Let’s see… Regular season, home game, conference opponent, traditional rival.

Yeah, that makes it a pretty important game. Then again, they always are when the University of Maine and Boston University men square off on the basketball court.

Neither enters the game at “The Pit,” also known as Memorial Gym, with a sparkling record. The Black Bears are 2-5 overall and 0-1 in America East play while BU is 2-5 and 1-0, respectively.

“We’re just happy to be home,” said Maine men’s basketball head coach Ted Woodward, whose Bears have won three straight home games dating back to last season. “Their record may not be good, but they’re a very good basketball team. They got off to a bad start, but they’ve played a lot of good teams.”

That’s an understatement. The Terriers have played top-ranked Duke, Michigan, Rhode Island and George Washington so far.

“They’re a preseason [America East] No. 2 pick coming into the season, they’re always a difficult defensive team to play against, and a lot of their guys have logged some minutes for them the last two seasons,” Woodward said.

Not to mention BU’s profound height/size advantage with a starting lineup that goes 6-foot-8, 6-8, 6-4, 6-2 and 5-8 with a 6-8 guy coming off the bench (Omari Peterkin) who logged a double-double against New Hampshire Thursday.

“We’re a little bit smaller. We’re just going to have to continue to build off the things we’ve done well lately and play good defense and hit the boards hard,” Woodward said. “We’re going to need an entire team effort to keep them off the glass. We also, at the same time, need to utilize some of our quickness.”

That’s easier said than done, especially when trying to crank up the transition game and fast break against a stationary, half-court stalwart like Boston University.

“Lots of teams have tried it, but I don’t think anyone’s been successful, including Duke. It’s one of their staples and almost impossible to break them out of it,” Woodward admitted.

The Bears and Terriers tip off today at 1 p.m.

Power play for Bears, WABI-TV

Bangor television station WABI (Channel 5) has gained a southern/central Maine affiliate of sorts as Waterville-licensed TV station and Fox Network affiliate WPFO (Ch. 23) has joined the team.

The two stations make up the Black Bear Television Network as both will air six men’s hockey games starting with Saturday’s Maine-Northeastern game at Alfond Arena in Orono.

“This is great for us, great for the fans and great for the University,” said WABI program director Steve Hiltz. “They’re taking our feed and, in return, helping us out with production costs and the cost of renting a satellite truck needed to get the signal to them.”

This means a majority of fans in eastern, central and southern Maine will now be able to watch UMaine hockey on local TV.

“The more, the merrier. It does cost a lot to produce games, so our bosses’ bosses like it as well because it helps the whole bottom line,” Hiltz said. “This is their first foray into it and it’s going very well.”

Saturday’s game starts at 7 p.m. The other Saturday telecasts are slated for Jan. 7 and 21, Feb. 4 and 18, and March 4.