the Informer

The University of New Hampshire men’s basketball team had a solid year and enters the America East tournament as the No. 6 seed.

UNH was led this season by junior guards Alvin Abreu and Tyrone Conley as the Wildcats finished the year with a 12-16 record, while going 6-10 in the America East. The Wildcats started off the year with some tough losses in their non-conference schedule, falling hard to Maryland and Pitt, but rebounding with wins against Marist and Colgate.

The team had its worst streak going into its conference play though, losing three straight against Santa Clara, Boston University and Stony Brook. Going 0-2 in the America East was probably not how coach Bill Herion envisioned his team starting off, but the Wildcats would turn it around.

Wins in three of their next five had the Wildcats still competing, including a solid road victory at UMBC and a home win vs. second-place Vermont. The Wildcats then went on to lose three straight once again, this time with loses to Binghamton, BU, and Hartford for a second time.

UNH was the able to rebound their season with two straight wins against Binghamton and Albany. The win against Binghamton was huge, because it kept UNH in the chase for the five or six seed. UNH didn’t end off a great note though, losing three of their final five, including a crushing loss to UMBC at home.

Their season has been filled with winning and losing streaks but not much discrepancy in between. UNH will be matched up against Maine in the first round of the America East tournament, a team they have not had success against this season, going 0-2, including a crushing defeat at home.

In order to beat Maine, UNH is going to have to put points up on the scoreboard, as Maine had an average of 64.6 points per game this season. It’s not a huge difference from UNH’s season average of 61.4, but against Maine this season, they have scored an average of 47.5 points per game, something that will drastically need to improve. UNH, will need some luck, but with a solid performance, could pull off a first-round upset of Maine. Tip-off will be at 8:15 p.m. on Saturday, the final game of the day.