enlarge

“I looked around and had a team of 23 guards,” said Jason Mulligan, UNE coach, on his undersized team.

enlarge Photos by Gordon Chibroski/Staff Photographer

Quentin Thompson admits he nearly left school to return home to Texas shortly after arriving at the University of New England last fall. “It just took a while to get used to,” he said. “But now I feel like I couldn’t have chosen a better place.”

enlarge

Marchale Robinson, left, gets a taste in practice of what the University of New England’s opponents face every game: 40 minutes of full-court pressure. That, along with unselfish offense, produced 21 regular-season wins.

enlarge

Johnnie Jefferson, a forward from Dallas, is the Nor’easters’ tallest player at 6-foot-4. That forces UNE to stress ball movement on offense.

19: Consecutive games won by UNE until losing to Gordon 82-75 last week

21-4: UNE's record this season, best in the program's history

6-4: Height of Johnnie Jefferson, UNE's tallest player

BIDDEFORD — There are no parking spaces left.

The gym is teeming with college kids.

And by halftime, the University of New England men's basketball team has put on a dizzying display of up-tempo ball – including a dozen 3-pointers – for an 18-point lead.

When the game ends, they've beaten Nichols 81-63 after leading by 30 with about 10 minutes to play.

These kids can shoot. They can move the ball. And they certainly can win.

The Nor'easters, who had a 19-game winning streak during the regular season, have pumped life into the sports scene on this bucolic campus.

Starting tonight, UNE is on a quest to do what no team in program history has done: win the Commonwealth Coast Conference tournament and earn an automatic berth in the NCAA Division III tournament.

The Nor'easters host Western New England in a conference quarterfinal at 8 p.m.

"This game was a statement," said Jaykyri Simpson, a 6-foot-3 guard from East Cleburne, Texas, after Saturday's win over Nichols. "We want to do something no UNE team has done before. We're a bunch of undersized players and I think we've brought some life to the basketball scene."

A quick scan of the roster shows no one above 6-4, with several players at 5-11 and 6 feet.

Coach Jason Mulligan, in his second year, has seven players from Texas on his roster, one from Arizona and another from Louisiana.

Several likely could have gone Division I if they had been blessed with more height.

"I looked around and had a team of 23 guards," said Mulligan.

That kind of lineup, he said, forces them to focus on ball movement and get everyone to contribute.

"We press the whole game," said Mulligan "We're the only team in the conference that does it. Everyone else has a 6-6 post player. We have to press, spread it out and hit 3s. It requires unselfish play and a lot of ball movement."

Early on, there was some convincing to do. The team opened 1-3.

But as players bought in, the wins mounted.

Colby: 88-77 on Dec. 1.

Eastern Connecticut: 74-68 on Jan. 3.

Regis: 83-60 on Jan. 29.

Wentworth: 70-58 on Feb. 4.

The list goes on. Nineteen consecutive wins, the longest streak in school history, which ended with an 82-75 loss to Gordon last Wednesday.

"We're so deep and so talented, the challenge was getting them to buy in," said Mulligan. "I told them we get the ring and go to the national tournament and no one is going to remember who had more minutes or points. Everyone is going to remember the team that turned it around here."

Slowly, the campus buzz intensified.

The stands started filling and players who were part of a very different team a few years ago all of a sudden felt something happening.

"It's like the polar opposite from my freshman year," said senior Matt VanDeusen, a 5-11 guard from Oneonta, N.Y. "The stands are full now and the energy mirrors what's on the court. People see you leaving practice and tell you 'good game.' And I don't even play that much."

No, VanDeusen doesn't. He averages 4.2 minutes a game, though he played 19 on Saturday.

He's seen a thing or two change in the program since he arrived.

"It's talent, but it's also a new perspective," he said. "There's no selfishness out there whatsoever."

Take an eye-popping play by junior Marchale Robinson about five minutes into the second half on Saturday.

From the paint, he whipped a no-look, behind-the-back pass to an open teammate in the corner for a 3, rather than drive in for a layup.

The crowd went wild and Nichols took a timeout as the sound became deafening.

"He had an open look at a layup but saw a teammate in the corner," said VanDeusen. "Everyone wants to win."

On campus, the players got more comfortable as the team started to become a family.

Aside from adjusting to college life, several players...