Just minutes after the Boston University men’s basketball team put the finishing touches on a pristine 88-78 victory over the America East conference-leading University of Maine on Tuesday night, junior guard Matt Griffin said that “[the team’s] season so far has been a rollercoaster.”
If the first 10 games of conference play serve as a model, this is the part of the ride where the Terriers (11-13, 6-4 AE) come rolling on down the other side of that hill, hands in the air and screaming the whole way. That’s right, BU is going back on the road.
When the Terriers travel to Stony Brook University for a 7 p.m. tilt on Friday night, not only will they be trying to straighten out the rollercoaster track before them by maintaining the high level of play that they displayed on Tuesday, they will be looking to do so by earning just their second conference road win in six tries.
Simply put, BU is better on its home court, and it has shown that during conference play, posting a 5-0 record at Case Gymnasium and Agganis Arena and a 1-4 mark on the road. It scores more at home (72.2 points-per-game at home versus 58.4 on the road), rebounds more at home (36.6 rpg compared to 32.2) and it wins more at home.
BU’s road woes have not arisen because of tougher competition in road matchups early in the conference season, either. In fact, to this point in conference play, the Terriers’ home opponents’ combined conference record trumps that of their away opponents, 26-22 versus 21-25. BU has performed better against tougher competition at home than against lesser competition on the road when it comes to wins and losses. Again, five times better.
So how can the Terriers hope to avoid the stomach-turning rollercoaster drop that history says is coming on Friday?
“We need to keep getting better,” said BU coach Patrick Chambers following Tuesday’s game. “The last couple days, [the team] competed [in practice]. And it was nice to see. And that’s what we need to do Wednesday, Thursday, going into Friday.”
BU’s success starts with its only senior, forward John Holland. The star recently eclipsed the 2,000-point mark on Tuesday night to become just the second player in BU history to reach the milestone.
Last time the Terriers met the Seawolves (9-12, 4-5 AE), Holland recorded his career-best fifth straight game with 20 or more points by scoring 29 on 9-of-17 shooting. While the Seawolves managed to contain Holland offensively for the first 14:15 of the game, holding him to two points on 0-of-1 shooting, he found his stride before halftime and continued to dominate in the second.
Stony Brook is riding a two-game win streak with wins against Hartford University and University of Maryland-Baltimore County. A win against the Terriers would match its longest winning streak of the season and finish off a perfect three-game homestand. It would also boost its conference record to .500 and put some distance between them and the cellar-dwellers of the America East Conference.
Although the Seawolves were picked to finish second behind BU in the America East preseason coaches’ poll, injuries have taken their toll on what was supposed to be one of the most experienced squads in the conference.
Stony Brook lost arguably its best player in junior forward Tommy Brenton to a knee injury in the preseason. Brenton averaged 9.7 rebounds per game to lead AE in 2009-2010, a statistic that suggests that if he were healthy this year, Stony Brook would be even more dangerous on the boards.
Junior guard Bryan Dougher has picked up the slack with 13.4 points per game. In the Seawolves’ most recent game, Dougher hit two 3-pointers down the stretch to put the game out of UMBC’s reach. Dougher tied Josh Little for the most 3-pointers made by a Seawolf at 221, and will look to break the record on Friday.
Despite Dougher’s potency from beyond the arc, the Seawolves’ strength this season has been on the defensive side of the basketball. They lead the league in rebounding with 38.6 per game and in field goal percentage defense, holding teams to an astounding 35.5 percent from the field.
Last time the teams met, Stony Brook’s defensive pressure was visible throughout the game, but the Terriers found a way to post a 43.8 field goal percentage against them.
On BU’s defensive end, Chambers’ squad had trouble containing junior forward Dallis Joyner, who scored 15 points on 5-of-5 shooting from the floor while snagging six rebounds. Dougher struck from 3-point land twice en route to 12 total points on 5-of-10 from the floor.
In many ways, the Terriers turned the tables on the Seawolves in their last meeting, out-rebounding them 35-34 and breaking through their stifling defense. If they can execute a similar game plan on Friday, they could be well on their way to straightening out the rollercoaster and, more importantly, capturing another elusive road win.
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