Stony Brook at Vermont 1/8/2020

Stony Brook 81 Vermont 77

Stony Brook used a hot shooting night to hand Vermont the loss at Patrick Gym. The first takeaway is that Stony Brook is a very good team. They have great shooting, depth, and play with intensity. They played a nearly flawless game and executed down the stretch, Every time they needed a big shot they got one. You have to tip your cap to them for executing their game plan so well. Now on to Vermont. The defense was pretty atrocious for the second consecutive game. The rotations are slow and the communication is lacking. It is strange after they had such a strong stretch of defense in early December to see them regress so quickly. One common thread over the last two games is Daniel Giddens complete ineffectiveness. He was starting to make real progress during the month of December but has fallen off a cliff with 21 scoreless minutes over the last two games and only one rebound.  Without him they have gone small and as a result Anthony Lamb has been playing center often, which is making their interior defense much weaker. Giddens has a limited time to get it together or the coaching staff is going to have to make some tough decisions. The problem is that Ryan Davis is also struggling and Duncan Demuth is a non-factor. Tonight was the first game where I felt like they missed Isaiah Powell. I don't know all the behind the scenes info but if it was about playing time opportunities, he would have had plenty tonight. Vermont is just missing something right now. They don't look like the well oiled machine that they have been over the last several seasons. They are not playing as confidently or as freely. Even the fans tonight were oddly quiet and restless. Several times Becker himself tried to hype up the crowd. One very interesting fact is that they have lost nine conference games over the last five seasons including tonight and six of those losses have been at home. Patrick Gym has been oddly unkind in conference play. So where do the Cats go from here? They have proven that they can win on the road and they still have the whole conference season ahead of them. Vermont needs to remember that they have proven that they can win. Maybe now they can play with a chip on their shoulder and use this as motivation to prove that they are still every bit the team to beat. This one stings for sure but the key will be how the Cats respond on Saturday against UMBC.