FINAL SCORE: #4 Duke 64, #13 Vermont 47
BROOKLYN, NY – No. 13 Vermont's (28-7, 15-1 AE) 2023-24 campaign came to an end Friday night when it suffered a hard-fought 64-47 loss to No. 4 Duke (24-8, 15-5 ACC) in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament at Barclays Center.
 
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COACH'S QUOTE
"Tough loss, it obviously always hurts a lot when your season ends, especially when you've had a season like we've had this year," Cioffi Men's Basketball Head Coach John Becker said. "Just a special group of guys and people that achieved so much this year, and you know we won't be defined by this loss. But it obviously hurts on a lot of levels. You know, season came to an end. Careers came to an end. And that's always hard. That's always really hard to deal with. I thought we battled. I thought we did enough defensively even though we weren't perfect, but we battled on that end of the court. We kept their All-American at bay, so to speak. He took some really good pass plays and took what we were doing to him, which is a credit to him, but we just couldn't find the magic. We could never get on that run, string a bunch of shots together. But credit to Duke. They made a lot of nice adjustments. Obviously a very talented team. Well-coached team. We wish them luck as they move through this tournament, and we will continue to work, develop, recruit, do whatever we can so we can start advancing in this tournament, and that's all we can do. And we'll pray for TJ Long and his health."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Ileri Ayo-Faleye put Vermont on the scoreboard first, giving them a 3-0 edge after draining his first attempted three, earning the Catamounts an early lead ten seconds into the match.
• The Blue Devils responded, scoring six unanswered points, gaining the lead 6-3 with 17:03 remaining of the first half.
• Aaron Deloney registered the next five points for Vermont, delivering on his layup and swishing his first three of the game as Vermont regained the advantage, 8-6, with 16:09 remaining of the opening half.
• Dukes' Jeremy Roach connected with a three pointer on the following possession to give Duke a 9-8 lead.
• Shamir Bogues tallied his first basket with 15:16 left after making a mid-range jump shot in the paint to give Vermont the one-point lead, 10-9.
• A made jump shot from Deloney sliced into a 10-2 run by the Blue Devils, earning them a 19-12 edge with 13:21 left in the first frame.
• Following consistent back and forth basketball with strong defense on both ends, TJ Hurley drilled his first three of the game on the fast break to bring Vermont within five, 28-23, within 3:45 left in the opening half.
• TJ Long cut the Catamounts' deficit to four, 29-25, after making his jumper with 2:55 remaining of the opening half.
• Bogues earned another two points on Vermont's next offensive possession, executing his jump shot in the paint to bring Vermont within two, 29-27, with 2:00 left in the first half.
• Duke went on a 5-0 scoring run in the final two minutes before Deloney made an underhanded shot in the paint with 0:04 on the clock, concluding scoring in the first half. Vermont went into halftime trailing 34-29.
• Mark Mitchell got things started in the second frame after two-hand dunking the ball for the Blue Devils, earning the 36-29 lead.
• Bogues answered for the Catamounts with a strong drive to the rim, executing his layup attempt, bringing the Catamounts within five again, 36-31.
• Keeping the pressure on, Bogues scored the next three points for Vermont to put them within two, 36-34, with 16:30 of gametime remaining.
• Duke dialed up a 14-5 scoring run in the next eight minutes to earn a double-digit lead, 50-39, within 8:25 left in the game.
• Bogues bounced back for the Catamounts, scoring the next five consecutive points after making his tough layup attempt and drilling a three-pointer with 7:26 remaining. Vermont trailed 50-44.
• A Deloney three jabbed into a 6-0 scoring run from Duke with 4:42 remaining to bring the Catamounts within nine, 56-47.
• The Blue Devils finished on an 8-0 scoring run, earning them the 64-47 victory over the Catamounts.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Vermont finishes the season with 28 wins, tied for the second most in program history.
• Bogues led Vermont with 18 points to go along with five rebounds, three assists and a team high two steals. The junior scored 14 of his points in the second half and registered his 1,000th career point in the frame.
• Deloney followed, earning 14 points. He also had three rebounds, two assists and one steal.
• Vermont's defense held the Duke Blue Devils to the least number of points they've scored in a single game all season (64).
• Sam Alamutu registered a team high in rebounds, corralling seven boards.
• Long and Bogues tied a team-high three assists on the night.