Gameday Information: Northeastern vs. Vermont
When	Saturday, December 9  |  Boston, Mass. | Matthews Arena  | 4 p.m.
Game Links	Live Video  |  Live Stats  | WRBB
Game Notes	Northeastern (PDF) | Vermont (PDF)
Social media	@GoNUmbasketball facebook.com/GoNUmbasketball instagram.com/GoNUmbasketball Join the conversation, use #GoNU
Promotions	Faculty/Staff Appreciation Game • All Northeastern faculty and staff are welcome to the game on Saturday against Vermon • Each faculty or staff member can receive up to four free tickets as well as a voucher to be used at the concession stand

BOSTON – The Northeastern men's basketball team will round out its four-game homestand on Saturday afternoon against Vermont at 4 p.m.
 
The Huskies kickstarted the homestand off with a 77-61 victory over Harvard & followed with back-to-back 18-point wins over Cornell (84-66) and Bucknell (82-64)
 
Saturday's game will also round out the home non-conference schedule for the Huskies. Following Saturday, the team will return to action in a week, to finalize the non-conference season at Kent State (Dec. 18) and at St. Bonaventure (Dec. 20).
 
The last time out, four different players tallied double-figures for the third time this season, and the second-straight game, in the win over Bucknell Tuesday, led by Vasa Pusica (17p, 4a, 3steals).
 
NOTABLES
• This is the 98th season of Northeastern men's basketball
• Northeastern has an all-time record of 1,189-1,095 (.521) in 2,284 games
• The Huskies are 376-253 (.598) all-time in conference play including a 118-83 (.587) record since joining the CAA in the 2005-06 season
• Northeastern amassed 12 regular season conference championships and eight tournament titles including a 2015 CAA title which sent NU to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 24 years
• Bill Coen is in his 12th season as the leader of the Huskies and since Coen has taken the reins, Northeastern has accomplished the best win percentage amongst current CAA teams in conference and CAA tournament play with a 119-96 all-time mark
• Northeastern and Vermont will meet for the 72nd time in program history, the fourth most among any Husky opponent (Boston University, 147; UNH, 122; Maine, 111)
• The Huskies lead the series between the two teams 43-28 and have won the last two outings
• The two teams will meet for the third straight season for the first time since they were both a part of the America East conference where they met for 35 straight seasons from 70-71 until 04-05
• Northeastern has already tallied three 80-point efforts, all coming at home, this season and is outscoring their opponents by 21.5 points per game in Matthews Arena in 2017-18 (more on page 2)
• Under Coen, the Huskies are 83-21 when holding their opponents to under-60 points, a feat they have achieved twice this season
 
SCOUTING THE CATAMOUNTS
 
• Vermont is 6-3 on the year heading into Saturday's contest with the Huskies falling at Kentucky, Marquette and Bucknell
• The Catamounts are currently on a two-game losing streak heading into the game with the Huskies after winning six-straight from Nov. 17 to Nov. 29 including victories at Yale and Richmond
• The Catamounts only home game of the year came against Maine-Fort Kent and they have played five road games and three games in the Islands of the Bahamas Showcase
 
THIS SEASON
• Vermont is led by Anthony Lamb who is averaging 14.3 ppg as well as 6.4 rpg
• Trae Bell-Haynes has tallied a team-high 48 assists, for 5.3 assists per game while also adding 11.8 ppg
 
ALL-TIME SERIES
• The two teams have met 71 times in year's past with the Huskies leading the series 43-28.
• Northeastern won last year's meeting between the two teams, coming back from a 13-point halftime deficit to come away with a 59-57 victory while holding UVM to just 26 second half points
• Northeastern has now won four of the last five meetings between the two teams
• Northeastern and Vermont will meet for the first time in three-straight seasons since they were both a part of the America East conference where they met for 35 straight seasons from 70-71 until 04-05
 
LAST TIME OUT VS. VERMONT
• Northeastern battled back from a 13-point halftime deficit to upset Vermont 59-57 Saturday afternoon at Patrick Gymnaisum
• Jeremy Miller laid in the eventual game-winning basket with 25 seconds left for Northeastern off of a feed from the top of the key from Alex Murphy, while Devon Begley stepped up on the ensuing possession and made a huge block on Trae Bell-Haynes' game-tying try under the basket to save the victory
• The Huskies came out firing in the second half, finishing the stanza with a 68 percent shooting clip
• After trading baskets with the Catamounts over the first 15 minutes of play, NU took a late 11-0 run, jumpstarted by a Bolden Brace 3-pointer, to regain their first lead in nearly 30 minutes
• Brace's trey was followed up by a pair of Murphy layups, the first of which gave the Huskies the lead, then a pair of Begley layups, and was capped off by a T.J. Williams three to give the Huskies a seven-point lead
• Vermont answered with a 7-0 run of their own to tie the game at 56-all with 42 seconds remaining, but Miller immediately answered with his game-winning layup and the two teams traded a free throw each en route to Northeastern's win
 
