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MONROE, La. - The Univeristy of Vermont men's basketball team faces the University of Louisiana at Monroe in the semifinal round of the CBI Tournament in Monroe, Louisiana. Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. (EST)/7 p.m. (CST). 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 streamed for FREE via the ULM website (www.ulmwarhawks.com).
The Catamounts advanced to the CBI semifinals for the first time in program history after posting a 78-71 win over Radford on Monday in the first-ever home postseason game in team's history. Vermont reached the 20-win plateau (20-13) for the seventh straight season with the win over the Highlanders. ULM erased a 20-point deficit to pull out a 71-69 victory at Mercer on Monday and moved to 23-12.
RELATED LINKS
Game Coverage - Live Stats | Live Audio | Live Video
CBI Bracket (.pdf)
Game Notes (.pdf)
CatamounTV Highlights - Radford
CatamounTV Postgame Reaction - Radford
Moe's Moe-Ment of the Week - Zach McRoberts
ABOUT UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA AT MONROE
ULM is 23-12 and finished with a 14-6 record in the Sun Belt Conference ... The Warhawks were picked to finish sixth in the preseason poll but were tied for second in the Sun Belt standings ... ULM posted its first winning season since 2006-07 and posted its 11th 20-win season in school history, the first since 2001-02 ... The Warhawks posted the most single-season Sun Belt wins in school history (14) ... Head coach Keith Richard was named the Sun Belt Coach of the Year for the second time in his career ... Senior Tylor Ongwae was an All-Conference First-Team selection and junior Majok Deng was named to the third-team ... ULM defeated Eastern Michigan in Monroe, La., 71-67 in the first round of the CBI Tournament ... Ongwae netted a season-high 26 points and the Warhawks overcame a 19-0 run by Eastern Michigan to pull out the win ... In the quarterfinal round, ULM erased a 20-point second half deficit at Mercer to pull out a 71-69 victory on Monday ... Ongwae scored 27 points to lead the Warhawks once again ... ULM reached the Sun Belt Semifinals for the first time in school history after a 77-59 win over South Alabama for the program's first conference tournament win since 2010 ... ULM lost to Georgia Southern, 44-43, in the semifinals ... Ongwae is averaging a team-high 14.3 points per game and 6.6 rebounds per contest ... He has also handed out 100 assists on the year ... Deng leads the team in rebounding (7.4 rpg) and ranks second on the team in scoring (10.2 ppg) ... Nick Coppola is the team's top 3-point threat, making 55 three's and ranks among the national leaders in minutes played ... ULM ranks fifth nationally in field goal percentage defense (37.9%) and ninth in 3-point field goal percentage defense (29.5%) ... ULM is one of three teams in the nation to not allow 75 points in a game this season (St. Peter's & Baylor) ... As a team, the Warhawks average 64.7 points per game, while giving up 60.2 to opponents ... ULM is shooting 42.8 percent from the field, 30.7 percent from 3-point range and 71.1 percent from the foul line ... The Warhakws are out rebounding opponents by a +3.2 margin (37.3 to 34.1) ... Richards is in his fifth season as the head coach at ULM and is a ULM alum, playing for the Warhawks from 1978-82.
CATAMOUNTS & THE CBI
Vermont is making its seventh straight postseason appearance and 11th in the past 12 years ... The Catamounts are playing in the CBI for the third time and have advanced to the semifinals for the first time in program history ... UVM's first CBI appearance was in 2009, the Catamounts traveled to UW-Green Bay and defeated the Phoenix, 76-72, for the program's second postseason win in school history ... Vermont advanced to the quarterfinals where it fell at Oregon State, 71-70 in overtime ... The Catamounts were also selected to the CBI Tournament in 2013 ... UVM traveled to Santa Clara and fell to the Broncos, 77-67, in the first round ... Head coach John Becker is 2-1 in the CBI and the Catamounts are 3-2 in the tournament.
CBI NUMBERS
Vermont is the second America East team to win multiple postseason games in the same season and the second league team to reach the CBI Semifinals (Boston U, 2010) ... Five Catamounts are averaging double-figures in CBI action, led by Ethan O'Day's 16.5 points per game ... Trae Bell-Haynes is averaging 15 points per game and shooting 80 percent from the floor (8-for-10) ... Dre Wills is averaging 11 points and 7.5 rebounds per game ... The Catamounts are shooting 53.8 percent from the field and holding opponents to 22.6 percent shooting from 3-point range.
20 WINS
Vermont has recorded 20 or more wins in 12 of the last 14 years (21.5 average) ... John Becker is the first coach in school history and only coach in America East history to lead his team to four straight 20-win seasons in their first four seasons ... UVM is the only Division I school in New England with a current streak of seven straight 20-win seasons.
GOOD COMPANY
John Becker is one of 12 active coaches with 20 wins in first four seasons as Division I head coach at a single school
(current school in parenthesis)
Mike Anderson - UAB (Arkansas)
John Becker - Vermont
Jim Boehiem - Syracuse
Jim Christian - Kent State (Boston College)
Tim Cluess - Iona
Jamie Dixon - Pittsburgh
Mark Few - Gonzaga
Mark Fox - Nevada (Georgia)
Steve Lavin - UCLA (St. John's)
Josh Pastner - Memphis
Dave Rose - BYU
Shaka Smart - VCU
WHAT'S NEXT
The Vermont/ULM winner will face the winner of the Seattle/Loyola Chicago game in a best-of-three championship series starting on March 30 at a place to be determined.
