Typically letdown games occur when a team plays an unheralded opponent after notching an impressive victory. The players are on an emotional high and simply don't "get up" for what they think is an inferior squad.
Apparently it is possible to experience a letdown after a loss as well. Iona's last outing was a defeat against Syracuse on Saturday, yet the Gaels came out flat earlier tonight and fell to Vermont, 84-79, at the Hynes Athletics Center.
Iona (7-5) had won seven in a row before traveling to Syracuse and playing the No. 5 Orange close until the final minute before losing by just six. Forward Mike Glover has been getting some national media coverage for his dominating performances. He became the first player in school history to win the MAAC Player of the Week award in three straight weeks. Point guard Scott Machado is leading the nation in assists at 8.5 per game, and the vibes surrounding the Iona program have been good ever since a disappointing opening weekend.
"This was my biggest fear coming in," Iona head coach Tim Cluess said in reference to his team suffering a letdown. "We play a team like Syracuse, with the hype of the game, it's tough to bring that level back up. (Vermont's) a really good team. That's why we had them on the schedule. We wanted to play tough ones before we opened up league play."
Were the Gaels starting to feel too good about their success? "Absolutely," Cluess said. "We had talked about that. About halfway through our winning streak we thought guys weren't staying as focused as they needed to be. We knew it was going to get us. I was hoping after Syracuse we could try and build on the confidence of playing a team like that that well and use it as a stepping stone, but apparently it didn't work."
Vermont (8-3) led by as many as 18 in the first half, connecting on seven three-pointers and holding Iona to just 12-of-33 (36 percent) from the field. Vermont was up 44-30 at the break.
The Catamounts bumped their lead to 21 midway through the second half, but the Gaels countered with a 20-3 run to get within four, 70-66, with 5:32 remaining. Sophomore Kyle Smyth hit two three-pointers during that stretch.
Vermont increased its margin to nine on an NBA-range three from senior Joey Accaoui, who finished with a game-high 23 points, but Smyth hit another triple with less than a minute left to get it back to a three-point deficit. After two missed free throws by Vermont, Machado's layup made it a one-point game with 16 second left.
That's when sophomore Simeon Marsalis, from New Rochelle High School, converted two critical free throws. Iona got the ball in the hands of Smyth, whose three-point attempt looked good but came up just a bit short, and two more Vermont free throws sealed the game.
In addition to Marsalis, it was also a homecoming game for two freshmen Catamounts from Iona Prep, Brian Voelkel and Sandro Carissimo. Voelkel nearly had a triple-double, tallying seven points, 13 rebounds and nine assists.
For Iona, it was an all-around disappointing effort. Glover entered the game with six straight double-doubles, all of which were at least 20-point performances. He got his double-double tonight, but scored 13 points, well below his season average of 22. Machado led the Gaels with 17 points but needed 14 shots to do so and notched just four assists.
"I didn't think we came out sharing the ball," Cluess said. "I thought we came out trying individually to show how good we were, which is not who we are as a team. We ended up with 15 assists—that's a terrible job for us. We played like we played the first weekend of the year when guys were very selfish with the basketball."
Iona has a full week before its next game, a December 29 home contest with Hofstra, before getting into the heart of the MAAC schedule.
"In our case it might be a good thing to restart right now," Cluess said. "We need to restart everything from square one, especially on the defensive end. I'm actually looking forward to having that time to get in here for lots and lots of hours over the holidays and try to improve."
