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STONY BROOK, N.Y. - The Vermont men's basketball team travels to Stony Brook on Saturday for the second regular season meeting of the year. Tipoff at Island Federal Credit Union Arena is scheduled for 7 p.m. The game can be heard on ESPN 101.3 FM (online: 1013ESPN.com) with A.J. Kanell on the call. The game will also be broadcast on ESPN3.com.
The Catamounts stand at 13-10, 8-2 in America East after a 68-49 win over Maine on Tuesday. Stony Brook is 15-9 and 6-3 in league play after dropping a 63-48 loss at New Hampshire last Saturday.
RELATED LINKS
Game Coverage - Live Stats | Live Audio | Live Video
Game Notes (.pdf)
CatamounTV Highlights - Maine
Bus With Us to Albany (2/28)
LAST TIME OUT - Vermont 68, Maine 49
Dre Wills and Cam Ward scored 14 points each and Kurt Steidl added 13 points, 11 in the first half, as Vermont cruised to a 68-49 win over Maine at Patrick Gymnasium ... Vermont built a 20-point lead at the half, the Black Bears trimmed the lead to 10 with 9:14 remaining in the game, but the Catamounts pushed the lead back to 20 with 10 straight points to roll to the victory.
ABOUT STONY BROOK
Stony Brook is 15-9 overall, 6-3 in America East and coming off a 63-48 loss at New Hampshire on Jan. 31 ... The Seawolves are 9-1 at their refurbished arena ... Jameel Warney, the 2014 America East Player of the Year, leads the team in scoring (15.7 ppg) and rebounding (11.3 rpg) ... He leads the nation in double-doubles with 15 ... Carson Puriefoy is the other Seawolf averaging double-figures (13.5 ppg) and has a team-high 32 3-pointers and 78 assists ... As a team, Stony Brook is averaging 64.8 points per game, while allowing 60.3 to its opponents ... The Seawolves are shooting 42.1 percent from the field, 33.2 percent from 3-point range and 66.0 percent from the foul line ... Stony Brook is out rebounding opponents 39.2 to 31.0 on the boards.
THE SERIES
Saturday is the 31st meeting between the two teams … Vermont owns a 22-8 advantage in the series … The series started in 2002 when the Seawolves joined America East … UVM has won five of the last seven meetings … The teams split the regular season series last year, each squad winning on its home floor … UVM's victory over Stony Brook at Patrick Gym last season allowed the Catamounts to capture their sixth America East Regular Season Championship.
LAST TIME vs. STONY BROOK | CatamounTV Highlights
Ethan O'Day led three Catamounts in double figures, netting 16 points and grabbing nine rebounds, as Vermont posted a 71-57 win over Stony Brook at Patrick Gymnasium ... O'Day was 5-for-12 from the field and 6-for-6 from foul line ... Kurt Steidl added 13 points and Dre Wills chipped in 12 points, five rebounds and five steals ... Jameel Warney paced Stony Brook with 26 points and 10 rebounds ... UVM held Stony Brook to 37.3 percent shooting from the field and out rebounded the Seawolves 30-26 (23-17 on the defensive glass) ... UVM led 28-24 at the half and opened the second stanza out scoring Stony Brook 12-6 in the first four minutes to open up a 10 point lead ... Vermont's lead grew to 14 with 9:40 left, but Stony Brook mounted a comeback attempt ... The Seawolves scored 15 of the next 21 points and closed within five, 62-57 with 4:09 remaining ... UVM held Stony Brook scoreless over the final four minutes and went 7-for-8 from the line to secure the win.
LAST VISIT TO ARENA
UVM's last visit to what is now Island Federal Credit Union Arena was in 2012 for the America East Championship Game ... In head coach John Becker's first season the No. 2-seeded Catamounts upset top-seeded Stony Brook on their home floor, 51-43, to win the program's fifth America East Championship and advance to the NCAA Tournament.
