Nebraska began the game on a 9-0 run in the first three minutes of its season opener against the University of Maine on Monday, knocking the Black Bears on their collective heels.
“We came out in the first half and I felt we were a little bit shell shocked with the lights and all that stuff,” UMaine first-year coach Chris Markwood said. “We got off to a slow start, and I didn’t think we executed what we were trying to do on both sides of the ball, which led to them jumping out to a 13-point lead, and I think we had 11 turnovers at halftime. If we clean that up, I think this team can score the ball.”
It was the sort of start that might make teams that enter the game as underdogs roll over and just try to get through the game and go back home.
The Black Bears, however, found their confidence and started to battle back quickly, at one point closing Nebraska’s lead to 54-53 before eventually falling 79-66 at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Nebraska. The fight in the team instilled confidence in Markwood after game one.
The former UMaine player and assistant coach took over the program this past March and finally got to show off the team he’s put together on Monday night in front of a big crowd at the University of Nebraska.
Falling behind 15 points in the first half, the Black Bears stormed back in the second half behind the hot shooting of Kristians Feierbergs and Gedi Juozapaitis and came within a single point of the Cornhuskers before the fire was put out and Nebraska began to pull away again.
“I just loved the guys’ resolve, their fight,” Markwood said. “They showed that they aren’t going to back down. I think they calmed down, we took a deep breath at half time, had a good talk, made some adjustments and we executed. It wasn’t like we made some major adjustments, we just did what we worked on during the days leading up to the game.”
The Black Bears shot 41.6 percent from the 3-point line in the first half and 41.2 percent in the second, finishing with a tally of 12-for-29. Last season, the Black Bears shot an abysmal 30.8 percent from beyond the arc.
Will UMaine continue to shoot more than 40 percent all season? Probably not. Just two teams last year — South Dakota State (43.7 percent) and Colgate (40.3 percent) — finished the season over the 40 percent mark.
Still, Markwood is right when he says he has a team that can score.
“I think getting through that first wave, the first hit, they calmed down and they started doing what they do,” Markwood said. “I really like this group, I think the upside to this group is high, it’s just going to take a little time. I think if we do that, the results will come.”
What brought the Black Bears down Monday night was getting out-rebounded 44-27 and shooting 2-for-10 from the free throw line.
“A lot of credit to Nebraska, they’re big, they’re physical and they really hurt us on the glass,” Markwood added. “I think there’s a lot of stuff there that we can do a much better job of and give ourselves an even better chance of winning a game like that.”
The Black Bears prepared for Nebraska’s size. But sometimes you need to face it for it to sink in.
“They’re really aggressive the way they guard,” Markwood said. “They have big guards up front so what they try to do is force you baseline or to the sideline and funnel you into their bigs. We talked about driving smartly, your head and eyes up, landing on two feet, and when we did that and executed that we got great looks. In the first half it took a little time and sometimes you don’t fully understand it until it’s hitting you in the face.”
Another bright spot for the Black Bears was freshman point guard Jaden Clayton, who dished out seven assists and didn’t turn the ball over.
The ball movement from UMaine was strong in the second half and contributed to their 20-10 run to start the half. Clayton was the magician making it happen.
“I thought he was big time,” Markwood said of Clayton. “He played really well in his first college game with [seven] assists, no turnovers. We’re high on all our guys and I think Jaden showed tonight what he showed all preseason. He doesn’t get fazed, high IQ, really skilled, an elite passer for a guy his age and I thought he showed that tonight.”
