Much like Saturday night’s New England Patriots-New York Giants game, Friday’s basketball game between the University of Maine and UM-Augusta won’t mean much in terms of seeding or playoff possibilities.

Unlike the potentially historic NFL game, however, the 6 p.m. contest between the visiting Moose and the Black Bears at Alfond Arena doesn’t even count statistically because it’s an exhibition.

So why play an exhibition game a third of the way through your regular season schedule?

“You always have a chance to play two each year. This year, with us being in the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic and playing the first game in the country, we couldn’t play two before the season started,” Maine head coach Ted Woodward explained. “So we figured we’d play one later on in the season that might benefit our experience, particularly during the holidays when we can get everyone back on the same page at a time when we’re playing a lot against ourselves in practices.”

Woodward said it’s also a chance for him to tinker with the lineup, try some new plays, and get some players more game minutes.

“All those things combined,” he said. “We think it’s a good time of the year to do it and we’re looking forward to it.”

“It’s hard to find teams to play exhibitions this time of year and UMA was willing to play, so to play a game, even an exhibition, three weeks before we open up our conference schedule is good. Normally it would be a day of double sessions, but this lets us get back into a game frame of mind.”

The Bears bring a 4-7 record into this break after three straight losses, two of which were on the road against top-25-caliber teams Florida State University and Connecticut.

The UMA Moose are currently 7-4 and ranked 10th nationally among United States Collegiate Athletic Association Division II teams.

“UMA shoots the ball well so that’s good for us to get out and guard that because we’ll be seeing a lot of teams that can do that,” Woodward said.

Maine’s fourth-year head coach mostly wants to get things settled in terms of his lineup, rotation and substitutions for a young team with one player (guard Kaimondre Owes) working himself into the lineup after becoming eligible to play following a transfer from Saint Peter’s College.

“Hopefully after tomorrow we can really get settled with our rotation,” said Woodward. “We have to really get to where we have a relatively solid one and tomorrow is another chance for some of these guys to earn more minutes.”

aneff@bangordailynews.net

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