Terriers right a sinking ship after tough loss to UNH, ride wave to championship game

After a 60-48 loss to University of New Hampshire, it appeared that the Boston University men’s basketball team was on the verge of collapse, if not at that point already.

The Terriers had not only suffered their most humiliating loss of the season at the hands of one of the America East Conference’s worst teams—playing without two of its best players, no less—but it was their third loss in the last five games.

With an overall record of 10-13 with just eight games remaining in the regular season, it seemed like the Terriers, the preseason pick to win the America East title, were following an all-too-familiar script—high expectations followed by underwhelming play and utter disappointment.

When it seemed as though fortune could get no worse for the Terriers, it did with the news of a season-ending foot injury to junior forward Jake O’Brien, a preseason all-conference selection and the team’s leading rebounder at the time.

With a game approaching against then-conference leading University of Maine, it seemed plausible enough for BU to fold, to accept its efforts of winning with seven freshmen and four transfers as a lost cause in what was looking to be a lost season.

Throughout the season, Chambers had alluded to “tapping the stone,” but at this point in the year—a moment that Chambers, funnily enough, called “rock bottom”—it seemed like his team was trying to chisel away a mountain with a pick-axe.

Yet roughly a month and a half later, the Terriers are mere days away from hosting the AE Championship, a game that could potentially send BU to its first NCAA Tournament in almost a decade.

But how is it then that a team seemingly lost for solutions, with its star forward reduced to crutches, can now be in contention for a spot in a select field for college basketball’s greatest prize?

It’s a turnaround that has redefined BU’s season, a product of a team faced with adversity that has responded with its best and most consistent team play of the season—play that has produced a season-high 10-game win streak that ranks as the third-longest active win streak in the nation.

Faced with difficult odds and challenges in late January, the team’s transformation was one that had to first begin mentally and emotionally.

“At that point in the season, we couldn’t feel sorry for ourselves,” said junior guard and tri-captain Matt Griffin. “We just had to stick together and really focus on believing in each other, trusting each other and getting better.”

Much of that change rested with the team becoming aware of what needed to be accomplished and why exactly they found themselves in an unfavorable position so late in the season. It took an effort for the team to realize that while they had problems, they had to recognize those shortcomings and improve upon them to succeed.

“I feel like the game at UNH showed us we were very vulnerable and ever since, we’ve learned how to become a tougher team and strike those weaknesses that we had,” said junior forward and fellow tri-captain Patrick Hazel.

Mired in a wave of continually coming up short, particularly late in games, the team faced an uncertain future with the loss of O’Brien, who at the time was one of the team’s top scorers at 10.9 points per game. With O’Brien confined to the bench, the Terriers were not only losing a statistically-productive player, but also a team captain and a stabilizing, experienced presence for a team wrought with so much turnover.

It was then that each and every player on the BU team knew it was imperative for him to improve individually and try to redefine their season without their star forward.

“They were tired of losing and just not getting it done on the road,” Chambers said. “I think everything just came to a halt. So we had to move on and everybody’s got to step up.”

Much of the BU team has been able to step up since the fateful loss to New Hampshire, but perhaps no group has epitomized that progression more than the team’s three transfers – Griffin, Hazel and junior guard Darryl Partin.

Partin has emerged as a reliable No. 2 scoring option for the Terriers without O’Brien on the floor, averaging 16.9 points per game during the team’s current win streak, a feat that helped  him earn recognition as a first-team all-conference performer.

Despite being in his first year of eligibility at BU, Griffin has also emerged as a constant for a remodeled Terriers team, fulfilling his captain’s role.

And for Hazel, perhaps the most highly-anticipated of the transfers given his Marquette University pedigree, the change and improvement has come in the form of becoming a team leader in the two areas of the game which Chambers routinely stresses—defense and rebounding. Hazel is averaging a team-high 5.9 rebounds per game, while also providing the Terriers with an excellent low post defender whose 1.9 blocks per game not only lead the team, but also helped Hazel earn a spot on the AE All-Defensive team.

“Now you’re starting to see a confident Pat Hazel – that’s scary, but also very exciting,” Chambers said.

Having rebounded from their lowest point of the season just less than six weeks ago, the Terriers are just 40 minutes away from their ultimate goal.

But even with a 10-game win streak in which BU has played its best ball of the season, the team feels that there is more that remains to be accomplished in what has rather improbably become a decorated season—even if it didn’t always seem like it would end that way.

“We’ve still got a long way to go and I still feel like we haven’t played our best basketball,” Hazel said. “As long as we continue to build our preparation like we’re doing in practice right now throughout the whole week, I feel like we’ll eventually break the stone.”