ORONO — Troy Barnies hosted Murphy Burnatowski when the now-sophomore forward paid his first visit to the University of Maine campus.

It was a wise choice by head coach Ted Woodward

“He was one of the big reasons why I came here,” Burnatowski said. “He’s a great leader. He’s always working the hardest of anybody and as vocal as he is, he’s always positive.”

Barnies made a strong first impression on Burnatowski, and now he’s trying to leave a lasting impression on UMaine basketball, which opens its home schedule Friday night against UMaine-Machias.

He’d like to be the captain on the first team in school history to make the NCAA tournament.

As if just being a senior didn’t already give the 6-foot-7 forward from Auburn a sense of urgency.

“This is my last year and I can’t hold anything back,” he said.

Barnies isn’t holding anything back on or off the court. It’s his and co-captain Sean McNally’s team now. Along with fellow seniors Terrance Mitchell and Malachi Peay, they have to point the way if Maine wants to continue to emerge as an America East contender.

“There’s an expectation that me and Sean set, and Malachi and Terrance,” he said. “The freshmen coming in and the sophomores coming back and the juniors, especially, they all kind of look up to us. It’s not said, but you can tell that they always look to what we’re doing and we have to set the standard.”

In that respect, Barnies hasn’t changed from his days at Edward Little, where he was a gym rat and a weight room warrior who set the example for the younger players to follow.

At that time, he and McNally, who was at Gardiner, were rivals. In Orono, they became close friends and roommates. Before they knew it, they were team leaders and grizzled veterans.

 “We were hanging around our place during the summer and we talked about where did our college career go? Where did it go? I mean, you blink and it’s gone,” Barnies said.

Before it really is gone, Barnies wants a taste of March Madness. The Black Bears took a big step last year, inflating their win total from nine the year before to 19, the fourth-most in the program’s history.

“It was a big difference,”Barnies said. “My freshman and sophomore year here, we didn’t have very much success on the court. Going into junior year, our team bonded a lot better together, we played a lot better together and it showed in our record.”

“Bonding. I’m going to use that word a lot because our team chemistry is incredible right now,” he said.

Maine coach Ted Woodward credits Barnies and McNally with improving the team chemistry.

“They’re tough guys, they compete in every single thing that they do, they’re best of friends even though they used to have just incredible battles against each other,” Woodward said. “I think that is kind of the character of our team. We have guys that compete and at the end of the day they’re very close with each other, and I think Troy and Sean have a lot to do with that.”

As Barnies strengthened the team’s bond, he also strengthened his all-around game. A defense-oriented player his first three years, he worked on improving his shooting and playing with his back to the basket to become more of a factor at the offensive end. 

“I’m not going to be like a ball-hog and just take every shot I can, but I’m going to do everything it takes to win,” he said. “Hopefully, I can be an in-and-out player this year and do whatever it takes to score.”

Barnies leads the Black Bears in scoring through their first two games, a win over Utah Valley and a loss to ACC power Maryland. He’s averaging 16 points while shooting 58 percent (11-for-19) from the field.

Woodward isn’t expecting Barnies to continue being Maine’s most prolific offensive weapon, especially with last year’s leading scorer and all-America East preseason selection Gerald McLemore able to get hot at any moment. As long as Barnies continues to defend and rebound (9 per game this year) at a high level, the point production will be a bonus.

“He’s continued to get better with his low-post game. He’s shooting the basketball better,” Woodward said. “We have a lot of depth and balance and different guys are going to step up each night.”

Barnies admitted that he didn’t have the confidence earlier in his career to always believe he could be one of those people to step up. Armed with four years of hard work and experience at the Division I level, he finally believes he has the tools.

“It’s a mental and physical game. It takes time get used to it, and I’m used to it now,” said Barnies, who hopes to continue playing professionally overseas when his college career ends.

“My confidence is very high,” he said.

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