The Boston University men’s basketball team will try to beat the top team in America East when it travels to Burlington, Vt., Saturday to take on the University of Vermont.
There is no doubt BU is looking to avenge its earlier loss to Vermont and move into a tie with the Catamounts atop the America East. But it will be a hard game to win — Vermont has only lost once at home this season, a 72-69 defeat to Rollie Massimino-coached Cleveland State University.
Vermont enters Saturday’s contest with a one-game lead over the Terriers for the top spot in America East. The Catamounts sit at 15-5 (8-1 America East), while BU is 13-8 (7-2 America East). The last time the two teams met was Jan. 5, when Vermont blew into Case Gymnasium and left with a 74-65 win, its eighth straight.
But much has changed since then. BU has found its offensive punch, scoring 90 or more points twice in January while winning six of its last seven games. And Vermont, holders of the second-longest winning streak in the nation at the time, looked impressive in winning 12 games in a row before losing two of three since a Jan. 20 loss to the University of Hartford.
The Catamounts have had a full week to prepare for the Terriers, since a 75-62 loss to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor on Jan. 26. Vermont hung in the game throughout, trailing 39-31 at halftime, but the Wolverines (8-10, 3-5 Big Ten) proved too strong in the end. Vermont’s Trevor Gaines led all players with 23 points and 10 rebounds.
Sandwiched between the losses to Hartford and Michigan was a 72-67 win over the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Gaines scored 12 points in that game, and Vermont outrebounded Stony Brook, 49-32.
BU is coming off Tuesday’s contest against Hartford, its worst-played game of the season. The Terriers managed a season-low 19 points in the first half and shot 13-for-54 from the floor for the game. BU scored only four points in the final 8:08, and Hartford beat BU, 44-42, on a basket in the final seconds. Freshman guard Chaz Carr was the only BU player to score in double figures, registering 17 points in 39 minutes.
Carr has played a key role for the Terriers this season, filling in for injured junior guard Matt Turner. Carr has climbed the America East scoring list in recent weeks, finding himself ranked seventh in the conference in that category after Tuesday’s performance.
In order to win, BU must stop Gaines and guard T.J. Sorrentine, who has scored 20 or more points in eight games this season and 18 against Michigan. The Terriers must hit the boards as well, as Vermont has out-rebounded its opponents handily in its last two games. Junior forward Billy Collins (8.0 rebounds per game) and sophomore Ryan Butt (5.3 rebounds per game) will be keys to containing the Catamounts on the glass.
Vermont has never started 8-1 in the America East and is one of the surprise teams in the conference. Another surprise is Hartford (9-13, 6-3 America East), which has beaten both BU and Vermont — the top two teams in the conference — in the last two weeks, making a case that it is a team to be watched, as well.
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