Vermont at UMBC, 7:00 PM Eastern, ESPNU
The regular season title in the America East will be decided over the next two days as Vermont and UMBC will close out the regular season with a pair of games against one another in Baltimore. The America East put together a last minute change to its regular season schedule, choosing to end play as of this coming Sunday in order to spread the conference tournament games out over three weekends, with preliminary round play involving teams seeded 3-9 scheduled to start on Friday, February 26, semifinals slated for March 6 and the championship game scheduled for March 13. Vermont and UMBC have already clinched the top two spots and will host the semifinal games on March 6, but the next two days will determine which team would host the championship game should they both advance to it. In the event either team sweeps this pair, they will be the top seed. UMBC does hold the tiebreaker and will claim the top seed if the teams split.
Vermont enters today’s game at 9-3 overall, with all 12 games having come in conference play. The Catamounts began only 2-3, but have come on strong lately, despite a pause mixed in due to COVID, to win 7 straight and move into a first place tie with UMBC. In fact, they came out of their pause this past weekend and swept Stony Brook at home, giving the Catamounts a chance to shake off any rust prior to this week’s huge series. Ryan Davis has been the key player so far this season for the Catamounts, averaging 18.9 points and 6.6 rebounds per game. Also keep an eye on Stef Smith and Ben Shungu, both of whom are averaging double figures in scoring as well. Free throw shooting is another key to the Catamounts’ attack, as their top six scorers are all shooting 74% or higher from the charity stripe, and the overall team average is over 76%.
The Retrievers of UMBC are 9-3 in conference play and 13-4 overall this season. Brandon Horvath leads the way with 14.3 points and 8.8 rebounds per game, followed closely by R.J. Eytle-Rock’s 13.5 points per game. Also keep an eye out for Daniel Akin, who is averaging 7.7 points and 7.0 rebounds per game down low. All three will need to have a strong game tonight, as the Retrievers will need to find a way to win at least one of two games against the red-hot Catamounts in order to claim the America East regular season crown and the chance to host the March 13 title game.