Vermont Reminds Bruce Pearl of Certain March Madness Opponent

Bruce Pearl is taking Vermont seriously after seeing the parallels to their infamous tournament opponent

Bruce Pearl sees some bulldog in these catamounts / Gary Cosby Jr.-Tuscaloosa News / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The No. 11 Auburn Tigers officially begins the 2024-25 season on Wednesday night, but it will do so against a team that closely resembles the one that shattered its March Madness dreams.

It has been 228 days since the No. 11 seed Yale Bulldogs upset the No. 4 seed Auburn in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, ending the Tigers’ season significantly earlier than many anticipated.

Auburn takes on the Vermont Catamounts who beat the UAB Blazers 67-62 in Birmingham, Ala. on Monday night in their season opener. According to Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl, Vermont is a similar team to how Yale was last season.

“So Vermont is very Yale-like, which should concern us all,” Pearl said. “John Becker, (head) coach of Vermont, he’s got a great reputation back East. One of the best mid-major coaches in the country, been doing it a long time.”

Vermont is a strong defensive team. The Catamounts held opponents to 63 points per game on average last season, placing them at No. 9 in the country. Additionally, Vermont was No. 10 in the country in turnovers, averaging 9.2 per game.

In its season opener against UAB, Vermont allowed Blazers forward Yaxel Lendeborg to score 22 points but held the rest of the team in check as UAB had only one other player reach double-figures.

“We knew that this was going to be a game against the field right from the very beginning,” Pearl said. “They’ll (Vermont) run really good offensive stuff, hard to guard stuff. Their bigs are undersized but physical. They’re almost physical to a fault. They’ve got a couple dead-eye shooters, again kind of like Yale. It’ll be a really scrappy team I expect.”

Pearl identified what will likely be the biggest key to success for Auburn against Vermont, particularly on the defensive end of the floor.

“Being aggressive without fouling,” Pearl said. “This group of guys at Vermont have been together for a long time, they work well together. If you overplay things too much, they’ll beat your back door in.”

With the rule changes the NCAA made that allow teams to play exhibitions against Division I opponents, Auburn has two games under its belt heading into the season. 

The Tigers won both games, beating Furman 83-62 and FAU 102-70. However, Pearl is worried that things may have gone too well for his team in those games.

“We played really well, I wish we hadn’t played quite so well,” Pearl said. “It’s gonna be hard to play better than we did. It’s gonna be so different against Vermont.”

Tip-off for the Tigers and Catamounts is set for 7 p.m. CT inside Neville Arena. SEC Network will carry the television broadcast.