MEN'S BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK
Vermont (15-5, 5-0) returns home on Thursday night (Feb. 19) to host UMass Lowell (8-11, 3-2) at 7 p.m. Single game tickets are available at UVMathletics.com/Tickets or at the Patrick Gym Box Office on gameday. All UVM men's basketball games can be heard on ESPN 101.3 FM and online at 1013ESPN.com with Sam Hyman on the call. Free live video is available in HD at AmericaEast.TV. 

RELATED LINKS
UMass Lowell: Video | Live Stats | Audio 
Power Rankings: Mid-MajorMadness.com | CollegeInsider.com
Game Notes: Vermont (.pdf) | UMass Lowell (.pdf)  

SETTING THE SCENE
Vermont rides a seven-game winning streak and a 5-0 league record into Thursday night. UVM's 15-5 overall record is tied for the second-best mark through the first 20 games in program history and the squad is seeking their first 6-0 conference start since the 2004-05 season. In America East play, the Catamounts lead the league in scoring offense (78.8 ppg), scoring defense (62.4 ppg), scoring margin (+16.4), team field-goal percentage (55.3%), field-goal percentage defense (42.1%), three-point percentage (46.6), and blocked shots (27). Trae Bell-Haynes is posting 15.6 points per game against America East foes and ranks fifth in league play with a 60.4% field goal percentage. The junior has dished out the eighth-most assists (16) and is also tied for third with a 4.0 assist-to-turnover ratio. He has charted back-to-back 20-point outings in a pair of UVM wins.

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BELL-HAYNES APPROACHES 1,000
Bell-Haynes is seeking to become the 36th player in program history to score 1,000-career points. The junior guard is 31 points shy of the threshold and averaging 10.8 points per game. Bell-Haynes is on pace to surpass the mark on Saturday, Jan. 28 at Stony Brook. Teammate Kurt Steidl surpassed the 1,000-point plateau earlier in the month and the pair would be the first set of Catamounts to score 1,000-career points in the same season since Sandro Carrissimo, Luke Apfeld, and Candon Rusin in 2013-14.  
 
BECKER EYES NO. 126
Head coach John Becker is one victory shy of tying Mike Lonergan for third on the career wins list at UVM. Becker has 125 victories under his belt and holds a .647 winning percentage since inheriting the reigns in 2011-12.  
 
NEW ENGLAND'S FINEST
The Catamounts lead all New England Division I teams with 15 wins. Providence follows with 13 victories while Northeastern has reached the win column 12 times. A trio of programs have 11 victories - UNH, UMass, and URI.
 
NCAA RPI RANKINGS
The green and gold have climbed to No. 61 in the NCAA RPI rankings and trail Houston for the 60th-ranked spot.  UVM is ahead of some major programs - Tennessee (62), Penn State (63), Miami (71), Marquette (77), Michigan (78), Ohio State (82), Wichita State (82), Indiana (86), UMass (87), BYU (88), and Georgia Tech (89).

CLIMBING THE POLLS
Vermont is ranked No. 19 in the Mid-Major Madness.com Top-25 Power Rankings which were released on Tuesday. The Cats jumped eight spots from last week to a top-20 spot. CollegeInsider.com also has UVM in its top-25 as the 22nd-ranked mid-major program in the country.  

LAST TIME OUT | UNH Highlights
The Catamounts held off a strong second-half push by the Wildcats and secured a 71-59 America East win on Monday afternoon at Lundholm Gym. Vermont shot 54.7% (29-of-53) from the field and 45.5% (5-of-11) from long range. The Wildcats were the victims of the league's second-best defense as the green and gold held the navy and white to only 39.6% (19-for-48) from the floor and 21.1% (4-for-19) from three-point land. Bell-Haynes scored a season-high 22 points to lead three Catamounts in double figures. The junior guard shot 8-of-10 from the floor with a pair of steals, rebounds, and assists. Anthony Lamb posted 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting for his eighth double-digit outing of the season. Steidl rounded out the scoring trio with 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting with a pair of triples.  

SCOUTING UMASS LOWELL
UMass Lowell owns the second-highest scoring offense in league play at 73.8 points per game, trailing only Vermont. Against conference rivals, the River Hawks have the top offensive rebounding team (38.4 offensive boards per game), the best three-point percentage defense (30.3%), and ranks second in rebounding margin (+7.0). UMass Lowell has dished out the most assists on league opponents with 83 dimes. The River Hawks have two of the top three scorers in league play - Tyler Livingston and Jahad Thomas. Livingston is dropping 20.2 points per game and has drained the most three-pointers (17). A three-time defending America East Rookie of the Week, Thomas follows Livingston in third place with 19.0 points per game against league opponents and recorded a triple double (19 pts/ 19 reb/10 asts) in a 71-55 win over Hartford on Saturday.

SERIES HISTORY
Vermont leads the all-times series 4-2 with UMass Lowell. The first-ever meeting between the two teams occurred just two seasons ago in Lowell, Massachuetts with a 62-48 victory for UVM. In last year's two defeats, the Cats allowed 96.5 points per game to the River Hawks. In the previous four victories, the green and gold only surrendered 59.5 points per contest to UMass Lowell. 

WHO'S NEXT
Vermont travels to league rival Albany on Wednesday (Jan. 25) as action gets underway at 7 p.m. All UVM men's basketball games can be heard on ESPN 101.3 FM and online at 1013ESPN.com with Sam Hyman on the call. The game will be streamed on ESPN3 and the watchESPN app by logging in with your cable provider.  

Canon Solutions America is the presenting sponsor of the 2016-17 men's basketball season.