UMaine faces UNE in long-awaited return to ‘Pit’

For the first time in almost 12 years, the University of Maine’s Memorial Gymnasium, popularly known as “The Pit,” will be alive with the sounds of basketball … and fans.

The Pit will host its first Division I basketball game – regular season or postseason – since Jan. 11, 1992, when the Black Bears entertain the University of New England tonight at 6 in the opener of the Maine Invitational Tournament.

“The Pit is literally UMaine basketball history,” said Maine men’s basketball coach John Giannini. “To go back there is special for everyone involved with our team. We’re pretty excited about it.”

The 1-1 Black Bears are a bit battered and bruised as they head into the matchup with the Division III Nor’easters (0-2) from Biddeford. Maine will be without the services of senior captain Ludmil “Udo” Hadjisotirov and swingman Jermaine Jackson.

Jackson was injured in the season-opening game against Florida State last week.

“He’s probably going to be out for quite awhile. We just got some medical results in today, but all I can say is he’s out indefinitely,” Giannini said. “He went up for a shot in the FSU game, had some contact, got knocked off-balance in the air, and when he landed, it made for a bad result. He landed on one foot with all his weight going one way.”

Hadjisotirov was injured in the second game, a win against Bethune-Cookman, and Giannini expects to be without him for one to two weeks.

Despite losing two of their top players, the Bears have given a good account of themselves and Giannini expects more of the same.

“I was pleased with the trip, with the exception of the last six minutes of the Florida State game,” he said. “Against Bethune-Cookman, we only had six players available with any experience to speak of and guys had to play major minutes and play tired, but they ended up doing a great job.

“The biggest thing I’ve learned about our team is we will play very hard. We play better defense and rebound better than even I had anticipated at this time of the year.”

Despite what Giannini calls a “25-percent loss in terms of team depth” and the switch to a four-guard lineup that would be expected to create a slight disadvantage in size and/or rebounding to more frontcourt-oriented teams, the Bears have outrebounded their opponents in both games and hold a 74-67 overall edge.

A good portion of the credit for that goes to Maine’s athletic guards as well as the continuing development of forwards David Dubois and Mark Flavin. Dubois is coming off his first career double-double (10 points, 12 rebounds) and is the team’s leading rebounder with 18.

Maine is also outshooting opponents 40.6 to 39.3 percent from the field.

“When you have guys ahead of you who are all-conference players, you’re not going to get a lot of minutes, but now he has the opportunity. Both he and Mark have shown good signs,” Giannini said.

Saturday’s opponent in the 8 p.m. game is Brown University. The 0-2 Brown Bears take on 2-6 University of Maine-Fort Kent at 8 p.m. Friday. Saturday’s 6 p.m. game matches UNE and UMFK.