Admittedly, I didn’t watch every minute of every game this past week — weird, busy weekend for me, hence why this story is 24 hours late — so this column will be approached a tad differently. I’ll mostly talk about Vermont’s win over UMBC and NJIT’s win over Vermont. I swear that isn’t my Catamount bias showing, but rather the two most important games of the week.
Additionally, I spoke to Vermont assistant coach Derryk O’Grady after the Thursday night win.
Thursday, Jan. 29
Vermont 64, UMBC 55
I’ve had a pretty good beat on the America
East Conference this season, but this was my biggest misread of the year.
I thought both defenses would be useless against the opposing offensive scheme. Instead, both coaches schemed up an excellent defensive game plan, and both units stepped up.
Whenever the Catamounts need a big win, they dig in and lean on their defense, and this was their best defensive performance of the season. They were elite defending UMBC off the dribble, excellent at the rim, and held the Retrievers to one of their worst attack-and-kick performances of the season.
“The Retrievers do such a good job of cutting and moving around their explosive guards to create large driving gaps and the opportunity to attack a shifting defense,” O’Grady told Mid-Major Madness. “We wanted to be willing to flex the structure of our defense as they move, cut, and shift to support the on-ball defenders.”
Meanwhile, the league’s worst post-up defense somehow gobbled up Gus Yalden. The big man finished with just eight points on 2-for-13 shooting.
“They had some physical defenders down there,” O’Grady said. “They were really physical, making him catch the ball so far away from the basket, allowing them to provide a lot of help from one pass away. I don’t think they ever fully double-teamed him, but they were really good at surrounding him and picking the guys that could help off our non-shooters.”
O’Grady singled out Jose Roberto Tanchyn, who had one of his best games of the season. Not only was he physical with Yalden on defense, but he piled up 13 points on the other end, showing off his array of moves that make him such a good fit for the Retriever offense.
He fits so well within the Ferry scheme while also providing so much length on the other end for a vulnerable interior defense. If he continues on this upward trajectory, he raises UMBC’s ceiling immensely.
Regardless, with both defenses stepping up against the opponent’s primary scoring options, both offenses had to look toward secondary creation, and that’s where Vermont won the game.
“The best thing about Gus is that he’s an elite passer,” O’Grady said. “He’s an elite shot-creator for others. We challenged him to unlock his passing when the other team is swarming him.”
Yalden made some incredible passes out of post doubles, and the Catamounts hit their jumpers, shooting 11-for-30 from 3 (37%).
Meanwhile, UMBC couldn’t get downhill as easily as it typically does, and the Retrievers didn’t hit their jumpers over the top, shooting just 6-for-26 (23%).
That 3-point differential ultimately cost UMBC the game. If the Retreivers hit a few more, they could’ve won up in Burlington, and ShotQuality even graded them as two-point post-game expected winners based on the “quality” of shots taken and allowed (67-65). But again, the Catamounts did an excellent job against their drive-and-kick, catch-and-shoot actions, never giving UMBC’s guards clean looks.
Meanwhile, Lucas Mari was Vermont’s biggest beneficiary of all the secondary creation. As I thought he could, he beat UMBC’s wings off the bounce, drawing fouls and shooting 5-for-6 at the charity stripe. At the same time, he started making his catch-and-shoot jumpers, shooting 3-for-7 from beyond the arc, including two of the game’s most important buckets.
“He’s been a ball-handling, rim-attacking, playmaking guard his entire life, but he’s never been a catch-and-shoot guy,” O’Grady said. “He’s been going through almost forced exposure. When you get an inside-out 3, you have to shoot it. When Gus gets the ball out to you, and there’s no one on your side, why are you turning that down to either pass it or drive it?”
But Mari started taking and making the exact shots that will allow him to stay on the court more at the three or the four. If he can have an impact off the ball, he’ll continue to put up double-digit scoring nights in the John Becker offense.
