Vermont heads to NCAA Tournament to face Marquette

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After winning their second straight America East Basketball title, their fourth in five years, and their 10th overall championship on Saturday versus UMass Lowell, the Vermont Catamounts (23-10) headed to selection Sunday to find out the who and where of their first-round matchup. The who is Big-East Champions, the Marquette Golden Eagles (28-6). The where will be at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio on Friday March 17 at 2:45 in the afternoon. The Golden Eagles are the #2 seed in the East bracket. The Vermont Catamounts are the #15 seed.

Marquette is in the field for the second straight year and the 35th appearance all-time. The number two seed is the highest seed the program has ever received in the tournament. This will be the first time these two schools have ever met in the event, however, it is the third time overall, with the last time taking place on December 5, 2017, with the Golden Eagles winning by ten, 91-81. Marquette is looking for their first win in the tournament since the 2012-13 season. In the program history, Marquette is 41-35 with three trips to the final four, 16 trips to the sweet sixteen, and one National Championship back in 1977. This season, the Golden Eagles played 13 games against teams that are in the field of 68. Their record in those games is 8-5. They arrive in the NCAA tournament with a nine-game winning streak. During this streak, Tyler Kolek, who was the Big-East tourney MVP, is averaging 18.2 points per game. The team is forcing 15.7 turnovers a contest, and guard Steve Mitchell is leading the way with 2.6 a game. The Golden Eagles are very good in games decided by one possession. Their record in those games is 6-2. Five of the nine games in this streak have been decided by two points or less. Marquette averaged 79 points a game and they gave up 70 a night. They shot 48% from the field (1007-of-2066) from 3-point range and they were 34.8% (301-of-865) making eight per game. They shot 73% from the foul line (403-of-559) taking on average 11.9 free throws a game. Marquette was out-rebound this season by a 3.7 margin (31.0 to 35.6) and averaged 17 assists to 10.7 turnovers a contest. Their assist-to-turnover ratio was 16.

Vermont enters the tournament riding a 15-game winning streak. Their last loss came back on January 11 to the team they just defeated to win the AE title, the UMass Lowell River Hawks. During this streak, the Catamounts have outscored their opponents by 15.3 points. The only game that was in jeopardy was a road contest on February 19 at NJIT (82-80 win in OT). This is the 14th straight full season that Vermont has won twenty games. Only two other schools, Gonzaga and Kansas, can make that claim. Fifth-year senior Robbie Duncan is averaging career-highs in scoring (7.8), rebounding (7.3), and assists (4.5). For Duncan, Friday’s start will be the 79 of his Vermont career. Another fifth-year player. Dylan Penn. has stepped up his game of late. He averaged 23.3 points per game in the America East tournament, including 21 on championship Saturday to earn Most Outstanding Player honors. On defense, the Catamounts allow 66.6 points a game, their margin is +6.4. They shoot at 47.5% (878-of-1848) and 35.9% from 3-point land (284-of-791). They averaged 8.6 three-point makes a game. As a team, they shoot 69.7% from the FT line (370-of-531). They are not a great rebounding team with a rebounding margin of -1.1. They do know how to turn you over with a turnover margin of 2.30 which was best in AE. They had the best assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.46. The Catamounts are 0-3 vs the field of 68.

The winner will get to play on Sunday against the winner of the Michigan State vs USC game.