BURLINGTON, Vt. – The Saint Anselm College men's basketball team will unofficially open its season on Saturday, Nov. 6, traveling to the Green Mountain State to take on the University of Vermont in a 2 p.m. exhibition game at the Patrick Gym.

Saint Anselm will be competing in its first intercollegiate game since Saturday, Mar. 7, 2020. In that game, played 609 days before Saturday's opening tip, Saint Anselm won its ninth Northeast-10 Conference postseason championship by defeating the University of New Haven in overtime, 65-63.

This season, the Hawks are projected to finish first in the Northeast Division of the Northeast-10 Conference. Saint Anselm earned 91 points and the maximum 13 first-place votes on their way to the top spot in the rankings. Saint Anselm has won each of the last three NE10 Northeast Division Regular Season Championships and two of the last four postseason championships.

Vermont picked up a 105-60 victory over Saint Michael's on Saturday, Oct. 30 in exhibition play. The Catamounts locked down a 10-5 record last season, competing solely in America East play during the regular season. The team lost in the semifinals round of the America East tournament, losing to fourth-seeded Hartford by a 71-65 margin.

Tickets are available for purchase online and Live Video and Live Statistics will be available for fans unable to attend the game.

SCOUTING SAINT ANSELM

• Saint Anselm finds itself receiving votes in the NABC Division II Coaches' Poll to begin the season. The Hawks are the No. 16 team in NCAA Division II, according to the D2SIDA Division II Media Poll revealed this week.
• The Hawks enter the year as the top ranked team in the East Region, according to the D2SIDA Men's Basketball East Region Media Poll released this week. Saint Anselm earned three first-place votes and 57 total points, topping the 10-team poll to begin the upcoming season. 
• Saint Anselm has lost just one student-athlete from its 2020-21 roster, a season that saw the Northeast-10 Conference cancel its winter sports season due to the global pandemic. The Hawks return four of their five starters from its 2019-20 season, compiling a 21-8 record as of the season's abrupt end.
• The Hawks have won far and away more league postseason titles (nine) than any other conference member, past or present.
• Saint Anselm also earned the automatic bid to the NCAA Division II postseason as well, qualifying for the eighth consecutive season - at the time, only two other teams across all of NCAA Division II have maintained a longer active streak.
• The Hawks were looking to defend their 2019 NCAA Division II East Region Championship prior to the 2020 championship's cancellation. In 2019, Saint Anselm made its first Elite Eight appearance since the 1999-00 season, the Hawks toppled fifth-ranked Nova Southeastern en route to the program's first-ever trip to the Final Four.
• A win in the 2020 NE10 Championship game gave the Hawks a commanding 42-4 when playing at home since the start of the 2017-18 season.
• Head Coach Keith Dickson, in his 36th season on the bench at Saint Anselm, has an overall record of 664-342 (.660) and stands as the program's all-time record holder for coaching victories. He also is the winningest men's basketball coach in NE10 history.
• Prior to the 2019-20 season's cancellation, Saint Anselm owned the fourth-most potent offense in the East Region, averaging 82.3 points per game, and also enjoyed the region's fourth-best rebound margin (+4.4).

CATAMOUNTS NOTES

• The Catamounts were selected to finish second in America East, according to the league's annual Preseason Coaches' Poll. In the same announcement, team co-captain Ben Shungu and Ryan Davis, the reigning America East Player of the Year, were named to the Preseason All-Conference team.
• Vermont picked up a convincing 105-60 victory over the Purple Knights from Saint Michael's College to begin its exhibition schedule last Saturday. The Catamounts shot north of 54% from the floor and limited Saint Michael's to just 35.9% shooting on the afternoon.
• Isaiah Powell led the way with 19 points and seven rebounds while Justin Mazzulla had 10 rebounds and seven points off the bench in the win over the Purple Knights.
• Vermont earned its fifth consecutive America East Regular Season Championship last season. Prior to last season's pandemic-shortened schedule, the Catamounts had won at least 20 games in 12 consecutive seasons.
• Chris Santo '15 was recently named to the coaching staff at Vermont. An All-America performer for Saint Anselm, he also served as an Assistant Coach for the Hawks and most recently was a Video Coordinator for the NBA's New York Knicks.

ALL-TIME vs. VERMONT

• While exhibition games such as Saturday's affair do not count in the record books, Saint Anselm and Vermont have played in three official games in the late 1950's.
• The Hawks own a 2-1 record against the Catamounts, claiming victory on Feb. 17, 1955 and Feb. 18, 1956. Saint Anselm was toppled in Vermont by a 99-78 score on Dec. 27, 1957.
• In the first-ever meeting between Vermont and Saint Anselm, the Hawks were not allowed to use any of their six freshmen based upon the Catamounts' "strict adherence to the NCAA rule," according to The Tower student newspaper of the time.