Enough was at stake for the Boston University men’s basketball team heading into its game against the University of Maine on Tuesday night at Agganis Arena.
They were at home, playing the conference-leading Black Bears, a team that had already dismantled them a mere month ago. There were also questions surrounding the season-ending injury to junior forward Jake O’Brien and how his absence would affect the Terriers going forward. Did they have any hope left to capture an elusive conference title without the preseason all-conference selection?
But in a mere instant, all of that changed, doubts laid to rest and questions cast aside for another day. For even in a sport like college basketball, where the sum of the parts far outstrips an individual cog, there are moments when greatness on the part of a lone player can trump all.
And on a snowy night in Boston, that moment happened when senior forward John Holland solidified his place in the annals of BU basketball history by becoming only the second Terrier to score 2,000 career points.
On a night when the Terriers won perhaps their most important game of the season, defeating Maine 88-78, Holland, true to form, took over the game, posting 12 rebounds to go along with 24 points to keep BU in the race for the America East title.
It was just one basket that changed everything, one basket that transformed a sparsely-attended early February game into something greater.
When Holland received a pass from junior guard Matt Griffin just outside 3-point range with a Maine defender backed several feet away, a defining moment in his career arrived as he fired up a shot that, like so many others in his time at BU, swished swiftly through the net as the crowd rose to its feet.
Yet for all the praise, for all the attention, Holland simply saw it as another basket to help his team achieve its goal: getting the win.
“It’s a nice accomplishment. I wasn’t really thinking about it too much, so it’s going to be easy to just move on,” Holland said afterwards. “It’s good we got the win today. That’s probably the more important thing.”
Coming into the game, Holland was 13 points away from joining Tunji Awojobi as one of the only 2,000 point scorers in BU history. But even with the landmark on the horizon, his concerns for the fate of his team far outweighed his concerns of his own stat line – so much so that Holland admitted after the game that he didn’t even know that his 3-pointer with 12:05 left in the game clinched the feat.
For Holland, it’s the culmination of a storied career in a Terrier uniform. He arrived in Boston with humble origins, having played in the shadow of future major conference stars like Corey Stokes and Samardo Samuels at perennial power St. Benedict’s Prep in Newark, N.J. The thought of reaching such a milestone was something that Holland said was unthinkable after entering college basketball as a relatively overlooked recruit.
“No, I couldn’t even imagine all that,” he said. “It’s nice, but I really had no idea. I was just trying to play.”
Holland showed brilliant promise and potential in his freshman season on his way to capturing the AE Rookie of the Year. He continued to find his niche and carve out an identity on a talent-laden roster that included Corey Lowe, Carlos Strong and Tyler Morris.
After Holland achieved first-team all-conference honors after his sophomore season, Dennis Wolff, the man who recruited Holland to BU, was fired and replaced with current coach Pat Chambers. Although he could have jumped to a higher-profile program, Holland stayed.
“He’s been very loyal to the program for a long time,” Chambers said. “I’m excited for him.”
Even the opposition couldn’t help but eloquently admire Holland’s career night. “He’s an explosive scorer. I mean, 2,000 points? Who does that? That’s a lot of freaking points,” said Maine coach Ted Woodward after the game.
Having seen injuries hamper teammates over the years, particularly this season, Holland said he can appreciate his accomplishment that much more because of his ability to persevere.
“With all the injuries we’ve had, I really look back on it and not take it for granted, every day that I have in a Boston University uniform,” he said. “Just being able to be on the court is a blessing.”
However, in light of all the praise and admiration paid to him as he reached his milestone, Holland continues to look ahead to what awaits the Terriers as they try to overcome all that has plagued them this season.
While his standout performance on Tuesday night may have helped him break the 2,000-point barrier, it also helped BU get closer to a goal that would transcend his decorated individual career, something that could enhance an already polished collegiate resume: winning a conference title and reaching his first NCAA Tournament and the program’s first since 2002.
“I guess one day I’ll look back on it like a nice accomplishment, but right now I’m just happy that we got the win,” Holland said. “We just need to keep the momentum going right now. It’s been a struggle so far this year. We’ve just got to keep grinding, but I think we’re getting there.”
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