Oregon State 80 Vermont 58
Vermont opened their west coast swing with a clunker against Oregon State. The Cats started slow and couldn't dig themselves out of an early hole. Oregon State shot the lights out from three and for the first time this season the Cats offense couldn't keep pace. The length of Oregon State really bothered the Cats. Lots of pass deflections and the Beavers finished with 8 blocked shots. Vermont struggled to establish the low post or the drive and kick game and as a result were forced into many tough shots.
Gus Yalden led the Cats with 16 points, He struggled in the first half but was able to bounce back and have a nice second half. Ben Johnson came off the bench and made 4/6 from three to finish as the other Catamount in double figures with 12 points. That leaves him 5 points short of 1,000 for his career. Noah Barnett finished with 4 points and 7 rebounds in a physical effort underneath. David Simon got his first extended minutes in a while and looked good offensively, scoring 6 points to go along with 3 rebounds. Jackson Skipper chipped in 7 points off the bench. Sean Blake struggled to finish over the Beavers length, finishing 3-10 from the floor. That was the big story of the night for the Cats, as the starting guards never got going. TJ Hurley finished with 4 points on 1-8 shooting and TJ Long put up a goose egg on 0-4 shooting. Pretty tough to win games when two of your top scorers make one combined shot from the field. I thought the Cats really missed Lucas Mari's size in this one.
No time to dwell with another tough matchup against Pepperdine on Saturday. With some home games on the horizon, Saturday is an opportunity to regroup and try to build some momentum for the homestand.
