UMBC Basketball Shocks Vermont…Again

The UMBC basketball team beat first-place Vermont 65-56 on Thursday evening in Baltimore, MD.

When you look into Vermont’s resume this season, you’ll see a long line of quality victories over teams from more prestigious conferences. They’ve won three games against Atlantic 10 programs, three against Ivy League schools, and in their own conference, they’ve been near perfect. From a local perspective, Vermont (21-6) came to the DMV area at the end of November and whooped up on George Washington (69-53), Towson (70-64), and George Mason (72-67).

On Thursday, the Catamounts came back to the DMV area to play UMBC (18-10), except the Retrievers were able to do what their local counterparts couldn’t.

UMBC beat Vermont 65-56, giving them their second win over the Catamounts this season; at the end of January, UMBC beat Vermont on the road 74-61. These two losses for Vermont — the only program in the America East ranked inside of KenPom’s Top 100 — are their only defeats in conference play.

It should be noted that UMBC also beat Vermont last year in the America East Tournament title game on a buzzer-beating three from Jairus Lyles, setting the scene for their upset over No. 1 Virginia in the Round of 64.

Last week @_jlyles stopped by at the @UMBC_MBB game and talked about playing in the @nbagleague and reminiscing "the shot" from the 2018 #AEHoops championship game! pic.twitter.com/t2EdQ8o90q

— #AEHoops (@AEHoopsNews) February 22, 2019

The Retrievers played fine defense on Thursday, forcing 16 turnovers (compared to just nine of their own) and holding Vermont to 16.7-percent shooting from beyond the arc (4-for-24). KJ Jackson led the way for UMBC on offense, scoring a game-high 18 points while two other players, Arkel Lamar (15) and RJ Eytle-Rock (10), scored in double figures for the Retrievers.

UMBC, now 10-3 in America East action, will play at Albany this weekend.