DURHAM – It would be hard to find two men’s basketball teams in America East – or in the country, for that matter – who are more familiar with each other than the University of New Hampshire and UMBC.
The two teams have met twice this season – like everyone else in the conference – but both of those games went into double overtime with the lead changing hand a combined 23 times with 22 ties.
The Retrievers (18-11) won the first meeting, 105-103, Jan. 28 on their home court in Baltimore, Md. But UNH (19-11) secured the all-important victory Saturday, 94-90, in Durham to lock up the No. 4 seed in the conference tournament and a home playoff game tonight at Lundholm Gym at 7:30.
The team the Wildcats will be hosting? UMBC, of course.
“I’ve got to think, when you have two teams in the same league, in the same year, almost the same month, really played two double overtime games? It’s probably unheard of. And they were two great basketball games,” UNH Coach Bill Herrion said Tuesday before practice. “We’re anticipating another game that’s going to be very, very close.”
This situation is certainly a rarity for the Wildcats, who hadn’t played two double-overtime games in one season since 1995-96 and had never played the same team twice in double OT in the same season until this year.
If they can, the Wildcats are hoping to avoid another nail-biting overtime game, though. Senior guard Jaleen Smith has one thing in mind for the third matchup: “Just try to win it in regulation, first off.”
Smith, who was named to the America East Second Team for the second year in a row Monday, scored 16 points in Saturday’s win, despite fouling out with 20 seconds left in regulation. Tanner Leissner, a First-Team All-Conference selection, also fouled out at the 4:20 mark of the first overtime after scoring 30 points on 12 of 15 shooting in 41 minutes.
The Wildcats were able to grind out the victory anyway, which ended up being that much more crucial with the unique seeding situation.
“When you have that game on Saturday where it’s very unique where it’s lined up where if you win you’re home, but if the team you’re playing wins, you’ve got to go there; there was a lot of pressure riding on that game and I thought our kids really responded and did a great job,” Herrion said. “I hope it can end in regulation (Wednesday) night. Of course, we’d like it to end the right way.”
Never has home-court advantage been so crucial for the Wildcats.
“Two plane rides in under a week will be definitely tough on them. If we can come out and just get ahead of them early, I think that will be huge for us,” said Leissner, who ranks fourth in the conference in scoring with 17.4 points per game.
The Retrievers will have traveled more than 900 miles in four days.
After playing in front of a crowd of 1,300 Saturday, Herrion said he’s hoping at least a few hundred students come out for Wednesday’s game. He’s also hoping that helps the Wildcats, winners of five straight, continue on their recent upward trend.
“The real positive thing is we finally have this program and this team to a point where now we’re playing really, really big important games that mean something in late February and into early March,” he said. “That’s where you want your program to be. It’s taken a long time for us to get it to this point.”
If UNH advances, it would be the third straight semifinal appearance for the Wildcats in the AEC tournament but just their fourth semifinal trip since the 2009-10 season.
“I think it’s going to be packed. It’s great for these kids. These are the crowds, these are the kinds of environments we want to be playing in front of. That means we’re a good basketball team and we’re hopefully competing for championships,” Herrion said.
(Michelle Berthiaume can be reached at 369-3338, mberthiaume@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @MonitorMichelle.)