VESTAL, N.Y. - Binghamton men's basketball (5-20, 1-9 America East) begins a two-game homestand this week with a Thursday test against Vermont (15-10, 7-3 AE). The teams close out their season series at 6:30 p.m. at Dr. Bai Lee Court at the Events Center. 

The Bearcats have six regular-season games remaining and need to make a push for a top-eight playoff spot. Four of the team's final six games will be at home, where Binghamton has all five of its wins. 

ABOUT VERMONT
• Sit one game out of first after having dropped two of their last three
• On Saturday, rolled over UNH at home 80-57
• Are 8-3 at home this season but just 6-5 on road
• Lead AE with 9.1 made 3-pointers per game and rank No. 2 in offense with 74.7 ppg.
• Premier program and preseason America East favorite with three titles in last four years and eight regular season titles in last nine
• 67-10 last four years in conference play
• Have perhaps best backcourt in league in preseason all-conference pics TJ Hurley (15.2 ppg.) and TJ Long (12.8 ppg.)
• Added Seton Hall transfer Gus Yalden, No. 2 AE scorer (15.8 pts.)
• Have won 20 or more games in 15 consecutive seasons and have won 10 or more America East games in 16 straight seasons
• Went 21-12 last season (13-3 AE) but lost to No. 3 Maine 57-42 in semis, clearing way for regular-season winner Bryant to win its first title

ALL-TIME SERIES VS. VERMONT
• Vermont holds a commanding 47-9 lead in the series — the most lopsided among all Binghamton's America East opponents
• Five weeks ago in Burlington, UVM escaped with a 60-59 win
• In that game, the Bearcats played with the lead for much of the game and led by six with 3:44 remaining. Two tough whistles in the final 20 seconds each went against Binghamton and decided the game. A foul call after Bing had secured a defensive rebound put the Catamounts on the line for the deciding points with 18 seconds left. Down one, Binghamton had a potential game-winning layup by junior guard Jeremiah Quigley blocked with contact with 4.5 seconds left. After a foul and two UVM misses at the line, a last-ditch half court shot was offline at the buzzer, allowing Vermont to escape with the win. Quigley played an exceptional game and nearly produced the program's first triple-double in 35 years with 21 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assists.
• The teams split the season series last year, with Bing stopping a 22-game head-to-head UVM win streak (stretching 10 years) with a 75-72 home win Jan. 30 at Events Center
• In that game, Binghamton used an 18-2 second-half run to pull ahead and the Bearcats sank four free throws in the final 21 seconds to hold off the Catamounts. Wes Peterson, Jr. scored eight of his team- and career-high 18 points during the pivotal run, which spanned 4:24.      

QUIGLEY LEADS AMERICA EAST IN ASSISTS, IS 6TH IN SCORING
Junior point guard Jeremiah Quigley continues to lead the America East in assists (6.3/game) and ranks sixth in scoring (13.8 ppg.). Quigley ranks 16th in the country in assists.    

QUIGLEY'S NICHE IN NATIONAL STATS
Junior point guard Jeremiah Quigley is the lone player in the nation averaging 13+ points, 5+ rebounds and 6+ assists. Quigley also is the only player under 6-feet tall to average 5+ rebounds. He has led the Bearcats in scoring, rebounding and assists in three different games this season, including the last two.  

QUIGLEY APPROACHING ASSIST RECORD
Junior point guard Jeremiah Quigley has 153 assists this season. It's the second-highest mark in the school's 25-year D-I history. Quigley is 20 assists away from tying the school record of 173 set by Symir Torrence in 2023-24. Torrence will still hold the record for assist average (7.2).

BEVERLY RANKS THIRD IN AMERICA EAST IN EFFICIENCY
Junior forward Zyier Beverly ranks third among all America East players in Player Efficiency Rating (sports-reference.com). The rating is based on per-minute production and Beverly has a rating of 20.9 (league average is 15). He also ranks 13th in wins share (1.8). In traditional stats, Beverly ranks second in FG% (61%), fifth in blocks (1.4), ninth in rebounding (5.1) and 14th in scoring (12.0).

LIMITED ROTATION SHOWING IN SECOND HALF
The injuries and subsequent heavy minutes for the 6-man rotation are notably showing up in the second half. In conference play, Binghamton is just minus-2 in first-half scoring (34-32) but the gap widens in the second half to minus-7 (36-29). The Bearcats' 63.9 scoring average and minus-9 scoring margin is worst in the conference. Binghamton has led at half in four conference games and has been within three points in three other games but of the seven tight games through 20 minutes, Bing has wound up winning just one.

WALK (A SEASON) IN OUR SHOES
The shorthanded Bearcats will get no sympathy from opponents but to appreciate the unprecedented injuries, each opponent should:
1. Remove 46% of its roster (6 of 13 scholarship players)
2. Make sure to take away three starters
3. Wipe out team's top perimeter defender (Evan Ashe)
4. Remove the consensus all-conference center (Demetrius Lilley), who led AE in rebounds and was No. 2 in scoring before injury
5. Use 14 different starting lineups with no player starting all of them
6. Use a 7-8 player rotation for final 2+ months of season
7. Don't practice 5-on-5 after August because of volume of injuries

BEARCATS RANK NO. 4 IN NCAA IN POINTS VIA FREE THROWS
Led by junior guard Jeremiah Quigley (103 makes, 79%), Binghamton is getting to the free throw line and converting points. The Bearcats rank fourth in the entire nation in percentage of points from free throws with 25.7% of their points coming at the line. As a team, Bing leads the America East in free throw makes (415) and percentage (75%).