Vermont vs NJIT 12/28/20

 NJIT 81 Vermont 80 2OT

What a game. What a heartbreaker.

With both teams trading blows in a hard fought game, San Antonio Brinson was able to corral an airball and put it up before the buzzer to give NJIT their first America East win. Vermont struggled to get stops down the stretch and their perimeter shooting disappeared again, making every possession a battle. Dylan O'Hearn exploded in the extra periods and finished with 26 points. Vermont just couldn't string any buckets together and survived as long as they could before succumbing to the Highlanders. Once again the perimeter shooting from Vermont's guards was non-existent. Vermont finished 5-21 from three and only made one three after halftime. Stef Smith made the only three for Vermont's perimeter players and for the second straight game, the big men provided the perimeter shooting. This is an area I keep harping on because it is going to be very difficult to have a consistent offensive flow if their guards continue to struggle from the perimeter. It is a small sample size but through the first four games, the combination of Bailey Patella, Justin Mazzulla, Robin Duncan, Ben Shungu, and Aaron Deloney are a combined 3-24 (12.5%) from three. Ouch. The loss unfortunately overshadowed another dominant effort from Ryan Davis. He finished with a new career high 27 points on 11-14 shooting from the field. Davis looks downright explosive around the rim and his touch has been incredible. He finished the weekend with 49 points in the two games and looks capable of putting this team on his back. Ben Shungu continued his strong play as well with 16 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists. His ability to post up underneath and finish around the rim is giving the Cats a nice dimension to their offense. Nick Fiorillo continued his strong play and is playing himself in a nice role in the rotation. Outside of those three the rest of the Cats really struggled and as a result they lacked the offensive balance they are accustomed to. Stef Smith had a great game yesterday and looked ready to find his footing. He took another step back today as he just doesn't look comfortable in the offense. He is now the focal point for opposing defenses and it is going to be an adjustment that takes time and has been made more challenging by the shortened season. The Vermont defense really struggled down the stretch and they allowed NJIT to stay in an offensive rhythm. The Highlanders shot 51% from the field and imposed their will on the Cats. You could see the minutes start to pile up and the rotations were a step slow. As I mentioned in my preview these back to backs going to produce some wild results. All of the games in the America East were tightly contested today and Vermont wasn't the only team to end up on the wrong side of the result reversal. Binghamton fought hard to get their first win of the season by snapping UMBC's seven game win streak. Now Vermont has four days to get ready for a big showdown with Albany at Patrick this weekend. One positive is now Vermont has experienced both versions of the back to back split and they will be able to use that experience as fuel and motivation to clean up the mistakes and build momentum to be playing their best basketball by the end of the season.