Vermont 86 Toledo 60
The Cats absolutely dominated Toledo on the road in an impressive bounce back win. I said in my previous post that this would be the game where we would learn alot about this team and oh boy did they deliver. A complete win on both sides of the ball and an impressive team win with several players stepping up in the absence of Shamir Bogues. Vermont was physical on the defensive end, making every single shot difficult for Toledo. The Cats also forced 15 Toledo turnovers and held the Rockets 20 points under their season average. Vermont imposed their will and made Toledo play their type of game. The stretch that got me really charged up was back to back possessions where they stole the ball from a Toledo player off a rebound for an easy two. Gutsy plays. On the offensive side of the ball, the perimeter shots fell in the first half and Vermont was moving the ball with ease. In the second half the Cats attacked the basket relentlessly, attacking the Rockets hard closeouts. Just a textbook slashing of the Toledo's defense. Big time performance in a big time spot.
TJ Long led the Cats with 19 points and this time it was from relentlessly attacking the rim and finishing through contact. He showed some real offensive versatility today and and it was a sigh of relief to see him get back on the court after a nasty fall slipping on some cheerleading signs under the basket. Matt Veretto is back as he finally shook off the effects of his eye injury and chipped in 16 points on 5-6 shooting from the field to go along with 5 rebounds. It was great to see him back in action and he even got a "from the parking lot" shoutout for a deep three in the first half. TJ Hurley battled through foul trouble and finished with 14 points in a perfectly efficient offensive night. Hurley plays with such great poise and is never in a rush. Aaron Deloney rounded out the double digit scorers with 11 points and pulled down a team high 7 rebounds. He had a strong game leading the Cats and stepping up at the point in Bogues' absence. Sam Alamutu really looked for his offense in this one and finished with 8 points off the bench. It is great to see him continue to grow and work to improve his game. Brenton Mills played great, stepping into big minutes. Mills finished with 5 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 assists in a really nice all a round game. Nick Fiorillo chipped in 5 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 blocks. Ileri Ayo-Faleye continues to give opponents nightmares at the defensive end, challenging every shot in his sphere. He also had a nice dunk in the second half as well.
A great way to start the Ohio swing before finishing the road trip at Miami (OH) on Friday. This team continues to impress with their ability to stay mentally tough and respond to adversity.
It’s almost like the coaching staff was reading this blog, ha! Great game and the commitment to get to the rim freed up their entire offense whereby it looked like they were scoring at will. Granted this roster is not the same as Colgate and VT, but I think being aggressive and attacking the rim needs to continue to be emphasized. And in that light Sam and Big I set the tone there. The TJ’s continue to be impressive and Long going down had me scared there. He too def has the ability to get to the rim for a few easy buckets. If I were to nitpick their rebounding wasn’t up to their standard. All in all they showed up today and righted the ship. Let’s finish strong in out of conference play and get healthy for conference play.
ReplyDeleteA great team win, their leader AD setting the tone with ruthless efficiency ( and 7 boards ). Which could describe TJ Hurley also: when he fouls, his man is often on his back as TJ calmly and stone faced,. walks away. Love the kid's physicality. I could make really positive comments on the entire rotation, the Cats dominated.
ReplyDeleteToledo had no dominating post presence nor suffocating perimeter defense. But to the CATS credit they limited a high flying offense (80 pts/gm) to 60 which I believe is Coach’s benchmark for a Cat defense! Great to see and without Shamir no less, it made for a sound all around performance. And Matt is back!
ReplyDeleteI still want to see automatic FTs from some of the guys. It’s so necessary to lock down those in conference playoff games.
Showed us the character. To come back from the VTech game with this effort and execution (without Bogues) was great to see. Really think this team is 9-10 players deep. Given that they should always bring the effort like this game. Nice job Cats. Good luck tomorrow!
ReplyDeleteIt shows great fortitude when a team chooses to learn from their losses! Well done lads!
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