With many of its veterans beaten up by injury last season, the young players on the New Hampshire men’s basketball team had to grow up fast.

Dropping their final seven to finish last in the America East with a 6-24 overall record, the task proved to have been too much for the Wildcats to play through.

Despite consistent play throughout the season from then-senior guard Jordon Bronner, who averaged 10.6 points a game, the season-ending injuries of forward Patrick Konan and center Chris Pelcher in the final third of their senior seasons gave a young group a chance to get on the court.

“We had to play our freshmen,” UNH head coach Bill Herrion said. “They were good enough to play, but they probably played more minutes last year because of the injuries.”

Definitely. With the fall of Konan midway through last season, it was then-freshman Jacoby Armstrong who rose to the occasion at the forward spot. The forward averaged 7.7 points in 24.4 minutes per game.

Another freshman making noise in the second half of the season was guard Daniel Dion. During a string of seven starts between Jan. 23 and Feb. 22, Dion averaged 12.9 points per game. He compiled an average of 8.2 over the whole of 2013-14.

Both Dion and Armstrong will return to Durham for their sophomore seasons. But Herrion expects Armstrong to “take the next step” this year, especially coming off of a turf toe injury that stymied his game last February.

“He’s been a little banged up early this year,” Herrion said. “Nothing major, but he just started practicing full about a week ago. We really think he can be a 12- or 14-point per game guy and I think he can contend to lead this league in rebounds. He’s that kind of athlete — he’s got that kind of strength. So we’re expecting more out of him.”

Herrion will also look to this year’s new additions to make an impact. On top of losing key players to injury, New Hampshire made do without Wright State transfer Joe Bramanti last season. The junior guard sat out in 2013-14 due to NCAA transfer regulations. With his year on the bench up, Herrion hopes to turn him into a team leader right away.

“He hasn’t played a game for us yet, but he’s a prep school kid,” Herrion said. “He played one year of college, solid kid. So I think we got a couple guys that we’re going to look to as leaders, but we’re still young.”

So young in fact, that as of last week, the coaching staff still did not have a starting lineup decided for New Hampshire’s opener at Boston College. At last count, Herrion projected four sophomores and a freshman.

Yet the Wildcats refuse to let age be an excuse in 2014-15. As long as UNH — which finished last out of 351 teams in Division I for scoring offense, averaging 57.8 points per game — plays a more aggressive offensive game, it can’t get any worse.

“We can’t score 57 points a game at this level and win,” Herrion said.

According to Herrion, the team has been working on this issue by emphasizing more of a transition offense on the floor. But for the Wildcats to have a chance to improve their performance this year, the young players must be ready to reinvent a team that has only finished above sixth in the AE twice in five seasons.

“They got their feet wet last year, they got a lot of experience, but we still have a lot of question marks because of our youth,” Herrion said. “But so far I like where we’re at.”