‘The numbers are atrocious’: Vermont basketball suffers rare home defeat

Vermont basketball can point to key injuries as an easy reason for its lackluster performances in the nonconference season.

Longtime coach John Becker didn’t go that route after the Catamounts’ underwhelming, 60-53 defeat to Brown on Tuesday night in front of 2,111 at Patrick Gym.

The loss was Vermont’s first at home in 15 games, and just the third on Tom Brennan Court over the last four seasons (48-3).

“It’s another game we struggled to score the ball, struggled to rebound, struggled to take care of the ball. Credit to Brown, they played really hard, pressed us the whole game, got on the glass late when they needed to and had the best player on the court,” the 14th-year Catamount bench boss said. “Our injuries really aren’t an excuse because (Brown is) injured just as much as we are.

“We have to be better and that’s on me. Right now, it’s really difficult for us.”

Kino Lilly, Jr., whom Becker referenced as Tuesday night’s best player, drained four 3s and totaled a game-high 23 points, while Landon Lewis racked up a double-double of 19 points and 10 rebounds to power the Brown Bears (5-3).

Freshman guard Sean Blake scored a career-high 13 points and Shamir Bogues added 11 points and three steals for the Catamounts (5-5), who were without injured starters Nick Fiorillo and TJ Long for a third straight game. Transfer forward Shy Odom (concussion) also missed his second straight contest.

Fiorillo and Long are week to week with their injuries, according to a UVM athletic spokesperson.

The Catamounts made only 5 of 21 3-point attempts and shot 37.9% overall from the floor for the game. Their percentage worsened in the second half at just a 33.3% clip. And the Catamounts’ starting guards went 7 of 30 from field.

“The numbers are atrocious for us offensively. We are struggling to find consistency,” Becker said.

Ahead 31-28 at the break, Brown built a 12-point lead at 47-35 at the 15-minute mark of the second half. The Catamounts closed to within 53-50 on Ileri Ayo-Fale’s 3-pointer with 4:31 to play. Then Lilly responded with a driving layup, a step-back 3-point splash and a pair of foul shots to seal Brown’s road victory.

Redshirt freshman forward Noah Barnett (eight points on 4 of 5 shooting, six rebounds, two assists) was a bright spot, but scored all of his points in game’s first 5:08. The explosive Blake had flashes with strong takes to the rim, finishing 6 of 12 on his field-goal attempts.

Vermont’s inability to play out of the post, the graduation losses of Aaron Deloney and Matt Veretto and, yes, even the injuries have the America East Conference favorites searching to play cohesively on the offensive end.

“We’ve had these stretches early in the year when it looks discombobulated and we figure something out. But I think it’s really difficult when you can’t throw it into the post and play out of the post consistently,” Becker said.

“We have to continue to try and figure it out … but I don’t know what the answer is right now.”

Contact Alex Abrami at aabrami@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter: @aabrami5.