday, Mullins Center, Amherst, Massachusetts
Records: UMaine 3-8, UMass 5-6
Series: UMass leads 42-17; UMass 74-63 on 12/22/17
Key players, Maine: 6-7 F Andrew Fleming (17.6 points, 6.2 rebounds, 3.0 assists per game), 6-4 G Sergio El Darwich (11.1 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 4.0 apg), 6-8 F Nedeljko Prijovic (8.8 ppg, 6.8 rpg), 6-8 F Vilgot Larsson (8.3 ppg, 3.7 rpg); UMass: 6-9 C Tre Mitchell (13.4 ppg, 6.3 rpg), 6-4 G Carl Pierre (13.1 ppg, 3.2 rpg), 6-3 G Sean East II (10.3 ppg, 5.9 apg), 6-4 G T.J. Weeks (14.7 ppg, 3.8 rpg)
Game notes: These two former Yankee Conference rivals, who met on the basketball court for the first time during the 1908-1909 season, meet for the third time in four years with both clubs hoping to end losing streaks. UMaine dropped back-to-back home games to Dartmouth and Quinnipiac, while UMass has lost six in a row — to Virginia, St. John’s, Rutgers, South Carolina, Harvard and Yale (OT) on Dec. 11. The Minutemen opened with five straight wins. Like UMaine, UMass also is a young team with seven freshmen among its nine newcomers. Weeks, who comes off the bench, ranks 15th nationally in 3-point shooting percentage (.485). He’s one of three freshmen among UMass’ top six, along with Mitchell and East. UMaine welcomed El Darwich back to the starting lineup in its 81-61 loss to Quinnipiac on Sunday after he missed four games with an ankle injury. The senior from Dekwaneh, Lebanon, contributed 10 points, six rebounds and four assists in 37 minutes against the Bobcats.
