DURHAM — The team began its season by losing 10 of 11 games against Division I opponents. An unsettled backcourt is still admittedly a concern.
But, as play resumes Wednesday, the University of New Hampshire men’s basketball team is looking up at just one team in its conference and rolling, with four hard-fought wins in its last five games.
First impressions? They’re not always the most accurate ones.
“You know what? It’s conference play and we’re 4-2 in the league,” said UNH coach Bill Herrion. “You’re starting to get to that point in the conference season where wins are really important. You’re trying to fight like heck, and then in March you can play at least one home game.”
It’s Border War Night on Wednesday, as rivals from UNH and Maine hook up in men’s and women’s basketball. The women’s game is here and the men play at Cross Insurance Center in Bangor. Both games tip at 7 p.m.
Both the local men (8-12, 4-2 AE) and women (14-5, 5-1 AE) find themselves in second place in America East. Both would love to take care of business Wednesday and carry their momentum into weekend games against Binghamton.
The last time the women shared a court with Maine, players walked off the floor at Cross Insurance Arena in Portland with red eyes and stunned looks, upset victims in the conference semifinals.
While UNH returned its core largely intact and with high expectations (picked No. 1 in the preseason coaches poll), Maine has changed significantly. Gone are leading scorer Sigi Koizar and long freshman Anita Kaleva, who transferred to Georgetown.
Six-foot-1 guard Blanca Millan (17.7 points) has scored in double-figures in 18 straight games for the Black Bears (11-8, 4-2 AE), who get much of their offense from the perimeter.
UNH has leaned heavily on its frontcourt of Carlie Pogue (14.7 points), Olivia Healy (12.7 points) and Kat Fogarty (11.9 points), but knows it needs to generate more from outside, where it’s shooting a league-worst 26.4 percent from 3-point land. The ‘Cats have taken the fewest threes of any team in the conference by a wide margin.
“That’s hurt us at times, too,” UNH coach Maureen Magarity told Seacoast Media Group recently. “We really go to our strengths, but against better teams like like an Albany, where they do pack it in and play us in a zone and leave shooters wide open, we have to be able to knock down shots.”
The men’s game is between two teams headed in opposite directions. The Black Bears (4-17, 1-5 AE) are the lowest-scoring team in the conference (66.4 points) with Aaron Calixte (16.2 points) looking for support most nights on a team that’s beaten just two D-I opponents.
Not that UNH has its whole house in order. Behind forwards Tanner Leissner (19.3 points), Iba Camara (9.6 points, 10.8 rebounds) and Jacoby Armstrong (7.5 points), it’s been formidable most nights in the frontcourt.
But the perimeter has been a question mark, more so since veteran Jordan Reed went down with an ankle injury in the first league game, and appeared to re-injure it in Sunday’s win against Stony Brook.
Freshman point guard Elijah Jordan has seen his minutes ebb and flow and he battles a turf toe injury, with Darryl Stewart picking up the time. Another freshman, Josh Hopkins, has shot lights-out some nights but not others. Football walk-on Evan Horn has brought a ball-handling element and toughness, but never left the bench in Sunday’s win over Stony Brook.
“I’m a little concerned,” said Herrion. “Our point guard play has got to get tightened up and we’re really juggling a lot of stuff in the backcourt. I’m not real comfortable with the rotations as a coach.
“I don’t know if the freshmen are hitting the freshman wall a little bit, but it is conference play. Once you get into January and February there are no secrets anymore.”
It’s also no secret that the Wildcats have generated some positive performances and results these last 2 1/2 weeks. They’d love to keep the momentum going at Maine.
“We’re not done, by any means,” said Leissner. “We’ve got Maine next, and we’ve just got to continue going game by game and going forward.”