First Meeting Between @unco_mbb and UMBC Ends in an 81-72 Loss

Saturday, November 21

Greeley, CO

5:00 p.m.

University of Northern Colorado

1-2

University of Maryland Baltimore County

1-3

UMBC

Northern Colorado

Photo by: Rob Trubia

11/21/2015 10:13:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: UNCBears.com

GREELEY, Colo. – Growing pains got the best of men's basketball (1-2) on Saturday night in Bank of Colorado Arena as they fell in the team's opening game of the Maui Jim Maui Regional to Maryland-Baltimore County, 81-72.

The Bears had a difficult time controlling the post, being outrebounded by the Retrievers 40-29, and outscored in the paint, 34-24.

For the second time in three games junior guard, Cameron Michael finished with 20+ points. Michael ended with 22 points on 9-of-17 shooting, including four makes from beyond the arc in the loss.

Junior guards, Anthony Johnson and Jordan Wilson were the other two players to reach double figures in the loss. Wilson finished with 14, while Johnson chipped in 10.

Combined, the duo shot 9-of-23 from the field and was 3-for-12 from three.

"I think it's just a mentality right now," Hill said on the loss. "These were two young teams going at it today and one of them played like a young team and one of them played like a mature team. They (UMBC) played very mature on both ends of the floor – they didn't gamble and stayed within their systems on both ends, while we took shots way too early in our possessions and that's immaturity, but that's on me, I have to do a better job."

Though it may not have seemed liked it, Northern Colorado finished with respectable numbers in the shooting department with 26-of-57 (45.6%) from the floor and 8-of-23 (34.8%) from shots 25 feet or further.

Perhaps what hurt the team the most on the night was their inability to convert at the free throw line.

After boasting an 80% rate on the year, the Bears finished with a season-low, 66.7% (12-of-18) from the charity stripe. The struggles from the line happened in the first half shooting just 20%, but UNC quickly turned it around in the second half, finishing with an 84.6% success rate.

UNC flip-flopped the lead with UMBC for the majority of the first half, tying the game six different times and pulling ahead three times, but its biggest advantage was on the very first possession after the tip on a junior guard, Anthony Johnson three-ball to go up, 3-0 and once again with 5 minutes to play in the half (22-19) on another Johnson jumper.

That game was evenly matched throughout the first 20 minutes of play as neither team took a lead larger than three points.

After being tied (27-27) with just 2:21 hanging around on the clock, a pair of UMBC's Cody Joyce makes at the charity stripe turned it into a two-point game, with the Bears trailing.

A big three-ball from Michael less than a minute later quickly swapped the leading team to the Bears (30-29), but the Retrievers ended the half on a quick 3-0 spurt, sending the home team into the locker room down, 32-30.

"I know you really don't look at time of possession in basketball, but I feel like if that was a stat it would have been very heavily in their favor," Michael said. "I felt like we guarded so much more than we were on offense and after awhile that takes a toll on you."

Two runs in the second half by Maryland-Baltimore County gave them a sizeable advantage.

The first one, an 8-0 rally spread over nearly five minutes in the opening portion of the half dug the Bears into a 46-37 hole.

UNC cut into the Retrievers lead down to seven (46-39) from two conversions at the free throw line from redshirt sophomore center, Jeremy Verhagen with 13:35 left to play, but five straight points from UMBC pushed right back to where it was an more, gaining a 12 point (51-39) lead.

Northern Colorado got it back to within five points (54-49) at the midway point in the half thanks to a three-ball from Michael and two makes from the line by Wilson, but that is as close as they would get for the remainder of the contest.

"What's frustrating right now is that I don't have confidence in a lot of the guys on the bench," Hill stated. "We're very, very young and I don't have a lot of confidence in those guys yet – and when you take Jon'te (Dotson) out of the mix, a guy who plays 20 minutes a night, we were shorthanded, but that's no excuse. You can't play thirty-plus minutes a game at this level and play well. We're stuck playing guys a lot of minutes because I'm not getting what I need from our bench every day in practice."

Men's hoops are back inside Bank of Colorado Arena to play again in less than 24 hours, taking on Austin Peay tomorrow at 2:30 p.m. in the final game of the Maui Jim Maui Regional. UMBC and Cal Poly will play for the tournament title at Noon.