“I was happy to see him let it fly in a big moment,” O’Grady said. “I hope that translates, helping him drive and draw secondary defenders to unlock his passing as teams start to respect his jumper more, as he won’t have to deal with teams closing out short to him.”
Regardless, Vermont found a way to win the America East’s biggest game to date.
Saturday, Jan. 31
NJIT 79, Vermont 77
In my AmEast preview, I mentioned how I thought NJIT could compete with Vermont up in Burlington. The Highlanders always played the Catamounts tough, and this was a vastly improved Highlander unit.
I never suspected they’d win outright as 13-point road ’dogs.
But this was a good matchup for NJIT.
Melvyn Ebonkoli is so big, so strong, and such a good defender, and he mauled Yalden — across six post-up sets, the Gus Bus shot 1-for-5 with a turnover.
On the other end of the court, SebRob made Vermont’s dribble defenders look silly, as he continues to evolve into one of the conference’s best on-ball scorers.
Alongside him, David Bolden earned KenPom Game MVP honors, dropping 16 points, seven assists, six rebounds, and three steals. Throw in 27 combined points from wings Ari Fulton and Jordan Rogers, and you’ve got a complete team effort.
Fun fact: NJIT leads the AmEast in offensive efficiency during conference play (112.4). These Highlanders are different, filled with shot-creators and shot-makers.
Vermont had some success against NJIT’s ball-screen coverage, with Sean Blake going crazy for 23 points on 10-for-16 shooting. However, the Highlanders forced Vermont into a few too many dribble jumpers, and the Catamounts didn’t hit their jumpers on Saturday (8-for-29 from 3, 28%). It’s worth mentioning that there was some luck involved in this win, with NJIT making eight of its 18 triples (44%).
But Grant Billmeier coached an excellent game, including mixing in eight zone possessions that forced seven misses and a turnover. The Highlanders raced out to an early lead and essentially won wire-to-wire at the toughest venue in the America East, all with a share of first-place on the line — this team is different.
With UMBC also winning on Saturday, we ended Saturday’s action with a three-way, 6-2 tie atop the America East standings entering the second half of league play. Who has it better than us?
Elsewhere around the AmEast
Bryant pieced together another impossibly incompetent offensive game plan against Binghamton, only to bounce back and drop a season-high 92 on New Hampshire. Huh?
Shout out to the Bearcats for their first AmEast win of the season. This was their Super Bowl, and they pulled it out.
Albany is on a four-game losing streak, which is too bad after starting conference play 3-1. The Danes have shot 24-for-89 from 3 during the stretch (27%) — while opponents have shot very well over the zone lately — which is unfortunate given they now lead the league in 2-point shooting (54%) while ranking second in average 2-point distance (4.9 feet). On that note, where did Miles Rose come from? He can really get downhill off the bounce, but it’s unfortunate that he can’t make a single free throw (now 4-for-15 on the season).
Big time loser leaves town vibes between Maine and UMass Lowell on Saturday. Luckily for the River Hawks, they pulled it out because Darrel Yepdo is starting to play like a legit AmEast guard again, looking the best he has all season in the 14-point win. Angel Montas Jr. and Xavier Spencer continue to terrorize opponents, particularly in transition.
I’m interested to see how the Black Bears handle playing at Vermont in a classic bounce-back spot for the Catamounts. With Logan Carey and Mekhi Gray beginning to find their strides, the Bears have two legit ball-handling options to pair with TJ Biel in Chris Markwood’s ball-screen motion offense.
Injury Notes
- Vermont: TJ Long is back!
- NJIT: Still no Jeremy Clayville.
- UMass Lowell: Austin Green missed both games over the weekend, but it was for personal reasons. He’s healthy.
- Albany: Jaden Kempson returned on Saturday. Zach Matulu has not returned, and I think he may have been in a boot.
- Maine: No word on Keelan Steele, Bashir N’Galang or Yanis Bamba. Texted my Black Bear source for more info and will attempt to update if I can.
- Bryant: Still no Quincy Allen or Ethane Bourgade. Daniel Akoue should see more minutes at the five now that he’s healthy.
