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BURLINGTON, Vt. - The Vermont men's basketball team faces Harvard for the fourth straight season on Saturday (Dec. 6). Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online at UVMathletics.com, via the phone at 802-656-4410, and in person one hour before tipoff in the Patrick Gymnasium Lobby. The game will be broadcast on ESPN 101.3 FM (online: 1013ESPN.com) and will also be streamed online for free in HD via CatamounTV.com.
LAST TIME OUT - Vermont 81, Hartford 69
Freshman Cam Ward came off the bench to score a career-high 19 points and sophomore Dre Wills added 11 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and six steals to lead UVM to an 81-69 win over Hartford in the America East opener ... Vermont began the game with a 12-6 lead, but an 8-1 run by the Hawks pushed them in front, 14-13 ... Back-to-back three's from Brandon Hatton and Ward ignited a 14-4 run for UVM and the Catamounts led 36-27 at the half ... Vermont extended its run to 17-2, out scoring Hartford 11-2 to start the second half ... UVM led 47-29 and went on to earn the victory ... The Catamounts forced the Hawks into 20 turnovers, which results in 24 points for Vermont.
RELATED LINKS
Game Coverage - Live Stats | Live Audio | Live Video
CatamounTV Highlights - Hartford Game
Game Notes (.pdf)
Ward Making Immediate Impact for Catamounts - Waterloo/Marshall Courier
Gameday Promotion - Res Hall Challenge - The dorm with the most students dressed up will receive a $100 gift card to Party City; Tablng by Vermont National Guard and VGHSP - Alliance Sport Marketing
ABOUT HARVARD
The Crimson are 5-1 on the season and ranked No. 5 in the CollegeInsider.com Mid Major Poll ... Harvard is coming off a 60-46 win over Northeastern on Wednesday ... The Crimson held the Huskies to 33.3 percent shooting in the game ... Wesley Saunders (12 pts) and Siyani Chambers (11 pts) led Harvard ... Saunders was named to the Naismith Trophy, Wooden Award and Lou Henson Award watch lists this year ... Chambers was named to the Bob Cousy Award Watch List for the third straight year ... Harvard has won at least 20 games in each of its last five years and has won four straight Ivy League Championships. The Crimson advanced to the third round of the 2014 NCAA Tournament with a 61-57 win over No. 5 Cincinnati last year ... Harvard was picked as the preseason favorite in the Ivy League Preseason Poll.
THE SERIES
This is the 29th meeting between Harvard and Vermont. The Crimson own a 17-11 lead in the all-time series that dates back to the 1926-27 season ... This is the fourth straight meeting between the two teams, Harvard holds a 2-1 advantage ... Last season, Sandro Carissimo scored a career-high 30 points and Brian Voelkel became the third player in program history to reach 1,000-career rebounds, but the Harvard Crimson posted a 74-68 win ... Siyani Chambers paced Harvard with 27 points and was 6-for-6 from beyond the arc ... The Crimson raced out to a 23-8 lead in the first 10 minutes ... UVM scored seven straight points to cut the lead to 11 and used an 11-5 run to close the half and trailed by five at the break ... Vermont opened the half with a 16-9 run to take a 47-45 lead ... UVM led 48-45 with 11:05 left in the game, but Harvard used a 13-0 run to push back in front by 10 and made 12 free throws in the final two minutes to hold off UVM.
PLAYING THE IVIES
Vermont has won 13 of its last 19 games against Ivy League schools and is 5-1 vs. Harvard, Yale and Dartmouth in the last two seasons.
SHARP SHOOTING
The Catamounts rank eighth in the country in field goal percentage (52.7%) ... Vermont has shot better than 40 percent from the floor in 10 of 14 halves this season.
WARD-ING OFF TURNOVERS
Freshman Cam Ward has played in all seven games, earned one start and averages 18.1 minutes per game ... He has 13 assists on the season, second best on the team and just four turnovers ... He went through his first three collegiate games without a miscue.
STUFFING THE STAT SHEET
Sophomore Dre Wills had a solid night on the floor in the league opener versus Hartford ... Wills netted 11 points, grabbed seven rebounds, added a career-highs of seven assists and six steals.
WHO'S NEXT
Vermont takes a break for finals and wraps up the first semester hosting Wagner on Sunday (Dec. 14) at 1 p.m. ... The game will be the first of a doubleheader of basketball at Patrick Gymnasium ... The Vermont and Wagner women's teams will follow at 3:30 p.m. ... The game will be broadcast on ESPN 101.3 FM (online: 1013ESPN.com) and will also be streamed online for free in HD via CatamounTV.com.
