VESTAL, N.Y. - Binghamton men's basketball (9-8, 0-2 America East) hosts preseason favorite Vermont (12-5, 2-0 AE) Wednesday night at the Events Center. The Bearcats will try to snap a two-game skid but will be tested against a Catamounts team that is unbeaten and coming off a 31-point win over Hartford in its last game. Tip is set for 7 p.m. at Dr. Bai Lee Court. The game will be broadcast on ESPN3.

This is the second of back-to-back home games before the Bearcats play two straight on the road.

QUICK HITS
•    This is Binghamton's 70th season of basketball, 16th at the Division I level
•    Bearcats lead the America East and rank 85th in the nation (out of 351) in assists (246). They also are 62nd in 3-pt.% (.383) and 66th in made 3s (142).
•    BU ranks second in the country (kenpom.com) in bench minutes (behind Michigan State). Eleven BU players are averaging 10+ minutes
•    Bearcats are averaging 72.6 ppg. on offense, nearly 12 points higher than their 2015-16 average (60.9)
•    Junior Willie Rodriguez (933 pts.) and senior Marlon Beck (927 pts.) continue their climb toward the 1,000-point plateau. Rodriguez ranks third all-time in scoring and Beck is fifth on BU's all-time scoring list (D-I).
•    Freshman guard Fard Muhammad claimed his first America East Rookie of the Week honor this week after averaging 13.0 points and 4.0 rebounds in two games.
•    BU has been hit by injuries/illness of late. Starting center Thomas Bruce (24 min./game) missed the Lowell game with an illness — his second missed game of the season. Veteran guard Yosef Yacob (18 min./game) has been limited to six total minutes over the last three games and junior wing Justin McFadden (65 career games) has missed the last two games. Leading scorer J.C. Show (13.3 ppg.) was lost for the season after 12 games with an injury.

Last time out
•    BU surrendered 52 points in the paint and UMass Lowell used a 21-6 run early in the second half to push past the Bearcats 79-75 on Sunday
•    Junior forward Willie Rodriguez scored a season-high 23 points with nine rebounds
•    Senior guard Marlon Beck became the program's all-time three-point leader when he hit the first of his three treys. Beck (185) overtook Troy Hailey (2003-07), who had 182 in his four-year career
•    BU led Lowell to 1-for-15 shooting from beyond the arc but the visiting River Hawks shot 55% in the second half and outscored BU by two in each period    

About Vermont
•    The preseason conference favorite has won four in a row and is unbeaten in league play
•    Vermont is ranked No. 25 in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Poll
•    The Catamounts returned 12 lettermen from a 23-14 team that reached the America East title game and then the CBI tournament semifinals
•    Vermont has won 20 or more games five straight seasons
•    Vermont leads the AE in scoring margin (+8.4) and field goal % (.481)   

All-time series vs. Vermont
•    Vermont is the team BU has struggled the most against since joining the America East. Binghamton is 6-28 all-time vs. the Catamounts and has lost 12 of the last 14 head-to-head matchups (8 by double-digits).
•    The last BU win came two years ago at the Events Center, 57-55
•    Last season Vermont won 61-52 in Vestal and 78-64 in Burlington
•    At home all-time against Vermont, BU is 6-12

Muhammad named America East Rookie of the Week
Freshman guard Fard Muhammad was selected for his first America East weekly honor after averaging 13.0 points and 4.0 rebounds in two games last week. Muhammad drained four three-pointers en route to 16 points at UMBC and then chipped in 10 points and five boards against Lowell. He has scored in double figures in four of his last five games, twice netting a season-high tying 16 points.   

Beck and Rodriguez closing in on 1,000-point milestone    
Junior forward Willie Rodriguez (933 pts.) and senior guard Marlon Beck (927 pts.) and  are within striking range of the 1,000-point plateau. There have been 18 players to reach the 1,000-point club in BU's 69-year basketball history. Just two four-year Division I players (Troy Hailey and Mike Gordon) have reached the plateau. The last time two BU teammates reached the 1,000-point mark in the same season was Jeffrey St. Fort and Mike Wright during the 2001-02 season. St. Fort is also the last Binghamton player to reach the mark in three years.

Division I-II era 1,000-point scorers
Jeffrey St. Fort (1999-03)    1,335 pts.
Mike Wright (1998-02)    1,127
Troy Hailey (2003-07)    1,042
Mike Gordon (2004-08)    1,023
All-time scoring leader: Chris Jackey (1986-90), 1,721 pts.

Bearcats have made meteoric rise in offensive statistics
Binghamton currently ranks 62nd in the nation (out of 351) in three-point percentage (.383), 66th in made threes (142) and 85th in assists (246). Last season, the Bearcats ranked 325th in assists and 315th in three-pointers. The team's current scoring output of 72.6 is nearly 12 points higher than the 2015-16 average (60.9). Three times this season BU has shot above 60 percent for an entire game and seven times the Bearcats have shot 60 percent or higher for a half, including a program record 73 percent (16-of-22) in the first half against Loyola on Dec. 10. In that game, BU made its first nine shots of the game — another school record.

BU bench and depth paying dividends
Binghamton has 11 players averaging 10+ minutes in 2016-17 and their bench minutes rank second in the nation (kenpom). The bench has outscored opposing benches in 13 of its first 17 games and BU is 8-5 in those games. Seven times in the first 15 games BU's bench has contributed 30 or more points. Coach Dempsey has used nine different starting lineups this season.

Rodriguez back in form
Junior forward Willie Rodriguez has rounded into form after an early-season hamstring injury limited him to nine minutes in the team's first 10 games. In his last six starts, he is averaging 15.5 points (on 64% FG) and 6.5 rebounds. He is also shooting 73 percent from the free throw line.

The "3" ball is best indicator of BU success
Through 17 games, BU is 9-2 when outshooting opponents from three-point range (3-pt FG%) and 0-6 when not.