MEN'S BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK The Vermont men's basketball team returns to Patrick Gym for the final time during the regular season on Wednesday night to take on New Hampshire.
It will be 'Senior Night' at Patrick as the Catamounts will honor
Ethan O'Day and
Dylan Sinnickson in a pregame ceremony. The 7 p.m. tipoff can be seen via a FREE live stream available on AmericaEast.TV. Radio coverage begins at 6:30 on ESPN 101.3 FM with AJ Kanell and Bernie Cieplicki calling the action.
RELATED LINKSVermont Game Notes (.pdf)
UNH Game Notes
UNH Game Coverage:
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Live StatsUMBC Flashback:
Game Recap Last Time Out at UMBC: Vermont put together one of its best performances of the season Saturday night, riding a high-powered offensive attack and stingy defense to a convincing 99-54 win over UMBC in Baltimore.
Cam Ward led all scorers with a career-high 24 points and did it while shooting a perfect 7-of-7 from the field, 6-of-6 from deep and 4-of-4 from the foul line. He also chipped in four rebounds and three assists.
Dre Wills stuffed the stat sheet with 15 points, eight rebounds and six assists.
Ethan O'Day (13 points, seven rebounds, four blocks),
Ernie Duncan (11 points) and
Darren Payen (10 points) all reached double figures for the Catamounts. Vermont shot 69.1% from the field and missed just 17 of its 55 field goal attempts. UMCBC, meanwhile, made only 17 shots and was held to just 29.8% shooting for the game. Ward came off the bench to ignite the fire drilling five pointers without a miss in the first half. His first three – during a 21-7 UVM run – helped the Cats stretch their lead to 14 at the nine-minute mark before Wills finished an old-fashioned three-point play after converting a layup in transition to make bring the lead to 20.
About New Hampshire: UNH enters Wednesday night's contest with an overall record of 17-10 and 10-4 in America East play. The Wildcats sit one game ahead of Vermont in the league standings. Each team has two games left. Last time out, UNH erased a 19-point first-half deficit and rallied past Hartford,74-63, in Hartford. Tanner Leissner scored 13 points and grabbed 15 rebounds to lead the way. New Hampshire outscored Hartford 43-24 in the second half. Leissner, the 2015 America East Rookie of the Year, leads the team in scoring at 16.1 points per game. He also grabs 7.0 rebounds per contest. Jaleen Smith, one the league leaders in minutes played, averages 12.7 points per game and Jacoby Armstrong also scores in double figures at 12.3 points per contest. New Hampshire is one of the top rebounding teams in the league ranking first in defensive rebounds (749) and second in offensive rebounds (314).
Series History: Vermont leads the all-time series with UNH, which dates back to 1906, 96-48. Since the 2001-2002 season, Vermont is 30-6 against the Wildcats. The Catamounts have also won 11 of the last 15 meetings. All six of the UNH wins came in Durham.
John Becker is 9-2 in his career vs. New Hampshire. The Catamounts are 51-18 all-time and have won 15 in a row against the Wildcats in Burlington (last loss: Jan. 8, 200 | 84-75)
Last Meeting vs. New Hampshire: Vermont turned in its best defensive performance of the season holding New Hampshire to 23.7% shooting and
John Becker earned his 100th win at UVM leading his Catamounts to a 66-50 win over the Wildcats.
Ethan O'Day led all scorers with 19 points (13 in the first half) on 8-of-12 shooting.
Kurt Steidl chipped in with 13 points and seven rebounds. In total five Catamounts scored at least eight points. Steidl hit a fadeaway jumper in the corner plus a foul to push the lead to 20 at the 6:40 mark of the second half.
Dre Wills bullied his way into the paint all second half and collected his third second-half bucket with 5:33 remaining to keep the lead at 20.
Cats Sizzling: Over the last three games (all wins) UVM has averaged 89.7 points per game while shooting 58.1% from the field. The Cats have scored 90+ points four times this season which is the most since 2001-2002 when it was also done on four occasions.
Cam Jam: In two Catamount wins last week,
Cam Ward averaged 20 points per game while shooting 76.5% from the floor and 66.7% from downtown on his way to America East Player of the Week Honors.
Bench Mob: Over the last four games, Vermont's bench players have outscored their opposing counterparts 155-58. Against UMBC, the Catamounts got 55 points off the bench compared to the Retrievers' nine. In league play, Vermont is +11 off the bench, outscoring opponents 28.2-17.2.
Duncan Gone Streaking: After scoring 11 points against UMBC last time out,
Ernie Duncan has now reached double-figures in five straight games. Averaging 15.4 points per game during that stretch, Duncan is shooting 53.2% from the field and 48.5% from downtown.
Do it all Dre: Junior
Dre Wills went for 15 points, eight rebounds and six assists last time out against UMBC. In that game, he either scored or assisted on 13 of Vermont's 38 field goals (33.3%). In the last two seasons, Vermont is 7-0 (3-0 this season) when Wills goes for at least 10 points, five rebounds and four assists.
Tickets to Wednesday's game can be purchased online at UVMathletics.com, in person at the Athletic Ticket Office located on the balcony in Patrick Gymnasium (Mon - Fri; 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.), over the phone during office hours at 802-656-4410, or one hour before game time in the lobby of Patrick Gymnasium.
