MEN'S BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK
 
A winner of two straight games, the Vermont men's basketball team has its sights set on three when it pays a visit to New Hampshire for a key America East matchup with the Wildcats on Wednesday night. Tipoff is set for 7:02 from Durham.
 
The game will be carried on ESPN3 and on the ESPN App with Chris Villani (play-by-play ) and Frank Sullivan (analyst) calling all of the action while local radio coverage on ESPN 101.3 FM begins at 6:30.
 
RELATED LINKS
Vermont Game Notes (.pdf)
UNH Game Notes
UNH Game Coverage: Live Video – Live Audio – Live Stats
UMBC Flashback: Game Recap – CatamounTV Highlights
 
Last Time Out vs. UMBC: The Catamounts outscored UMBC 16-6 over the final four minutes of the contest to hold off the Retrievers, 79-72, and put an end to a two-game home losing streak in the process.  Dre Wills turned in a monster performance for the Catamounts finishing with his second double-double of the season. The junior scored 11 points, grabbed 10 boards and dished out six assists. Ernie Duncan reached double figures for the first time since Jan. 3 pumping in 13 and handing seven assists of his own. UMBC answered a 7-2 UVM run using a full court press to key to key an 11-0 run which vaulted the Retrievers in front, 66-63 with just 4:40 left. Just 30 seconds later, Steidl hit his fifth trifecta of the day to tie the game at 66 and then Nate Rohrer corralled a missed jumper and laid it in for two to give his team a 72-67 lead. Despite some dicey free throw shooting early on, Vermont went 4-for-5 in the final thirty seconds to lock up its 18th straight victory over the Retrievers.
 
About New Hampshire: Picked to finish fourth in the America East preseason coaches' poll, the New Hampshire Wildcats are coming off one of their finest seasons in recent memory. UNH went 19-13 in 2014-15, a season which culminated with a trip to CIT. Coming into Wednesday night's contest on a three-game winning streak, the Wildcats most recently defeated Hartford on Sunday, 84-71. Ronnell Jordan scored a career-high 25 points in the victory. UNH is led by the reigning America East Rookie of the Year, Tanner Leissner who is averaging 15.3 points per game this season. He's been even better in league play, scoring at a 17.5 ppg clip. Jaleen Smith (12.5 ppg) and Jacoby Armstrong (12.1 ppg) also average double figure scoring. Freshman Iba Camera is one of the top rebounders in the country pulling down 9.5 per contest. Head Coach Bill Herrion is in his 11th season at UNH and has a career record of 126-189.
 
Series History: Vermont leads the all-time series with UNH, which dates back to 1906, 95-48. Since the 2001-2002 season, Vermont is 29-6 against the Wildcats. All six of the UNH wins came in Durham at Lundholm Gymnasium. The Catamounts have also won 10 of the last 14 meetings, overall. John Becker is 8-2 in his career vs. New Hampshire. The Catamounts are 39-30 all-time in Durham.
 
Last Season vs. New Hampshire: In the first meeting, New Hampshire snapped a seven-game losing streak to Vermont in last season's first matchup, winning 73-68 in Durham. UVM erased a 15-point second half deficit to tie the game at 61 with 2:20 left but a pair of late Wildcat three-pointers put the game out of reach. The loss was Vermont's first in league play at the time. In Burlington, Trae Bell-Haynes scored what was then a career-high 21 points and UVM defeated UNH, 64-49 on Senior Night. New Hampshire took a 40-37 lead in the second half with 14:57 left but Vermont held the Wildcats without a field goal the rest of way and outscored UNH 27-9 over the final 15 minutes.
 
Top Cats in America East: Since the start of the 2002-2003 season, Vermont has 189 America East wins. That is the most in the league and 65 more than the next team (Albany - 124).
 
Cats in January: Since the start of the 2011-12 season, Vermont has gone 34-9 in the month of January. The Cats were 7-3 last season and 8-1 in 2013-14.
 
The Big Cheese Unleashed: Ethan O'Day, after failing to reach double figures in five straight games from Dec. 8-Dec. 29, has averaged 13.3 points per game in conference games and has averaged close to a double-double grabbing 7.0 rebounds per game, as well.
 
Where There's a Wills, There's a Way: Since returning to the Vermont lineup, Dre Will has made an immediate impact. In the last three games, Wills is averaging 13.7 points, six rebounds and 3.6 assists per contest. He's making 57.7% of his shots and has four steals and three blocks.
 
On the Road Again: Since the 2011-12 season, Vermont is 25-10 in road regular season games vs. conference opponents. The Cats were 5-3 last season and 7-1 during the 2013-14 season (won Regular Season Championship).