BURLINGTON, Vt. - Binghamton men's basketball will try to do what no America East team has done this season - beat Vermont - when the Bearcats (12-13, 3-7 AE) face the league-leading Catamounts (20-5, 10-0 AE) Monday night at Patrick Gym. The game, which tips at 7 p.m., will be broadcast on ESPN3.

Binghamton wraps up an extended four-day, two-game road trip with a tough task against a Vermont team that has won 12 straight games. After winning three consecutive themselves, BU has dropped its last two.   

QUICK HITS
• This is Binghamton's 70th season of basketball, 16th at the Division I level
• The Bearcats are coming off a tough one-point loss at UMass Lowell on Saturday in a game they led for more than 29 minutes
• After winning three straight, BU has dropped two consecutive games   

Last time out
• UMass Lowell scored seven of the game's final 10 points to rally past the visiting Bearcats 60-59 Saturday
• BU took a 56-53 lead on a Timmy Rose jumper with 2:57 left but missed its final three shots and left two more points at the free throw line down the stretch
• UML broke the press for a clinching dunk with 12 seconds left
• Junior Willie Rodriguez led three in double figures with 13 points
• Sophomore center Thomas Bruce added 10 points and a career-high four blocks in 23 minutes of action 
   
Pair of 1,000-point scorers
Junior forward Willie Rodriguez (1,039 pts.) and senior guard Marlon Beck (1,005 pts.) have reached the 1,000-point career milestone in the last week. Rodriguez hit the mark early in the second half at Maine on Jan. 29 Beck did it late in the home game against UMBC on Feb. 1. Rodriguez became the 19th BU player and Beck the 20th player to reach 1,000 points in BU's 70-year basketball history. Just two previous 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. Like Rodriguez, St. Fort did it in three years. With four more points Rodriguez will pass Troy Hailey (1,042) and become the school's all-time scoring leader during its Division I tenure.    

About Vermont
• The unbeaten conference leader has won 12 games in a row
• Vermont is ranked No. 15 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 nine straight seasons
• Vermont ranks 18th in the nation in field goal percentage (.489) and 26th in scoring defense (.425)         

All-time series vs. Vermont
• Vermont is the team BU has struggled the most against since joining the America East. Binghamton is 8-27 all-time vs. the Catamounts and has lost 13 of the last 15 head-to-head matchups (9 by double-digits).
• The last BU win came two years ago at the Events Center, 57-55
• Last month in Vestal, Vermont shot 51 percent and used a 20-6 first-half run to take control in a 67-50 win at the Events Center. The Catamounts spread their scoring with just one player in double figures but seven with seven or more points. The Bearcats held Vermont 20 points under their conference scoring average and won the rebound battle (34-30) but shot just 32 percent (8-for-25 in each half).
• On the road all-time against Vermont, BU is 2-13 and has lost seven straight
  
Rose raising his assist-to-turnover ratio
Sophomore guard Timmy Rose has moved among the conference leaders in assists (5th, 3.9) and assist-to-turnover ratio (7th, 2.2). His ratio ranks 84th in the country. 

Channeling the 2009 performance at Patrick Gym  
The Bearcats have dropped seven straight games in Burlington but the last BU win there was epic. On Feb. 4, 2009, BU's America East championship team rallied from 25 points down in the second half to win 85-83. It's the eighth-greatest road comeback in NCAA history.

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. He has hit double figures in 10 of his last 12 games, including seven games of 15+ points. In his last 12 games, Rodriguez is averaging 14.0 ppg. and is shooting 52% from inside the arc and 43% from three-point range. With four more points he will pass Troy Hailey (1,042) and become the school's all-time scoring leader during its Division I tenure.