Vermont executed poorly down the stretch and dropped a tough season opener at Iona. The game was physical and sloppy from the jump with both teams struggling to shoot the ball and turnovers aplenty. Neither team ever really got their offense going but Vermont managed to hold the lead for most of the night. Unfortunately, poor shot selection, ill-timed turnovers, and defensive mistakes allowed Iona to squeeze out the victory. The most frustrating part was the fact that Iona had only two players that impacted the game and still pulled out the victory. Vermont struggled to create driving lanes and let Iona dictate the game with their physicality in the second half. The first road game for a lot of the new players and there were some clear nerves and missed connections. The defense had some good moments but could not stop the two Iona stars who combined for 45 of Iona's 56 points. That is a real gut punch for the Cats to start off the season, and they will have to shake it off quick to turnaround and prepare for preseason Metro Conference favorite Fairfield on Thursday.
Gus Yalden led the Cats with 17 points and scored a beautiful bucket on an inverted pick and roll with six seconds left to give the Cats the lead. He also got several offensive rebounds just before that, but Vermont came up empty. He was very engaged defensively and made some plays on that end of the court. Momo Nkugwa was a spark off the bench scoring 12 points and 5 rebounds. Will Davies finished with 10 points but struggled in his regular season debut. He shot 4/13 from the field and turned the ball over 5 times. John Broom had a strong game, scoring 9 points and pulling down 11 rebounds. He too struggled with ball security, dribbling into some tough spots and finishing with 4 turnovers. Noah Barnett really struggled on both ends and as a result only played 16 minutes. Darrel Yepdo went scoreless and struggled to generate anything on the offensive end. Khalil Badru had trouble grabbing rebounds and was a bit lost at times. Daniil Glazkov held up well defensively and scored a couple buckets.
A tough way to start for the Cats. Time to refocus and make adjustments for Thursday.
