Year two for the University of Maine men’s basketball team under head coach Chris Markwood got off to an undesirable start on Monday night, as the Black Bears shot only 33.3 percent from the field in a season opening loss to the University of North Carolina–Charlotte 49ers on the road, 69 to 52.
It was a tough test for UMaine, who were up against a formidable American Athletic Conference program that went 22-14 last year and returned four of its top seven scorers. Pregame, ESPN gave the Black Bears only a 20 percent chance of beating Charlotte in the first ever matchup between the programs.
UMaine’s offense sputtered off the bat, failing to reach double-digit points until 10:27 played in the first half. Shooting only 2-for-10 from deep in the first half, the Black Bears converted both of their threes in the final 4:15, with clutch buckets coming from lanky junior transfer A.J. Lopez and true sophomore Jaden Clayton to help forge a 9-0 UMaine run heading into halftime.
Still down 34-27, UMaine was unable to carry this momentum out of the break, getting outscored 35 to 25 in the second half. The Black Bears finished 18-for-54 from the field and 10-for-19 from the stripe, while the 49ers shot 23-for-43 and 17-for-21, respectively. The UMaine defensive set was definitely able to disrupt Charlotte’s pace of shooting, however, and also induced a +7 turnover differential.
Fans should expect UMaine’s attack to bounce back, especially considering the 2022-23 Black Bears shot 45.8 percent from the field and 72.7 from the free throw line. UMaine did lose leading scorer Gedi Juozapaitis to graduation this offseason, but returned its other top five bucket-getters in Kellen Tynes, Jaden Clayton, Ja’Shonte Wright-McLeish, Peter Filipovity and Kristians Feierbergs — all of whom started for UMaine on Monday night.
The other silver lining for the Black Bears was the debut of three transfers: Lopez from the University of New Hampshire, fellow lanky scorer Quion Burns from Long Island University and big man Adam Cisse from Manhattan. Burns and Lopez combined for 18 points on 40 percent shooting, and five rebounds. Cisse also recorded one bucket and two offensive boards.
UMaine will look to bounce back at home this week against UMaine–Presque Isle on Wednesday at 6 p.m. and Merrimack College on Sunday at 4 p.m.
