A good old fashion beatdown
Auburn overwhelmed Vermont with their pressure defense and handed the Cats their first loss of the season. The Tigers are a top 10 team with national championship aspirations and played like it from the start. Vermont's offense never got off the ground as Auburn's full court press and perimeter ball pressure completely disrupted everything that the Cats tried to do. The Tigers forced 16 Catamount turnovers and smothered everything at the rim. After holding UAB scoreless from three, the law of averages swung back in a big way as Auburn couldn't miss from deep. It is never fun to lose a game that badly, but going 1-1 on the road trip can be viewed as a success and this game will give Vermont plenty to look at and use as motivation to get better.
Noah Barnett and Seth Joba's development was a big time bright spot during the road trip. They both showed flashes and are going to give the Cats the frontcourt depth they have been desperate for the last few seasons. Barnett's rebounding and hustle are going to be a huge asset and Joba looks comfortable offensively. His ability to stretch the floor and knock down threes is going to be really valuable. Sean Blake was active on the boards and gives the Cats another scorer off the dribble. He will have to clean up the turnovers but those freshman mistakes will likely become fewer as the season goes on. Outside of the first few minutes against UAB, Shamir Bogues really struggled to get to the rim and finish. Feels like the missed time during the preseason created some rust and he is still getting back into the swing. Same for TJ Long. Ileri Ayo-Faleye's offseason work to improve his shooting looks good so far. He also had some great blocks, continuing to establish himself as an elite defender. Becker used this as an opportunity to send a message to the struggling starters and get the deeper parts of the rotation more minutes and a chance to show what they can do. Shy Odom made his Catamount debut and continues to try and get back to his old form and adjust to the Vermont system. He hit a nice three early and tried to establish himself down low in the second half. He is still getting comfortable with when to push within the offense and was a little loose with the ball.
Now the Cats head back up north and get ready for a game at Merrimack on Saturday. It will be really interesting to start to see the rotation forming and how the coaching staff uses what they learned on this opening road trip.
