March 29, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

Injuries hurt Bears’ depth

Rudy Keeling had hoped his University of Maine men’s basketball team could get rested up for the 1996 portion of its schedule during the holiday break.

The Black Bears are rested, but they find themselves down two players heading into today’s 1 p.m. non-league game against Brown at the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland.

Senior forward Chris Collins and freshman swingman Josh Nash have been sidelined by injuries, leaving Keeling thin at small forward.

Collins turned his right ankle during a Wednesday practice and is expected to miss Saturday’s contest. It is the same ankle on which he had surgery in September, but Keeling said this injury doesn’t appear serious.

Nash, who is suffering from a strained tendon in his left ankle, did not show much improvement during the break. Keeling said Nash may have severe tendinitis and is facing rehabilitation.

Again, Keeling mentioned the possibility of redshirting Nash should his condition not improve in the near future.

“The problem is, it starts to test how much depth you have,” said Keeling, whose ballclub has nine players averaging at least 10 minutes. “Those two guys play almost the same spot, so now you’re reduced to having really no backup for Matt .”

Agile sophomore Rahsaan Thompson, who has played only 17 minutes this season, is likely to see more time behind small forward Ramone Jones, but he doesn’t provide the scoring punch of Nash or the inside strength of Collins.

Keeling hopes to have enough depth to handle Brown, which had success against the Black Bears last season. He said Maine’s transition from full-court pressure into half-court defense is a key.

“They really exposed our press,” Keeling said. “They have very good shooters and they shot over the top of our press and made a lot of threes . If we’re gonna press these guys, we’ve got to be aware of where their shooters are when we get back into half-court.”

Keeling compared Brown to North Atlantic opponents Vermont and New Hampshire, which are guard-oriented transition teams. He called Brown senior guard Eric Blackiston a pro prospect.

Maine follows up today’s game with a Monday night contest in Orono against Northern Illinois. Both should get the Bears in sync before they move into the heart of their NAC schedule.

“Hopefully, they’ll get us ready for our league play and we can get back to where we were ,” Keeling said.

The UMaine women’s basketball team is bound for Newark, Del., after going 1-1 at the Seattle Times Husky Classic in Washington.

Coach Joanne Palombo-McCallie’s Black Bears came up on the short end of a 73-59 decision against Washington in Thursday’s championship game. The Huskies had been ranked in the Top 25 in the preseason polls.

Maine, now 8-4, begins its NAC schedule in earnest with a Jan. 2 game at Delaware and a Jan. 4 contest at league newcomer Towson State (Md.).

Sophomore point guard Cindy Blodgett continues to put up the big numbers for the Bears and appears to be headed for a UMaine record. Blodgett already has racked up 869 points in her first 42 college games.

At this pace, she’ll reach 1,000 points during Maine’s Jan. 20 game against New Hampshire (Blodgett’s 48th game), faster than any player in school history. Former Black Bears star Rachel Bouchard hit 1,000 in her 51st career game.


Have feedback? Want to know more? Send us ideas for follow-up stories.

comments for this post are closed

You may also like