Vermont vs Rider 11/24/19

Rider 72 Vermont 67

Vermont collapsed in the second half and dropped their second game of the season. The Cats played the worst half of basketball I have seen them play in several years. Rider sped them up and made them play at their tempo. As a result the shot selection in the second half was atrocious. Vermont settled for long jumpers or threw up shots from odd angles and were completely out of rhythm. Anthony Lamb struggled mightily and couldn't get anything going. Lamb finished the game 4-19 from the field. That might be the worst I have ever seen him play. He was off balance and bothered by the defensive attention that Rider focused on him. With Lamb struggling mightily no one else was able to step up and fill the void. The poor perimeter shooting was going to lose them a game eventually and this was the game. Particularly outside of Stef Smith and Lamb the rest of the team shot 1-11 from three. The defense also struggled in the second half. In the first half the Cats switched to a zone defense which completely changed the game. I thought that Becker waited to long to go back to it when Rider was making a run in the second half. Rider couldn't miss and Vermont couldn't make and the Cats never recovered. It is so strange to see this team get rattled. They so rarely let the opposing team impose their will and make Vermont play their style. I was also surprised at how few turnovers they were able to force. Rider had really struggled with turnovers this season and Vermont was unable to capitalize. Rider was picked second in the MAAC in the preseason poll so this is a good team that will have success this season. But to play that poorly in a big game is very surprising for Vermont. During the run of success that Vermont has had they have displayed an unnatural ability to show up in just about every game. They just didn't have it in the second half. This will serve as a good wake up call for Vermont. The coaching staff will be able to push them to fix the mistakes a little harder now that they played that poorly. The big area of future concern for me is the perimeter shooting. Knocking down perimeter shots is one of the things that makes the Cats a very dangerous team. Without that, their offense tends to grind to a halt while they force the ball to Lamb. The lone bright spot was that Robin Duncan finally showed some life on offense. He made some tough shots around the rim and finished with 13 points. His shooting continues to be poor but with his size he should be able to finish over smaller defenders. Now Vermont has the sub D-1 game against Gallaudet before going on the road to Yale. Time to refocus and get back on track.