MEN'S BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK
Vermont (20-5, 10-1) will open a three-game road trip at Hartford (13-12, 6-4) on Saturday (Feb. 16). The opening tip is set for 5 p.m. Fans can purchase tickets at
HartfordHawks.com.
TELEVISION AND RADIO COVERAGE
All of the action can be seen on
ESPN+ with a paid subscription. Fans can access ESPN+ with a seven-day free trial, followed by a subscription fee of $4.99 a month or $49.99 a year, with the ability to cancel at any time. Fans can also listen to the contest on 101.3 The Game and
1013TheGame.com with Jake Marsh on the call.
RELATED LINKS
Hartford: Video | Radio | Live Stats | Tickets
Game Notes: Vermont
MAKE IT 11 STRAIGHT
UVM earned its 20th win of the season on Wednesday night which marked 11 straight 20-win campaigns. The Cats are one of four teams right now to accomplish the feat – Duke Gonzaga, and Kentucky. North Carolina and Kansas are one victory away from joining the trio.
THE CLASS OF 2019 GOES FOR NO. 100
Wednesday's win also had historical significance for Vermont's senior class. The Class of 2019 (
Samuel Dingba and
Ernie Duncan) moved into a first-place tie with the Class of 2018 (
Trae Bell-Haynes,
Payton Henson,
Nate Rohrer,
Drew Urquhart,
David Urso, and
Cam Ward) on the school's list of all-time winningest classes. Dingba and Duncan have won 99 career games and can become the first graduating class to hit the century mark.
ROAD WARRIORS
Since 2011-12, the Catamounts have won 76 regular season true road games – the most in the country. A three-way tie between Belmont, Bucknell, and Stony Brook follow in second place with 72 victories. The Green and Gold also own an America East record-setting 23-game conference road winning streak which is the second-longest active streak of its kind behind Gonzaga's 28-game run.
REVISITING THE AMERICA EAST PRESEASON AWARDS
Saturday will feature the top two teams in the America East Preseason Coaches' Poll and four members of the Preseason All-Conference Team. The Cats were picked as the preseason frontrunner for the third straight season and received six first-place votes. Hartford followed in second place with the remaining three first-place votes. From the Preseason All-Conference Team, Vermont's
Anthony Lamb and Duncan will square off against Hartford's John Carroll and Jason Dunne.
SCOUTING HARTFORD
The Hawks enter the weekend with a 6-4 conference record and have won two out of their last three games. Hartford is the top three-point shooting team in league play with 108 triples, 23 more than UVM in second, and a 39.4% team percentage. The Capital City Team has the best assist-to-turnover ratio against America east opponents at 1.41. J.R. Lynch ranks fifth in the league with a 16.8 conference scoring average. He is also the America East frontrunner with 4.2 assists per game. In his last six games, the senior floor general has dropped 19.2 points and 4.8 assists per game. John Carroll follows in seventh with a 14.9 America East scoring average. Since playing at Duke on Dec. 5, Carroll has posted 10 double-digit scoring efforts including four double-doubles.
INSIDE THE SERIES
Vermont has a commanding 49-24 edge over Hartford in the all-time series. Since beating Hartford in the 2003 America East Semifinal, UVM is 31-3 against their conference counterpart and have won 10 out of the last 11 meetings. During Cioffi Men's Basketball Head Coach
John Becker's eight-year tenure, his Catamounts are 14-2 against the Hawks with a 15.8 average margin of victory. Last month, the Green and Gold cruised to an 81-62 win over the Hawks in the America East home opener as five Cats scored double figures.
National Life Group is the presenting sponsor of the 2018-19 Vermont men's basketball season
