Exhibition: St. Michael's vs. Vermont 11/4/18

Vermont 90 St. Michael's 61

Vermont used a strong second half to finish off St. Michael's and the exhibition portion of their season. Now it is time for the real thing. This was a very choppy game and a chippy one too. Tons of fouls. Tons of emotion. Tons of turnovers. This game is a perfect preview of how the early part of this season is going to go for the Cats. In the first half, Vermont struggled to get into the flow and turned the ball over too much. They let St. Michael's dictate the game flow and were only up two points. Lots of freshman mistakes and miscommunications. Then in the second half, Vermont dictated the pace of play, tightened up their defense, and were a more cohesive team. This team is going to be far more volatile than the steady machine like team that Vermont has had over the last two years. They are going to play faster and they are going to make more mistakes. Especially in the non conference portion of the schedule. A great example of this is Isaiah Moll. In both games Moll has been uneven in the first half and absolutely dominant in the second half. He is a special player and is going to put up some big numbers for Vermont this season. Ernie Duncan has come into this year with a completely different mentality and is seizing his moment as the senior leader exactly as Vermont needs him to do. He is ready to be a scoring guard and attack the rim. He is going to be the leader on this team and is poised to showcase just how well rounded his game has become. The caveat to that is he has to be able to stay healthy as he has also been on the floor a ton, including a particularly hard fall in this one. It is time for some real basketball and I will be posting my season preview on Tuesday night. The opener against Boston University on Friday night can not come soon enough.