The Vermont Catamounts have finished the brief season-starting tour of Alabama after battling against the Auburn Tigers.
The UAB Blazers proved to be a tough opponent, but the Catamounts were ultimately able to dig out the 67-62 win. The trip to Auburn, however, proved to be very different for the Catamounts after a strong and promising start. Vermont kept a tight game until halfway through the first-half when the floodgates seemingly opened for the Tigers.
Vermont is a tough win for any team in the country, but the Auburn Tigers really proved what the difference is between the two skill levels. The Tigers are preparing for arguably the toughest SEC season to date with new comers Oklahoma and Texas in the mix now. Auburn faces off against the #4 Houston Cougars next in a game that could certainly produce fireworks.
For the Vermont Catamounts, however, a trip to Iona and Merrimack are next on the schedule before finally returning home to Burlington. The Catamounts have six-straight home games after tipping off the season on the road. Vermont must play Buffalo, Delaware, Fairfield, Platts State, Northeastern, and Brown with the first conference game occurring in January.
What Went Right, What Went Wrong for the Vermont Catamounts Against the Auburn Tigers
While there might not be much to talk about in regards to doing things correctly in a 94-43 loss, the Vermont Catamounts did still have a handful of positives.
The first real positive for the team occurred in the first portion of the game, when Vermont kept a relatively close score. The Catamounts slowed down the offense in the first ten minutes of play and focused on playing fundamental basketball. When doing so, the team had the most success against the Auburn Tigers and appeared to frustrate the opposing team.
However, one thing that went wrong for the team that really derailed the early success was over a dozen of costly turnovers. The Catamounts turned the basketball over 16 times which is a real momentum shift for any team, no matter how great of an offense a team might have. Vermont could not get anything going on offense after turning the ball over a handful of times, and by then the momentum continued to trend downwards for the Catamounts.
One aspect of the game that was against the Vermont Catamounts from the start, however, was the noise level within Neville Arena. Every time the Catamounts had the ball on offense the crowd become so loud that even the commentary on the television broadcast was difficult to hear. It is hard to imagine a world where to Catamounts were able to mount any sort of comeback against that level of crowd intensity.
Despite the loss, the Vermont Catamounts will move on and focus on the next two games ahead before returning home. Vermont is currently ranked 103rd on the 2025 Pomeroy College Basketball Index, with a win over the 97th-ranked UAB Blazers. Upcoming opponents Iona and Merrimack are ranked 184th and 231st, respectively, meaning they should be easy wins for the Catamounts.
For More Content
Message me on X (Formerly known as Twitter) @JarrettGuerrera for questions and opportunities. For more basketball content, click here!
