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The Vermont men's basketball team hosts its longest standing rival New Hampshire on "Senior Night" on Wednesday. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Patrick Gymnasium, the senior ceremony will start at 6:50 p.m.. Tickets can be purachsed online at UVMathletics.com, in person at the UVM Athletic Ticket Office in Patrick Gymnasium (M-F: 9 a.m.-5 p.m), via the phone at 802-656-4410, or in person one hour before tipoff in the Patrick Gymnasium Lobby. Wednesday's game can be heard on ESPN 101.3 FM (online: 1013ESPN.com) with A.J. Kanell on the call. The game can also be seen online via ESPN3.com.
RELATED LINKS
Game Coverage - Live Stats | Live Audio | Live Video
Game Notes (.pdf)
The Catamounts have won five of their last six and stand at 16-11, 11-3 in America East. Vermont suffered a 57-55 setback at Binghamton last Wednesday and had a weekend bye. New Hampshire is 17-10 and 10-4 in America East. The Wildcats have posted the most wins (17) and conference victories (10) since the 1994-95 season. UNH is coming off a 76-60 win at UMass Lowell on Sunday and has won four straight and nine of its last 10 games.
LAST TIME OUT - Binghamton 57, Vermont 55
Willie Rodriguez scored a game-high 18 points to lead Binghamton past Vermont 57-55 at the Events Center Wednesday night ... Dre Wills paced Vermont, scoring a team-high 14 points and grabbing six rebounds ... Ethan O'Day added 10 points, seven rebounds and matched his career high with five blocks ... Vermont led by 10 with 12:44 remaining in the game ... Binghamton responded with a 19-9 run over the next nine minutes to tie the game up at 50 with 2:55 remaining ... The Bearcats took their first lead of the half on a pair of free throws by Walker Romello at the 1:48 mark and two more free throws pushed their advantage to four, 54-50, with 46 seconds remaining ... O'Day converted a layup to slice the lead to two with 27 seconds left ... Marlon Beck II went 3-for-4 from the line to give Binghamton a 57-52 lead with 10 seconds remaining ... Dre Wills drained a 3-pointer with four seconds left to bring Vermont within two, 57-55 ... Binghamton missed two free throws in the final 2.7 seconds, the second on purpose, but Cam Ward's last second 3-pointer attempt was off target.
ABOUT NEW HAMPSHIRE
New Hampshire is 17-10 overall, 10-3 in America East ... The Wildcats have posted the most wins (17) and conference victories (10) since the 1994-95 season ... UNH is coming off a 76-60 win at UMass Lowell on Sunday and has won four straight and nine of its last 10 games ... Tanner Leissner is one of two Wildcats averaging double figures, he is netting a team-high 13.2 points per game and also leads the team in rebounds (7.4 rpg) ... Jaleen Smith is chipping in 10.1 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game ... Daniel Dion is the team's top 3-point threat (51 3FGM) and is averaging 9.8 points per game ... As a team, New Hampshire is averaging 67.9 points per game, while giving up 61 to opponents ... The Wildcats are shooting 44.0 percent from the floor, 37.1 percent from the arc and 68.3 percent from the foul line ... New Hampshire is out rebounding opponents 37 to 31.9 on the boards.
THE SERIES
Wednesday is the 143rd meeting between the two teams ... UNH is UVM's longest standing rival ... Vermont owns a 94-48 record over New Hampshire in the series ... John Becker is 7-2 vs. UNH ... The Catamounts have won seven of the last eight against New Hampshire ... UVM is 50-18 vs. UNH at Patrick Gymnasium ... New Hampshire's last win at Patrick Gymnasium was 1/8/00, 84-75 ... UVM swept the Wildcats last season and defeated UNH in the America East Quarterfinals last season, 77-60 ... New Hampshire posted a 73-68 victory at Lundholm Gymnasium earlier this year to snap a seven-game losing streak to the Catamounts.
LAST TIME OUT - New Hampshire 73, Vermont 68
Matt Miller lead all scorers with 18 points and was one of five Wildcats to reach double figures in the scoring column ... He was 4-for-5 from behind the arc and drained a key 3-pointer with just over a minute left in the game as UNH held off Vermont, 73-68, to hand the Catamounts their first league loss of the season and snap a five-game win streak ... Dre Wills led the Catamounts with a career-high 17 points and Trae Bell-Haynes added 12 points ... The two teams combined for 75 free throw attempts and both teams struggled from the line ... UVM shot 60.5 percent (23-for-38), while UNH was 22-for-37 (59.5%) from the stripe.
PLAYOFF PICTURE
Vermont and New Hampshire have clinched home court advantage in the quarterfinal round of the America East Playoffs ... The Catamounts will host a quarterfinal game on March 4 at Patrick Gymnasium ... A win on Wednesday would help UVM clinch the No. 2 seed and the chance to host a semifinal game in the playoffs.
SHARP SHOOTING
Vermont owns two of the top-25 shooting performances by a Division I team this season ... UVM shot 68.4 percent from the field in the second game of the season at Siena (W, 84-76) and 66.7 percent versus UMass Lowell on February 11 (W, 96-53).
DEFENSE
Vermont ranks 12th in the country in field goal percentage defense (37.9%) and 12th in scoring defense (57.1 ppg) ... The Catamounts have held their last 13 opponents under 60 points ... UVM has held America East opponents under 60 points in 13 of 14 league games ... Under John Becker, UVM teams have not allowed opponents to average more than 60 points in a season:
2011-12: 60.9
2012-13: 59.2 (school record)
2013-14: 60.6
2014-15: 57.2
MAGIC NUMBERS
Vermont is 41-5 since the 2012-13 season when holding opponents under 60 pts ... UVM held Yale to 57, St. Louis to 58 pts, Albany to 47, Binghamton to 57 ... UVM is 82-4 since 2000-01 when scoring 80+ points (last loss: at #6 Duke - 11/24/13 - L, 91-90) ... Vermont is 11-3 when Dre Wills scores 10+ pts in his career ... The Catamounts are 10-1 when Ethan O'Day shoots 61% from the field this season.
NCAA NUMBERS
Vermont ranks 12th in scoring defense (57.1 ppg) ... Is 12th in field goal percentage defense (37.9%) ... Dre Wills is 22nd in the country in steals (56) ... Ethan O'Day ranks 26th in field goal percentage (57.7%).
AMERICA EAST LEADERS
Vermont ranks first or second in the conference stats in 11 of 14 categories ... UVM leads the league in seven categories ... Wednesday's game will put the top scoring offense - UNH (68.0 ppg), Vermont is second at 67.4 points per game, against the top scoring defense - UVM (53.7 ppg).
WHO'S NEXT
Vermont wraps up the regular season at Albany on Saturday (Feb. 28). Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. at SEFCU Arena. The game can be heard on ESPN 101.3 FM (online: 1013ESPN.com) with A.J. Kanell on the call. The game can also be seen online via ESPN3.com.
