Vermont vs Maine 1/29/22

Vermont 81 Maine 68

Vermont held off a scrappy and hot shooting Maine team to push their conference record to 7-0. The Black Bears  were hot out of the gate and led for most of the first half thanks to lights out shooting from Ja'Shonte Wright -McLeish who went 5-5 from three in the first half. The Cats shook off a sluggish start on offense and took the lead late. In the second half Vermont was able to make a run as they finally strung some stops together. Maine refused to go away and finished a scorching 14-26 from three. The Cats offense came largely from relentlessly attacking the interior of the Maine defense. They were only 3-12 from three but offset that lack of production with an 18-22 effort from the line. There are always a few ugly games in conference with the familiar opponents and especially this year with the unbalanced schedule. A win is a win and I don't like to nitpick too much but the Cats defense has lost a little bit of its edge during the winning streak. They have definitely taken their foot off the gas ever so slightly and so far have been able to rely on their offense to make up the difference. At some point I am sure they are going to need their defense to step it up would hope they can still find that extra gear. 

Maine had no answer for Ryan Davis and he finished with a team high 21 points. He continues to impress and today was a reminder of how good his hands are. Vermont had a tough time getting him the ball and he was able to catch some very tough off target entry passes several times. Ben Shungu made a living at the line as his quickness was too much for the Black Bear defenders. He finished with 19 points courtesy of an 11-12 effort from the line. Justin Mazzulla chipped in 10 points by making some great cuts to the rim. Finn Sullivan struggled shooting the ball but had 7 rebounds and 4 assists. He also struggled a little bit with his emotions for the first time in awhile but it looked like Bailey Patella set him straight. The bench played well once again as Aaron Deloney scored 9 points and Nick Fiorillo scored 8. Deloney has such incredible quickness to the rim and is not afraid to go right through guys to score. Fiorillo's shooting has really come around as he knocked in two more from deep. Having another stretch big off the bench has been huge for their offense. Robin Duncan also had a great game off the bench scoring only 2 points but grabbing 7 rebounds and dishing out 3 assists. Isaiah Powell has been struggling with turnovers in conference play. Over the last 5 games he has 18 turnovers. He has been playing a bit too fast and has to take better care of the ball.

Vermont now has a quick turnaround for the big rivalry game with Albany coming to Patrick on Monday. The game takes on a little extra twist with former assistant Hamlet Tibbs now on the sidelines for the Great Danes. Albany has been playing well and have been the best defensive team in the conference thus far. Vermont is going to need to play with a little more attention to detail in that matchup.