By james art 
Bruce Pearl spoke in a slightly worried tone as he described Vermont Monday afternoon.
“Vermont is very similar to Yale, which should worry all of us,” Pearl said.
It wasn’t the first time Pearl used the term “Yale-like” to describe Vermont.
“I don’t want to scare anybody, but they’re a lot like Yale,” Pearl said immediately after Auburn’s exhibition win over Florida Atlantic, “and we know what that means.”
Those are words that are sure to scare Auburn fans, raising fears of picking up where Auburn left off to end last season, an ending defined by a first-round NCAA Tournament loss to Yale.
Vermont is similar to the Yale team. The Catamounts also won their conference last season and made March Madness, but lost to Duke in the first round.
They’re not quite the same, though, and as Vermont travels to Auburn after a 67-62 season-opening win over UAB, here’s what you need to know about the Catamounts:
The coach
John Becker has been Vermont’s head coach since 2011, and Pearl called him “one of the best middle school coaches in the country.”
In his 13 seasons as head coach, Becker’s teams have won the America East regular season title nine times and made the NCAA Tournament six times. He was an assistant at Vermont for five years before becoming the head coach.
The team
Vermont returns most of its production from last season, including its top two scorers. Guards TJ Hurley and Shamir Bogues were the two standouts against UAB, scoring 20 and 13 points, respectively.
Bogus won the America East Rookie of the Year last season and earned praise from Pearl, who called him a “dominant point guard.” He had most of his success against UAB early on, beating defenders off the dribble and finishing well at the rim.
The team is top defensively, finishing ninth nationally in scoring defense last season, holding opponents to 63 points per game. Vermont was also 14-0 last season when holding teams under 60 points.
UAB barely eclipsed 60 points, but Vermont held the Blazers to 38.2 percent shooting and 0-for-10 shooting from 3-point range. Three-point defense was one of the Catamounts’ specialties last season, holding opponents to 31.4 percent shooting from beyond the arc.
Vermont also ranked ninth in fewest turnovers, averaging just 9.1 per game. Against UAB — a team that likes to catch and press the ball — Vermont turned the ball over just five times.
It’s an offense that requires teams to be disciplined on defense, avoid turnovers and play at a methodical pace. Last season, Vermont ranked 350th out of 363 teams in Division I in adjusted pace, averaging 63.3 possessions per 40 minutes.
The offense is ball screen heavy and likes to move the ball constantly. Was able to create open shots and good matchups against UAB that way and will force Auburn to rotate at every position. The only slight concern this might cause is how the two Auburn centers Pearl chose to play together can handle those rotations and shifts.
Vermont’s style of play creates a completely different type of game than what Auburn played against Florida Atlantic, a game where Auburn can play in transition and pile up possessions and points.
“We’re going to have to hit some good shots,” Pearl said of adjusting to Vermont’s style. “There won’t be as much freedom.”
Players to watch
As mentioned earlier, Bogus and Hurley were Vermont’s best players against UAB and seemed to be the focal points of the offense.
Bogus was second on the team in scoring last season and is Vermont’s primary point guard. Hurley plays mostly off the ball, but he made four 3-pointers against UAB and shot a career-high 39% from beyond the arc.
He’s more than just a catch-and-shoot player, too, scoring a go-ahead basket against UAB with 59 seconds left on a hotly contested pull-up jumper near the elbow.
Another player to watch is guard TJ Long, who led the team in scoring last season. He was relatively quiet against UAB, scoring 10 points on 2-for-9 shooting, but had five 20-point games during the 2023-24 campaign, shooting 36.3 percent from 3-point range.
Noah Barnett gave Vermont solid minutes in the paint, though he got a tough matchup against UAB’s Jaxel Lendeborg. He finished with eight points and six rebounds and had some tough baskets around the rim.
Pearl called Vermont’s bigs “undersized, but they’re physical.” Barnett stands at 6-foot-9, but his ability and the rest of the lineup to spread the floor could create tough matchups for Auburn if it plays two centers, as it did against FAU and Furman.
Peter Rauterkus covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X on @peter_rauterkus or email him at [email protected]m