George Washington University
Vermont
GW Men's Basketball Concludes 2019 at Vermont
12/30/2019 12:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball
BURLINGTON — GW men's basketball concludes 2019 with its final contest of the calendar year at Vermont on Tuesday afternoon. With a win over Vermont, the Colonials will jump above the .500 mark for the first time since Jan. 3, 2018, when they were 8-7.
LAST TIME OUT: Despite trailing by 12 early in the contest, the Colonials used a 21-0 run to take a 40-29 lead with 2:45 left in the half. GW held off another Longwood threat and regained its double-digit lead midway through the second half. Maceo Jack led four Colonials in double figures with 20 points in a 78-65 win.
ABOUT VERMONT: Vermont is looking for its 12th-straight 20+ wins season under ninth-year head coach John Becker. The Catamounts enter the final game of 2019 having sat idle since an 86-63 win over Lipscomb on Dec. 20. UVM has already taken down A-10 foe Saint Bonaventure and Big East member St. John's in non-league play. Vermont will conclude out-of-conference action against Dartmouth on Jan. 2. Anthony Lamb paces the Catamounts with 17.1 points, 8.1 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game. Lamb is 15th in the NCAA in total attempted field goals (216).
Vermont head coach John Becker has ties to The District, as he received his master's degree in business technologies from GW and coached at Gallaudet and Catholic before heading to Vermont in 2006.
SERIES HISTORY: GW is 0-2 all-time against Vermont and fell to the Catamounts 69-53 last season in D.C. Arnaldo Toro led GW with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Maceo Jack had eight points on 2-of-3 from the outside. Anthony Lamb finished with a game-high 16 points and nine rebounds for Vermont. Stef Smith added 10 points and nine rebounds. GW and Vermont met for the first time in 2008 at the Rainbow Classic in Hawaii. Saturday's visit to Burlington is not GW's first trip to the Green Mountain State. The Colonials competed in the Vermont Classic during the 1977-78 season against Florida and Colgate.
HARRIS' POWERFUL DEBUT: Amir Harris made his GW debut against Longwood after missing the first 11 games. He finished with 11 points, a game-high eight rebounds, two assists, two steals, two blocks and a pair of made threes in an all-around performance on both ends of the floor. Harris was a +26 in 25:30 of play.
ABOVE PAAR: Chase Paar enjoyed his time in the block against Longwood, finishing with a season-best six points in five minutes. Paar made all three field goals and excited the Smith Center crowd with a back-to-the-basket shimmy shake layup.
BLACKJACK: GW got significant contributions from its bench on Saturday with 21 total points from three players (Harris, Paar and Ace Stallings). Stallings added four points, four rebounds and one block in 14 minutes. The Colonial bench made 9-of-10 shots from the field.
COMEBACK KIDS: In each of GW's last three wins, the Colonials battled back from double-digit deficits with the largest come-from-behind win of the season against Longwood last Saturday.
| Opponent | Largest Deficit |
| Boston U. | 30-40 (2H - 17:35) |
| Delaware | 4-14 (1H - 13:00) |
| Longwood | 8-20 (1H - 15:13) |
PAINT ME A PICTURE: GW has not won a game this season when scoring less than 20 points in the paint. The Colonials scored a season-best 40 points in the paint against Longwood. Their previous high was 36 against Delaware.
