Kansas 84 Vermont 68
Kansas pulled away form Vermont in the second half thanks to a career night from LaGerald Vick. Vermont played a tremendous first half before going cold in the second. However, the game was very well played by Vermont overall. It took a career night from Vick scoring 32 points and shooting 8-8 from three for Kansas to stretch their lead. Vermont played tough and never looked rattled. Another very encouraging effort and a sign that this team is already displaying the poise of a more experienced team. Anthony Lamb is a man on a mission. He made some ridiculous shots tonight and his spin move in the lane is borderline unguardable. Lamb finished with 24 points and is making a statement as the leader of this team. In the big games against the upper tier teams he has a knack for elevating his game. Ernie Duncan was hot in the first half and finished with 17 points. I really like his shift to point guard as he is sneaky good getting to the basket. Stef Smith looked very good again. I especially liked his work on the boards with 8 rebounds to go along with his 13 points. He looks like a different player from a year ago. Smith is playing with more confidence and has matured quite a bit over even that past few months. It is nice to see him recovered from the nagging injury he had been dealing with. Ben Shungu's play is going to continue to earn him playing time. He is showing some serious toughness on the court and gives the Cats a pesky defender off the bench. Shungu has worked hard on his offensive game and he certainly looks far more comfortable on the offensive end. I know Ryan Davis really threw up some clunkers in this game and maybe that will keep him in the doghouse, but I thought he played very tough against one of the toughest post matchups in the country in Udoka Azubuike. The shots will fall as he slows the game down. I think he is getting there ever so slowly. Ra Kpedi was very overmatched in this one and his offensive limitations really hurt the Cats. The battle for playing time between him and Davis will be one of the interesting story lines of the non-conference schedule. I would like to see Everett Duncan get more involved in the offense. He did not even attempt a shot tonight and has looked tentative through the first couple games. The Cats need his shooting to help space the floor. The performance in this game tells me that the Canadian trip really helped this team be a little ahead of schedule in becoming a cohesive team. They have things that they need to work on but the players finding their new roles are maturing rapidly and it is going to give Vermont a chance to steal some of their tough non-conference games against other good mid-majors. Now it is time for the obligatory non-D1 game before heading to Louisville on Friday. It is a busy week in Catamount country.
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