Vermont vs Dartmouth 12/1/21

Vermont 83 Dartmouth 65

Home sweet home.

Vermont used a balanced scoring attack with six players in double figures to dominate Dartmouth. The Cats jumped out to a 10-0 lead and never looked back. The defense was locked in from the get go. The game plan was clearly to not let Brendan Berry get looks from three as the Vermont defenders were tenacious on the permeter. Vermont held Dartmouth to 39% shooting and on offense shot a blistering 56%. It was a relief to finally see some shots fall. The big story from tonights game was the change in the starting lineup. Finn Sullivan and Justin Mazzulla started in place of Robin Duncan and Kam Gibson. That change was inevitable as the slow starts that were plaguing the Cats were directly tied to Gibson and Robin's struggles offensively. In the games last week the gameflow changed every time Mazzulla and Sullivan entered the game. Early returns on the lineup changes are very good. Sullivan really got the Cats going early offensively and Mazzulla set the tone defensively on the perimeter against Barry. Once again Vermont was tremendous with 16 assists and only 7 turnovers. This might be the best passing team Vermont has ever put together. There are so many strong passers and the chemistry is very good. Tonight's game was an example of how good Vermont can be when they are hitting on all cylinders. 

Sullivan impressed in his first start. He is providing the three point shooting that the Cats are looking for with a 3-6 effort from distance tonight. Sullivan finished with 13 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and zero turnovers. I mentioned when he committed that I thought he was a sneaky good addition to Vermont and he is showing why so far this season. He has tremendous versatility and is always turned up to eleven. The only negative is that intensity still gets him into trouble when he can't change gears and his emotions boil over. Yelling at the other team after a big play and demonstrative body language after getting called for a foul. The refs talked to him several times and there were four instances where he could easily have been called for a technical. I love the emotion he plays with and teams need a hype man but if he is going to continue to grow in his role he has to bottle that lightning. Ryan Davis was a beast in tonight's game. He led the Cats with 16 points and 8 rebounds. He got so many tough rebounds in traffic and finished through contact at the other end. His hands are tremendous and when he get the ball in the paint he is nearly automatic. It was great to see him have a better shooting game after a few tough efforts last week. Ben Shungu, Isaiah Powell, and Mazzulla finished with 13, 11, and 10 points respectively. Kam Gibson finally looked comfortable in his first time coming off the bench. With the second unit he was able to be the first or second option on offense and was able to excel in that role in the second half. Gibson finished with 10 points and as I have said before I am intrigued by his potential as a scorer off the bench. 

This is the type of team that I think this group of Cats is going to be. They are a team that will be the sum of their parts. They are going to have balanced scoring where different guys can be the star each night. For a long time that was a staple of the Vermont program and I see this group as a return to form. Everyone knows their role and executes. Now they have little break before a big game against Providence next Tuesday. A great win to get some momentum going in to what will be a very tough matchup.