RETURNING TO ITS ROOTS
• Northeastern takes on a pair of America East conference opponents this season
• For the eighth straight season, Northeastern opened the year against Boston University, starting the year off with a 65-59 win at Case Gymnasium
• The Huskies will face their second of the pair when they square off with Vermont on Saturday afternoon
• Last weekend, Northeastern took on four America East teams five times coming away with a 3-2 record
• The Huskies were in the America East conference from 1979-80 until the conclusion of the 2004-05 season
 
LAST TIME OUT
• The men's basketball team came away with its second-straight 18-point win and third straight blowout at Matthews Arena over Bucknell on Tuesday night in the Huskies' third game in six days
• Northeastern has taken down Harvard (77-61), Cornell (84-66), and now Bucknell (82-64) in succession in their return to Matthews Arena
• Against the Bison, the Huskies used a 8-0 run before the half to get out to a nine-point, 41-32 halftime lead
• In the second half, they never looked back getting out to a 20-point lead with five minutes to go en route to the victory
 
MATTHEWS MAGIC
• In the first four home games of the season, the Huskies are outscoring their opponents 326-240 or by 21.5 points per game
• The Huskies are now 4-0 on the year at the old barn, Matthews Arena
• The Huskies opened their home season with their second game of the year against Wentworth
• During that game Northeastern held Wentworth to just 49-points marking the first game the Huskies held an opponent to under-50 points since a 47-44 victory at Towson on Feb. 11, 2016
• The 34-point win also tied the second-largest of the Bill Coen era (79-45 win over Drexel on Jan. 9, 2008) and was the largest since a 36-point victory over Delaware last season
• The Huskies have now recorded a 30-point victory in the last three seasons
• Against Harvard (Nov. 30), who was receiving votes in the AP and Coaches Preseason polls to start the season, the Huskies started and finished strong to end with a 16-point win
• In their second game in three days, the Huskies kept the strong play going with an 18-point victory over Cornell (Dec. 2), 84-66
• Northeastern kept that win-streak going against Bucknell (Dec. 5) with their second-straight 18-point win, 82-64
 
CENTURY MARK
• Northeastern's lone senior Devon Begley will play in his 100th career game on Saturday against Vermont on Saturday afternoon.
• Begley just passed the 500-mark on Tuesday against Bucknell collecting his 500th, 501st and 502nd career points appropriately on a three from the corner
• He currently has 507 career points for a 5.1 ppg average
 
LEADING THE WAY
• Vasa Pusica has been the leading point-getter for the Huskies in four of the last give games with (a career-high) 27 points against Utah State, 17 against Furman, 22 against Harvard, another 20-point effort against Cornell (2nd on the team), and a team-leading 17 points against Bucknell last time out
• The San Diego transfer has found his stride as of late after beginning his season with nine, nine, five, and eight point efforts
• Not only is Pusica now averaging a team-leading 14.9 ppg, he has also put up 2.4 rpg and leads the team with 33 assists while adding 14 steals on the year
• Pusica ranks 13th in the CAA in scoring, 5th in assists, and fourth in steals in 2017-18
• His .568 field goal percentage ranks second in the conference and 68th nationally and is the 10th highest among guards in the nation
 

Rank	Name	Team	Pct.
18.	Terance Mann	Florida State	.662
28.	Jalen Brunson	Villanova	.637
37.	Melvin Frazier	Tulane	.625
48.	Christian Terrell	FGCU	.602
53.	Marcus Burk	Campbell	.589
54.	Shaq Buchanan	Murray State	.588
58.	Fletcher Magee	Wofford	.586
62.	Alpha Diallo	Providence	.580
63.	Ahmed Hill	Virginia Tech	.575
68.	Vasa Pusica	Northeastern	.568
	Zach Lofton	New Mexico State	.568

 
GETTING DEFENSIVE
• NU is 30-4 since the start of the 2012-13 season, and 40-6 since 2011-12, when holding an opponent to 59 or fewer points, including a perfect 2-0 in 2017-18
• Under Coen, the Huskies are 83-21 (.798) when keeping opponents under 60 points
• The Huskies scoring defense in 2017-18 ranks third in the conference (66.8 ppg) while the team's 3FG defense ranks second in the conference and 25th nationall holding their opponents to just .285 shooting from behind the arc
 
STEALS ON STEALS ON STEALS
• Through nine games, the Huskies have robbed their opponents 61 times or 6.8 times per game
• The mark ranks 2nd in the CAA and 101st nationally
• 10 of Northeastern's 12 roster players have recorded a steal on the year, led by Vasa Pusica's 14 and Shawn Occeus' 13.
• Those marks rank fourth (Pusica, 1.6 spg) and seventh (Occeus, 1.4 spg) in the CAA this season