'He's the GOAT': Becker eclipses Brennan as Vermont silences Bryant in AE tilt

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'He's the GOAT': Becker eclipses Brennan as Vermont silences Bryant in AE tilt

Alex Abrami, Burlington Free Press · The Burlington Free Press

Sat, Jan 7, 2023 ·

5 min read

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John Becker's first trip to Burlington was when he moved his family here in 2006 to join the University of Vermont men's basketball team as the director of operations — the low man on Mike Lonergan's staff.

Three promotions, five NCAA Tournaments and 17 years later, no head coach has more career wins in program history than Becker.

The Catamounts stormed to a convincing, wire-to-wire 74-64 victory over Bryant in an America East Conference showdown on Thursday night, pushing Becker atop the record books in front of 2,304 at Patrick Gym.

At 265-110, Becker eclipses the cherished Tom Brennan, who led the Catamounts to a program-altering March Madness victory over Syracuse in a swan song final season in 2005.

"This is obviously my opinion, but he's the GOAT," UVM fifth-year senior Robin Duncan said of Becker. "It's one of the best wins for us in my career."

Vermont coach John Becker directs the Catamounts during UVM's 74-64 win over Bryant on Thursday night at Patrick Gym. Becker became the program's all-time wins leader with a 265-110 overall record.

Becker said he feels "really fortunate" and "lucky" to be in this position at Vermont. After the final buzzer on Thursday, Becker and Brennan embraced. Becker has often called Brennan, who watched from his usual seat under the basket near the Catamount bench, "the godfather" of UVM basketball.

"I'd like to thank all of my former players, all my former coaches, staff people, University of Vermont for giving me this opportunity, for coach Brennan for getting this thing going and making this a good job, a cool job," said Becker, who also thanked Lonergan for bringing him to UVM. "It's something I never thought would be possible. To now be the all-time wins leader at a place like Vermont and to pass a guy like Tom Brennan, it's incredible."

More: John Becker's biggest wins of record tenure with UVM men's basketball

In Thursday's win, the Catamounts (8-8, 2-0) forced 22 Bryant turnovers and held the Bulldogs to 21 points under their season average. Aaron Deloney drained five 3-pointers in a 19-point, zero-turnover performance, while Matt Veretto (13 points), TJ Hurley (12 points) and Kam Gibson (11 points) also reached double figures for the hosts.

For Bryant (10-5, 1-1), Earl Timberlake tallied 17 points and 13 rebounds and Antwan Walker also had a double-double with 13 points and 12 boards. Sherif Gross-Bullock added 13 points before receiving a double technical late in the game. Charles Pride tacked on 11 points and eight boards.

Catamounts race to victory in key matchup

Vermont's Matt Veretto shoots a 3 pointer during the Catamounts 74-64 win over Bryant on Thursday night at UVM's Patrick Gym.

In a battle of the preseason favorites in America East, defending champion Vermont set the early tone and frustrated a Bryant side that entered Thursday averaging more than 85 points a game.

Matt Veretto scored the game's first seven points, finding weak spots in Bryant's 2-3 zone for a pair of jumpers and an inside finish. After Bryant cut the deficit to 13-11 later in the half, UVM uncorked a 11-2 spurt for its first double-digit margin at 24-13.

During the run, Bryant head coach Jared Grasso was tagged with a technical foul.

"I thought our defense was tremendous right from the opening tap and I thought we just controlled the game at that end of the court and limited a really talented Bryant team," Becker said.

Vermont's Finn Sullivan tries to block a Bulldog shot during the Catamounts 74-64 win over Bryant on Thursday night at UVM's Patrick Gym.

Ahead 33-22 at the break, UVM pushed its margin to as many as 16 points in the second stanza. The hosts also committed just five turnovers in the game.

Bryant, which likes to push the tempo, sank only 4 of 21 from the 3-point line and didn't make its first triple until the first basket of the second half. Bryant also committed 28 fouls, and combined with the turnover miscues offset a 45-23 rebounding edge.

"We did exactly what we wanted to do. Our defense was incredible. Being able to practice and get those defensive reps really helped," Deloney said. "It feels great when you can stop a really good offensive team from making them get the shots that they want."

Bryant did cut the deficit to 68-62 in the final two minutes before UVM went 6-for-6 at the foul line to seal Becker's 150th America East triumph.

"It's really important to win home games in league," Becker said.

Becker enjoying later seasons at UVM

In his first season as head coach, Becker's Catamounts endured an early five-game losing streak.

"I was wondering if I was going to hold on to my job to be honest with you," Becker said.

By season's end, though, the Catamounts captured the league tournament crown and beat Lamar in a first-four game at the NCAA Tournament.

And the winning hasn't stopped since.

Becker has steered the Catamounts to seven conference regular-season crowns, five league championships and four appearances at March Madness. His six America East coach of the year awards are a league record.

"I was just fighting for my life and I had no idea what I was doing. I was trying to keep my job and hang on," Becker said. "Having success and not worrying about my job security and being older, I enjoy it a lot more now than I did back then."

For Duncan, the longest-tenured Catamount and one of three brothers to play at UVM, Becker remains the program's face.

"JB has always been JB. He's always been emotional and he's always cared about us," Duncan said. "I call him a softie sometimes because he's always so emotional."

Contact Alex Abrami at aabrami@freepressmedia.com . Follow him on Twitter: @aabrami5 .