MEN'S BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK
Vermont (1-0) will play the second leg of a two-game season-opening road trip at Bucknell (1-0) on Sunday afternoon (Nov. 10). The opening tip is set for 2 p.m. Tickets are available for purchase at Bucknell.UniversityTickets.com.
 
TELEVISION AND RADIO COVERAGE
Fans can catch the action for free on the Patriot League Network. Fans can also listen live on the Vermont Sports Network, from Learfield IMG College, on 101.3 The Game or online at Catamounts All-Access with Jake Marsh on the call.
 
RELATED LINKS
Bucknell: Video | Live Stats | Audio | Tickets
Game Notes: Vermont | Bucknell
 
BEATING THE BONNIES ON FRIDAY NIGHT
Vermont earned a 61-59 win at St. Bonaventure on Friday night in the season opener. Anthony Lamb recorded a double-double on Opening Night for the second consecutive year with 15 points and 10 rebounds. The Catamounts beat an Atlantic 10 opponent for the third straight season and for the fifth time in the last six matchups. The 59 points allowed are the fewest in a UVM season opener since 1985-86 when the Cats rolled to a 79-50 victory against RPI.
 
NO. 1 RATED NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULE
MidMajorMadness.com recently ranked Vermont's 2019-20 non-conference schedule as the best in the country. The Catamounts will face six teams who earned a postseason bid last year and their opponents combined to post a 59.4% winning percentage. 
 
CLASH OF MID-MAJOR POWERS
Sunday's matinee features two of the top perennial mid-major powers in the country. In the last three seasons, the two programs have combined for six regular season conference titles and four trips to the NCAA Tournament. In this year's CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top-25 Poll, UVM landed at No. 4 while Bucknell received 13 votes.
 
HIGH SCHOOL REUNION
Sunday's matchup will reunite Conant High School teammates Ryan Davis and Jimmy Sotos. Davis averaged a double-double as a senior (25.0 ppg, 11.0 rpg) and graduated with the most career victories (90) in school history. Sotos, a junior at Bucknell, averaged 16.3 points and 4.4 assists during his senior year. The duo helped the Cougars to area and conference titles along with a berth in the Final Eight of the state playoffs in 2016-17.
 
SCOUTING BUCKNELL
The Bison opened the season with a 68-64 win at Fairfield on Tuesday night. John Meeks scored a team-high 19 points off the bench to lead four Bucknell players in double figures. The junior shot 7-for-14 from the floor and grabbed four rebounds. Bruce Moore added 15 points on 4-of-8 shooting. He gathered one board and swatted away one shot. Coming into the season, the Bison were picked second in the Patriot League Preseason Poll. Moore is the team's top returning threat from a year ago with the graduation of Kimbal Mackenzie (17.6 ppg, 3.3 apg) and Nate Sestina (15.8 ppg, 8.5 rpg) moving onto Kentucky as a grad transfer. As a junior, Moore averaged 9.6 points and 8.5 rebounds per game.
 
INSIDE THE SERIES
Sunday's meeting will be the rubber match between the mid-major rivals as the all-time series is deadlocked at 2-2. UVM and Bucknell first met in the 1994-95 season opener at the Pepsi-Marist Classic in Poughkeepsie, New York where the Cats edged the Bison 67-66. The two programs squared off again in the 2001 Mohegan Sun Classic, hosted by Central Connecticut State, as the Green and Gold cruised to a 77-60 win in the consolation game. In 2017-18, Bucknell held off a vicious comeback by Vermont in the final minutes for an 81-77 victory. Last year, the Bison walked out of Patrick Gym with a 69-61 victory.
 
National Life Group is the presenting sponsor of the 2019-20 Vermont men's basketball season