UNCW forced 17 Vermont turnovers and rode a big second half to a victory over the Catamounts. Now that the sample size is big enough, it is clear that Vermont has some serious Jekyll and Hyde tendencies. There were stretches in tonight's game where Vermont look great on both sides of the ball and really demonstrated the potential that this team has. Unfortunately there were also stretches where they looked completely lost on the court. Vermont started slow but their defense kept them in the game. Robin Duncan dominated the first half and Vermont built a 10 point lead. Then they came out in the second half and looked as though they were going to run away with it, maintaining the 10 point lead through the first part of the half. Then Duncan went to the bench with foul trouble and Finn Sullivan lost control of his emotions getting a technical and giving the Seahawks a 4 point possession to take the lead. This was kind of a rock bottom game for the offensive flow. The Cats finished with 6 assists and 17 turnovers. Too much isolation and too many miscommunications. The big achilles heel on defense continues to be putting the opponent on the line over and over again. When teams have been going into attack mode, Vermont has struggled to get stops. UNCW had several stretches where they did not make a bucket from the field but were buoyed by getting freebies at the line. It is really too bad because for the middle part of the game Vermont was downright dominating the Seahawks.
Robin Duncan was everywhere in the first half and finished with 13 points and 9 rebounds. He looked great getting to the rim and finishing. His rebounding has been huge for the Cats and it is not a surprise that when he was off the court due to foul trouble, Vermont struggled. Dylan Penn led the Cats with 21 points, showing his arsenal of finishes with both hands and knocking down his free throws. He is finally finding his footing. Aaron Deloney and Finn Sullivan chipped in 11 points apiece but also combined for 9 turnovers. Many of them were unforced bad passes. Finn also fouled out on the play where he got his technical and has to kind of hit the reset button. He had a nice stretch in the second half but is struggling to pick his spots and doesn't look confident out on the court. Nick Fiorillo went down in the first half with what looked like a knee injury and did not return. Hopefully it is nothing serious because the Cats would get a lot smaller if he were to miss time.
Vermont is in a strange place right now. They have stretches where they look like the team they want to be and stretches that are unwatchable. They are searching for that consistency to play a full 40 minutes and that chemistry where everyone knows their role. Time to regroup and get the win in the third place game.
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