Vermont basketball struggled with in-game adversity for much of the 2025-26 season. Catamount players, as a unit, coach John Becker said, turned quiet and didn’t meet the moment in critical situations.
“It’s something I’ve been really hard on (with) the guys in the last month of the season,” Becker said.
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Through two America East playoff games, that’s no longer a concern for the program’s all-time winningest coach.
The second-seeded Catamounts clawed past No. 3 NJIT for a 63-54 victory in the conference tournament semifinals in front of 2,048 at Patrick Gym on Tuesday, March 10, booking their spot into the 11th league championship game of Becker’s 15-year tenure.
After a one-year absence, Vermont (22-11) will play for the league crown at No. 1 UMBC (23-8), with the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament at stake. In Tuesday’s other semifinal, UMBC crushed UMass Lowell, 91-69.
More: Vermont women’s basketball wins thriller to advance to America East final
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The 2026 America East final is slated for 11 a.m. on Saturday, March 14. It will be televised nationally on ESPN2.
“I thought in both of these playoff games … we responded really well and took back the lead, pushed out the lead and held onto the lead,” Becker said. “It’s a really good sign, and we’ll play a really tough UMBC. It’s going to take another defensive effort like that to give ourselves a chance on Saturday.”
Seniors TJ Hurley and TJ Long helped Vermont pull away in the second half vs. NJIT, with Hurley recording 14 points and five rebounds and Long netting 11 points on a trio of 3-pointers to go with five boards and five steals. Sean Blake also scored 14 points and Noah Barnett’s 11 points included an audacious 3-pointer, his first make of his career, during Vermont’s game-sealing run late in the second half.
Vermont basketball’s TJ Hurley dribbles away from two NJIT defenders during the America East semifinals at Patrick Gym on Tuesday, March 10, 2026.
For Hurley and Long, it was their final game at Patrick Gym. During his post-game news conference, Becker was visibly emotional when talking about two of his seniors who played in Burlington for seven combined seasons.
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“Those two guys willed us to win, incredible shot-making, incredible emotion,” Becker said of Hurley and Long. “TJ Long made some shots tonight, but I thought in both of these games he’s had a huge impact on the game in other ways than scoring.”
The Catamounts opened the semifinals red hot, racing to a 14-2 lead by the 13-minute mark. But the Catamounts went into a lull offensively for the remainder of the half, going eight-plus minutes without a field goal and allowing NJIT to get within striking distance, 26-18, at the break.
The shooting struggles continued in the second stanza for Vermont. And the Highlanders took full advantage, scoring 11 of the first 13 points of the second half. With 15:18 to go, NJIT took its first lead, Sebastian Robinson (20 points) gathering David Bolden’s whipped pass from the other side of the court and pouring in a 3-pointer.
Long responded with a short, baseline jumper, and freshman Momo Nkugwa provided a boost with a coast-to-coast finish after grabbing a defensive board to return the lead to Vermont.
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Long hit two more 3s, the latter on a friendly roll for a 38-33 margin with 11:58 to go. But arguably the game’s biggest shot came from the most unlikely source.
Following Quentin Duncan’s 2-for-3 effort at the foul line, NJIT cut the deficit to 39-37 with 10:13 to play. A minute later, Hurley drove baseline and tossed a pass to Barnett, the 6-foot-9 forward who entered Tuesday 0 of 5 in his career on 3-pointers.
And Barnett drilled the shot.
“I don’t even know what to say about that one,” Hurley said of Barnett’s triple. “I passed to him thinking he was going to swing it and he stepped into with confidence.”
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Becker thought Barnett’s 3-pointer got Vermont “out of a rut.”
“I was like, ‘What is he doing?’ And he makes it,” Becker said. “That woke us up, woke the crowd back up. It felt like that was the moment.”
Barnett’s 3-pointer started a 14-2 spurt that he finished with a two-handed dunk on a transition putback. By game’s end, NJIT was held to 36.2% shooting. Vermont also outscored NJIT in the paint, 24-18 and led for 38 minutes.
“I’m just really happy for the guys and for everyone in our program that we get to do something most schools, most teams don’t get an opportunity to play in a championship game and go to the NCAA Tournament,” Becker said.
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The showdown at UMBC will be just Vermont’s third road America East final under Becker. It’s also Vermont’s first America East playoff contest away from Patrick Gym in 10 years, a span of 25 games (22-3).
“That is an amazing stat. It speaks to what we’ve been able to do here,” Becker said.
Contact Alex Abrami at aabrami@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter: @aabrami5.
This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Vermont basketball vs NJIT in America East semifinals score
