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For Purdue to advance past the first round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time in three years, it'll have to beat a team that's won 21 consecutive games and also won its conference's regular season and tournament titles.

No. 13 seed Vermont enters Thursday's NCAA game against No. 4 seed Purdue with a 29-5 record that included a flawless 16-0 run through the America East Conference in the regular season followed by a championship in the league tournament.

Coach: John Becker, sixth season

Record: 29-5

RPI: 46

How it got to the NCAAs: Beat Albany in the America East Tournament for auto bid

NCAA Tournament history: 2-5, five appearances

Last NCAA appearance: 2012 (Won "first four" game, lost to No. 1 UNC)

Previous meeting: Purdue won, 107-79 (Nov. 15, 2015)

Vermont won every major award in the America East, not surprising considering its dominance over the regular season.

Point guard Trae Bell-Haynes didn't lead the Catamounts in scoring or rebounding, but he was the league's Player of the Year, averaging 11.3 points, 3.9 assists and 1.1 steals per game.

Anthony Lamb, a freshman forward, averaged team highs in points (12.6 pg), rebounds (5.4 pg) and blocks (1.2 pg) en route to being named the league's Rookie of the Year.

Senior guard Dre Wills nabbed the conference's Defensive Player of the Year award after being just one of two players in the league to rank in the top 13 in steals and blocks. It was his third consecutive season being named to the league's all-defensive team, and this season he was a key piece to the conference's best defense: The Catamounts allowed only 63.2 points per game.

Darren Payen, a senior forward, was the Sixth Man of the Year after averaging 7.1 points and 2.4 rebounds in just under 12 minutes per game. He shot 71 percent from the floor.

Becker was Coach of the Year for the second time in his six years with the program, which set a school record for victories this season and had the first team in league history to complete a 16-0 regular season.

Team statistics

USA Today picked the Catamounts as a "Cinderella" in this year's tournament. Why? Partly because it falls on the popular 4 vs. 13 seeding matchup. Partly because it called Vermont the hottest team in the country — during that 21-game winning streak, only a handful of games were decided by single digits. Partly because it likes Vermont's "extremely patient" and "efficient" offense. Partly because the Catamounts rank in the top 12 nationally in scoring defense.

Coach John Becker after America East title game: “We’re going to try to play as long as we can and continue to do things that no other Vermont Catamount team has done or no other America East team has ever done. We continue to want to be the best team to ever play in this league.”

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