DEFENSE
Vermont is 3-1 in its last four games and has held its last four opponents to 50 points or less ... UVM is allowing 48.0 points per game in its last four contests and holding opponents to 30.3 percent shooting from the field and 20.3 percent shooting from 3-point range ... Ethan O'Day has 11 blocks in four games and Dre Wills has picked up 10 steals ... UVM ranks 16th in the country in scoring defense ... Under John Becker, UVM teams have not allowed opponents to average more than 60 points in a season:
2011-12 60.9 - Becker
2012-13 59.2 * - Becker
2013-14 60.6 - Becker
2014-15 58.0 - Becker
* school record
MAGIC NUMBERS
Vermont is 38-4 since the 2012-13 season when holding opponents under 60 pts ... UVM held Yale to 57, St. Louis to 58 pts and Albany to 47 this season ... UVM is 81-4 since 2000-01 when scoring 80+ points (last loss: at #6 Duke - 11/24/13 - L, 91-90) ... Vermont is 10-2 when Dre Wills scores 10+ pts in his career ... The Catamounts are 7-1 when Ethan O'Day shoots 61% from the field.
BECKER EARNS WIN #80
UVM head coach John Becker picked up his 80th career win at Vermont in the victory over Maine ... He owns a career mark of 80-45 in three and a half seasons at Vermont ... He is 47-11 in America East action.
O'DAY REJECTIONS
O'Day enters the game tied for fifth at UVM among the all-time shot blockers (124) ... He movted into a tie with Scott Jones '04 with a block against Maine in UVM's last outing ... He became the sixth Catamount to record 100 career blocks with a pair of rejections at Saint Louis ... He recorded a career-high five blocks in a loss to Albany (1/28/15).
UVM'S CAREER LEADERS - BLOCKS
Rk. Player, Blocks
1. Kevin Roberson (88-92), 409
2. Erik Nelson (94-98), 282
3. Marqus Blakely (06-10), 254
4. Evan Fjeld (07-11), 131
5. Scotty Jones (99-04), 124
5. Ethan O'Day (13--), 124
NCAA NUMBERS
Vermont ranks 16th in scoring defense (58.0 ppg) ... Is 23rd in field goal percentage defense (38.1%) ... Dre Wills is 12th in the country in steals (51) and 16th in steals per game (2.22) ... Ethan O'Day ranks 37th in blocks (48) and 48th in blocks per game (2.09).
10th ANNIVERSARY OF "FROM THE PARKING LOT"
The 2014-15 marks the 10 year anniversary of arguably the biggest win in UVM men's basketball history, when the No. 13 Catamounts stunned No. 4 Syracuse in the first round of the 2005 NCAA Tournament at the DCU Center in Worcester, Mass. UVM defeated the Orange 60-57 in overtime. Germain Mopa-Njila scored a career-high 20 points. T.J. Sorrentine hit the famous long 3-pointer with the shot clock winding down to help seal the win. He finished the game with 17 points and Taylor Coppenrath added 16 points. Sorrentine is now the Associate Head Men's Basketball Coach at Brown and Coppenrath is in his 10th season playing overseas in Spain. America East put together a two-part feature on the 2004-05 team. Part I aired during UVM's win over Hartford last Saturday (click here to view) and Part II will be broadcast at halftime of the Stony Brook game.
WHO'S NEXT
Vermont will host a pair of games at Patrick Gymnasium next week ... The Catamounts face UMass Lowell on Wednedsay (Feb. 11) at 7 p.m. and host UMBC on Satuday (Feb. 14) at 2 p.m. ... Tickets can be purchased online at UVMathletics.com, in person at the UVM Athletic Ticket Office (M-F: 9 a.m.-5 p.m.), via the phone at 802-656-4410 or in person one hour before tipoff in the Patrick Gymnasium Lobby ... Both games can be heard on ESPN 101.3 FM (online: 1013ESPN.com) and seen online for free in HD via CatamounTV.com.
