College Basketball Preview: UMBC (11-9, 3-2) at Vermont (15-4, 5-0)

With the exception of their opener against Marquette and a December 29th road game at Penn St., the UMBC men’s basketball team (11-9, 3-2) will face their toughest challenge of the season Wednesday evening when they square off against the Vermont Catamounts  (15-4, 5-0) in Burlington.  Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.

The Retrievers are coming off an exciting win against the UAlbany Great Danes (5-14, 0-4) at home Saturday afternoon, 65-64, in overtime.   Freshman point guard Jose Placer had a career-high 22 points against the Great Dane and assisted on the game winning three-pointer by junior guard Ricky Council II.  The Retrievers continued to show defensive prowess, holding the Great Danes to 40% shooting from the field.   They will need to continue that effort against a Vermont team averaging 76 points per contest.

The Catamounts are far and away the best team in the America East conference this season, having won six in a row, including a 78-50 thrashing of the Binghamton Bearcats (5-14, 1-3) on Saturday, and holding opponents to 66 points per game.  Junior forward Anthony Lamb leads the squad in scoring (20.6 ppg) and rebounds (7.5 rpg) with redshirt senior guard Ernie Duncan pouring in nearly 14 points per game. 

UMBC returns to Patrick Gymnasium for the first time since their thrilling 65-62 victory over Vermont in the 2018 America East Championship game that propelled them into the NCAA tournament, and history.  That game was also significant in that it snapped Vermont’s 23-game winning streak in the series.  The Catamounts own a 32-5 advantage in the all-time series.

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Tom Martin

Husband, father of three. Baltimore born and raised. UMBC '94. Follow me on Twitter -- @martymar1970

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