Fourteen months after opening the 2011-12 season with 13 straight losses, the Hartford men’s basketball team clinched the No. 3 seed in the 2013 America East tournament.

But No. 6 seed UMBC prematurely ended the Hawks’ quest for an NCAA tournament berth, upsetting John Gallagher’s 17-win squad in the quarterfinals.

The Hawks received a bid to the College Insider Tournament, where they fell to Rider in the first round. Though the 2012-13 Hawks became the first team in program history to earn a Division I postseason bid, Gallagher has his sights set on higher achievements in 2013-14.

“There’s always room for improvement,” he said. “Guys have to be committed to work hard and to doing the right things.”

Losing just one starter — or half a starter, as graduate John Peterson more or less split the job with junior forward Nate Sikma — Hartford should skip the adjustment period of the early season and be able to get ahead on the team’s development. In fact, Gallagher said that they already have made some huge improvements from last season.

“I think we’re shooting the ball way better. We were a 33 percent 3-point shooting a game, I think now we’re more on the 38-39 percent range. I think we’re better with the ball — we’re not turning it over as much,” he said. “And then we’re continuing to work on our rebounding, and we focus on rebounding percentage, not rebounding numbers, so our rebounding percentage has gotten way better.”

Led by junior forward Mark Nwakamma, the veteran Hawks will have the upper hand against teams coping with inexperienced rookies and transfers.

Nwakamma, the team’s greatest asset, earned all-conference first team honors after last season when he ranked in the league’s top 10 in four different categories. He posted 14.7 points per game to lead his team and finish fifth overall in the conference, and he rounded out the other three categories with field goal percentage (seventh at 47.5 percent), steals (eighth at 1.4 per game) and blocked shots (ninth at 0.7 per game). He also led his team in rebounding, with 5.5 per game, a mark that ranked 14th in the conference.

Gallagher mentioned that Nwakamma had his hands on the ball on 71 percent of the team’s plays last season — a huge number, but fitting for a dominant player.

“Philosophically, we want to get the best player the ball the majority of the time,” he said. “That doesn’t mean he’s shooting it, it just means we’re playing it through him. So I like the number 71 percent of the time. I like that number.”

Nwakamma, who grew even more impressive during last season’s 16-game America East slate, poured in a league-best 16.5 points per conference game. He’s not infallible, though, as evidenced by his 3.3 turnovers per game.

“If [Nwakamma] is touching [the ball] 71 percent of the time, he’s going to have a higher turnover percentage,” Gallagher said. “But, it’s too high for us. It was a 1-1 ratio, and we want to make sure he’s making better decisions.”

Gallagher will also return junior guard Yolonzo Moore II, junior guard Corban Wroe, sophomore guard Evan Cooper and Sikma, all of whom deserve attention in opponents’ scouting reports.

Moore trailed Nwakamma in the team’s scoring rankings with an output of 9.2 points per game, maintained a team-high 2.6 assists per game and spent the most minutes on the floor.

“[Moore] played the whole season hurt last year, and he still averaged close to 10 points per game,” Gallagher said. “I think he can be a consistent double-figure scorer for us.”

Cooper shot a team-high 37.2 percent from deep while Sikma and junior guard Wes Cole each attempted more than four treys per game. Wroe, meanwhile, registered just 59 field goal attempts in 2012-13, but hustled and pestered opponents for 19.2 minutes per game.

Gallagher said he likes his team’s depth, which allows his allotment of minutes to be flexible. Players, he added, will earn their minutes in practice. And that includes freshmen, too.

“There’s always room for players to step up, whether they’re freshmen or incoming guys,” Gallagher said. “No job is ever given or granted to anyone. That’s why practice is so important … you should never underestimate the value of earning your minutes and earning your job.”