Vermont at Dartmouth 1/4/14

Vermont 62 Dartmouth 53

Welcome back Cats! The calender turned and Vermont finally looked like the team everyone thought they would be before the season started. This is exactly the type of game Vermont has been winning over the last 3 years. Play tough defense, rebound the ball, and find ways to score. Getting a tough road win against a decent Dartmouth team is the type of progress the Cats needed to make. Dartmouth was averaging 75 points per game coming into this match up and Vermont completely shut down their offense. Vermont's identity has always been about playing tough defense and wearing down opponents. For whatever reason the Cats had gotten away from that to start this season. Even against Harvard, Vermont played tough defense and the score was only inflated due to fouling at the end of the game. It is a good sign that Vermont has found their identity.  A few of the key defensive plays in the first half were made by Dre Wills. Building off a great game against Lyndon and getting meaningful first half minutes for the first time in what seems like forever, Wills made an impact on the defensive end. Wills blocked a three point attempt and also chased down a fast break layup, preventing an easy two. Even though he only played five minutes, those two plays came at a crucial point in the game and seemed to energize the team. As I mentioned in my previous post, if Wills could build trust with Coach Becker and get a few more minutes, he could make a significant impact. He is the best shot blocker I have seen since Marqus Blakely. Right from the opening basket, Clancy Rugg was aggressive and as a result he had a career night. Rugg scored from every angle and drew countless fouls on the Dartmouth big men. Scoring a career high 24 points, Rugg continued to demonstrate that he is a premier player in the America East. Brian Voelkel absolutely dominated this game. The 15 boards were huge and many of them were crucial, but the real value was that he scored 14 points including a perfect 8-8 from the line. He was aggressive on offense and also made the crucial defensive play when Dartmouth was mounting a comeback effort. Voelkel doesn't have to score to be effective but he does have to attack the rim in order to open up the Cats offense. Seeing him make his free throws was a bonus and incidentally it was about this time last year that his free throw shooting made a vast improvement. Throughout the beginning of this season the free throw stripe has been a colossal struggle for the Cats. In this game Vermont was 34-41 from the line. Continuing to convert at the line will be key to Vermont's success for the rest of the season. If Vermont can get another win at Yale they will be going into the conference schedule playing their best basketball of the season.