Vermont at Yale 1/8/14

Vermont 67 Yale 59

Thanks for joining the rest of the team this season Candon Rusin!!

Rusin scored 16 points, including 3-4 form the three point line to lead the Cats to victory. I have voiced my displeasure with Rusin's play several times this season so let me be the first to say I am glad to see him have a good game. If there is any way he can produce down the stretch of this season, Vermont will become a much tougher opponent. Rusin adds another dimension to Vermont when he is playing well. This victory followed the blueprint of the Dartmouth game and continued the Cats return to a defensive, grind it out team. It may not always be pretty but this is how this team wins. Much of that can be contributed to Brian Voelkel's tough style of play and he again played at a high level in this game. With a near triple double of 9 points 7 rebounds and 10 assists, Voelkel set the tone for this game much like he did against Dartmouth. Voelkel took sole possession of second place on the all time assists list and now trails only Mike Trimboli. Barring an injury Voelkel is on pace to finish as the career leader in both assists and rebounds. Voelkel already became the first division one player since Danny Ferry in 1989 to have 1,000 rebounds and 500 assists in a career. He will most certainly be in rare company when the final statistics are tallied at the end of his great career. Now the focus shifts to a must win game against Albany at home on Saturday night. This is a must win for several reasons. The first of which is if any team has aspirations of a championship they need to go undefeated at home in conference. The other reason has more to do with the emotional state of this team. They need to erase the bad memories of last seasons championship defeat and also push through the current off the court distractions. In case you missed it, Vermont is facing possible NCAA punishment for a scheduling violation. There are many rumors but no official information yet so I will wait to write about it in detail until the situation plays out. Needless to say it could have an impact on this season and beyond so it is a situation to keep your eyes on.