It is still very early in the season, but the University of Maine men’s basketball team started the week with a dubious distinction.
Of the 361 Division I teams listed on the NCAA’s statistical leaderboard for scoring offense across the country, the Black Bears are dead last in points per game at 58.2 through six contests.
Those NCAA stat rankings were last updated on Monday, one day after UMaine picked up its sixth loss of the season by falling 58-53 to Brown University. The Black Bears are 0-6 to start the year.
UMaine head coach Chris Markwood said there is a combination of factors for the early season offensive stats, including the Black Bears having a tougher initial schedule that hasn’t featured any countable games against non-Division I opponents. Those typically easier matchups can help pad offensive stats, Markwood explained.
“But there’s no question for us, we’ve got a long ways to go offensively,” Markwood said in a Tuesday interview, pointing to his team losing several of its top performers from a season ago. “So you’ve got a whole new group, and you’re trying to get all those guys on the same page as a cohesive unit to be able to play good offensive basketball.”
UMaine has 11 new arrivals this season, seven of them freshmen or redshirt freshmen.
“Unfortunately, it’s not something that you can just flip a switch and get to that right away,” Markwood added about building offensive cohesion as a new group.
The execution isn’t where Markwood wants it to be on the offensive side of the ball, but he understands that it’s going to take time as new players figure out the UMaine system and step up into bigger roles than they may be accustomed to — all while playing a high level of competition right out of the gate.
The Black Bears have lost several close games, and as Markwood emphasized, have seen a dip in free-throw shooting and increase in turnovers compared to last season. UMaine is shooting .652 from the line so far this year, compared to .734 all of last year. And the Black Bears are averaging over four turnovers more per game than a year ago.
Markwood called those self-inflicted wounds which haven’t matched UMaine’s usual standard.
But even with those early struggles, Markwood sees solid pieces in place for the team to build around.
The Black Bears entered this year with a high level of hype compared to recent campaigns, having finished second in the America East Conference tournament last season and adding an exciting list of new players like freshman Ace Flagg and graduate student transfer TJ Biel. The 6-foot-9 forward Biel has led the way in scoring so far, averaging over 13 points per game.
“Obviously we’re all competitors, and we want to win. So we’re extremely frustrated with where we are at the start of the season,” Markwood said. “I do still have great hope and excitement with this group, because I think we have good pieces and depth. But we have to figure it out.”
Along with the wave of new players, UMaine has faced some early injuries as well.
“It is going to take time before we’re playing our best basketball. I think it’s a little bit natural with how much newness we have on this roster,” Markwood said, once again emphasizing that the offensive execution just hasn’t been where they want it to be. “And I put that squarely on me, in trying to figure out how we’re going to get this new group on the same page as quickly as possible.”
He trusts his coaching staff and players to figure it out together.
“It’s a lot of late nights trying to figure it out, that’s just the reality of it,” Marwood said. “And we’ll get there.”
As the 0-6 Black Bears continue to look for that elusive first win, they’ll have several chances to do so this week.
UMaine will be down in Washington, D.C. for a multi-day, multi-team event at American University. The Black Bears will play American on Friday at 4 p.m., followed by Longwood at 1 p.m. Saturday, and Siena at 1 p.m. Sunday.
American and Longwood are both 3-3 so far this season, and Siena is 4-2.
Notably, UMaine has some America East company at the bottom of the scoring offense national stat sheet. Bryant University, the reigning conference champion, is just one spot ahead of the Black Bears at 360th overall with 58.8 points per game through six contests.
Neither team has played any conference games yet, however, and those will be the ones that will truly determine success this season for each squad. There’s work to be done, but it’s still early.