Vermont at Harvard 1/2/18

Vermont 62 Harvard 56

Vermont ringing in the new year with a big win.

Banding together after losing their leading scorer the Cats went on the road and defeated Harvard. It was Lamb's fellow post-men Payton Henson and Drew Urquhart leading Vermont to victory. Henson led the Cats with 17 points. He was aggressive from the opening tip and fought through the tough physical Harvard defense. His best moment of the game came on a beautiful backdoor cut, slamming home a ferocious dunk plus the foul to seal the game. Drew U stepped up big as well in his first game replacing Lamb. He shot 3/4 from three and finished with 11 points. It seemed like each of his threes were at crucial points in the game. It is great that he is shooting with confidence and also amazing/funny that prior to this game he had 5 made three pointers in his entire career. What a way to step up. This was a game where Vermont was the team that hit big shots in the second half. They caught fire from three and both Duncans hit big shots when Vermont needed a bucket. It was also great to see Trae Bell-Haynes go 5/5 from the free throw line as he seems to have gotten over his early season struggles. Samuel Dingba had his best minutes of the season, getting rebounds and throwing down a dunk. Bailey Patella came off his redshirt to play the first minutes of his college career. Anything Vermont can get from him would be great. This is a big win for Vermont's mentality going forward. They were able to win a tough game on the road without their leading scorer. That is a great boost as they prepare to play without Lamb for an extended period of time. It was also nice to see Vermont play some tough defense in the second half. When Harvard was raining threes in the first half I was admittedly distraught. Harvard came into the game shooting 28% from three which is 344 out of 351 Division 1 teams this season. This was the moment where it really seemed like everyone was going to shoot the lights out from three against the Cats. It may have just been a stat correction but I think Vermont make some adjustments in the second half and limited Harvard to 1/9 shooting from three in the second half. Now the Cats have a quick turnaround before opening conference play against UMass Lowell on Thursday night. Lowell has been a tough matchup for Vermont in the past so this game cant be overlooked with a big showdown against UMBC on Saturday night at Patrick. Throw the records out because everyone is 0-0 and it is time for the conference season.