UMaine hopes loss to Vermont provides motivation

Is it possible to gain something from a loss? The University of Maine men’s basketball team hopes so.

The Black Bears are looking at the possibility of dipping to 2-3 in America East conference play after starting out 2-0 two weeks ago.

After losing 71-62 to defending conference champ Vermont Sunday, the Bears won’t have much time to dwell on the loss as they face New Hampshire Wednesday night.

This is the first time in John Giannini’s eight seasons as Maine’s head coach that all of his conference games are scheduled to be played in January and February.

“That’s the thing with our conference schedule this year. You only have two or three days to go from one game to another, so depending on how well you did the game before, it can be either a good or bad thing,” said Giannini. “I think, for the most part, it’s better for a team coming off a loss because you’re more focused and motivated, and you’re probably a little angry, too.”

That certainly seemed to be the case with Maine’s players Sunday afternoon, as the 8-5 Bears were tagged for a loss despite taking a lead into halftime, committing 11 turnovers – their lowest single-game total this season – and shooting a solid 48.8 percent from the field.

“Whenever you can learn from a loss, it’s a good thing … as long as you can learn from the loss,” said Maine sophomore guard Kevin Reed.

Reed blamed the loss on missed open shots and rebounding, where the Bears were beaten 34-24 overall and a telling 10-2 on the offensive boards. The fact was not lost on coaches or players.

“I don’t know how many times this year Vermont’s been down at halftime, so we played a good first half, but I thought we could have rebounded better in the second half,” Reed said.

So now it’s off to Durham, N.H., to take on the Wildcats, a lightly regarded team that surprised Maine with a 10-point win in Durham last season.

To avoid another loss, the Bears must continue to keep their turnovers down and revive their rebounding effort.

“John has a really good team. They’re going to beat a lot of teams here,” said Vermont coach Tom Brennan. “This is the kind of game we could easily have lost.”

The trick, at least as far as Maine sees it, is turning the “could haves” into “dids” from here on out.