Walking off the court of the University of Rhode Island’s Ryan Center last Friday afternoon, the Boston University men’s basketball team was at a crossroads.
On a day known as Black Friday across the country, the Terriers (2-4) were in their darkest moment of the young season, having just given up a two-possession lead in the final 10 seconds of what turned out to be a 63-62 loss to Cleveland State University, a loss that kept BU winless on the season.
But at a time when a team adjusting to a first-year head coach could have easily unraveled, the opposite occurred. The Terriers came together and responded by winning their final two games in the TicketCity Legends Classic in Kingston, R.I. by dispatching Rhode Island and Hofstra University.
For senior center Patrick Hazel, who sent a reassuring text message to coach Joe Jones after the Cleveland State loss, the tournament provided the Terriers with a chance to quickly rebound from such a big disappointment.
“That was the beauty of it, that’s why you have to love playing in those tournaments – you get the chance to go right back out and do it the next day,” Hazel, one of the team tri-captains, said. “That was the mindset we had – be upset about it, but come tomorrow morning, get ready to go and focus on our game plan against Rhode Island, and that’s what we did. We tried to move past it and forget about it.”
The momentum that BU gathered over Thanksgiving Break is something it will hope to continue as the team will look to extend its current win streak to three as it faces off against the University of Delaware Wednesday night at Case Gymnasium.
After losing its first four games of the Joe Jones era, BU is riding its first win streak of the season after a 70-64 win over the host Rams followed by a 68-61 win the next day over Hofstra.
Emblematic of its ability to recover from the late meltdown against Cleveland State, BU was able to come back from deficits against both teams that extended well into the second half.
“We really just focused on staying together and keeping our heads up because we knew we played well enough to win that game and we believed in ourselves that we’re a good enough team,” said senior guard and tri-captain Matt Griffin. “We were really just tired of losing close games like that, so we just want to stick together and push through the tough times.
“We didn’t want that loss to affect how we would play in the next two games, so we wanted to come out even harder than we did before.”
What was it that changed between the Terriers’ first four games of the season and its current two-game run?
Hazel and Griffin both acknowledged a greater comfort level with Jones’ inside-out system as being central to the success.
In an offensive scheme predicated upon speedy ball movement and taking open shots, the Terriers have exceled in its two wins, shooting 48.6 percent from the field and 34.3 percent from 3-point range in those games.
As for the losses, BU shot 37.6 percent on field goals and 20.2 percent from beyond the arc in its four defeats.
“It’s all a credit to coach Jones and the way he wants to run the offense,” Hazel said of the team’s improvement. “He wants to run it inside-out where we try to look for opportunities and just share the ball. He thinks we can be most effective when we get the ball moving to where guys can get the best shots.”
Challenging the Terriers and their offensive progression under Jones is a Delaware (2-2) team on a two-game win streak of its own.
After losing its first two games of the season, the Blue Hens have rattled off wins against Cornell University and Lafayette College, the former of which BU lost to 71-66 on Nov. 20.
Delaware has relied on younger contributors for much of the season, as three of its top five scorers are freshmen or sophomores.
No player has been counted on more than sophomore guard Devon Saddler, who enters the game averaging 24.5 points per game, a figure that makes him the nation’s second-leading scorer.
Though the Terriers just started watching film of Delaware Monday night, they immediately know it will take a concerted defensive effort to limit Saddler and the Blue Hens.
“They’re big, they rebound the ball well and they have a very good scorer,” Griffin said. “We’re really going to have to play good team defense and rebound the basketball extremely well against this team.”
For a BU team still learning to make its way in a new system under a new coach, the chance for a third straight win is an exciting proposition.
“It’s all going to take time, but we’re starting to get things going on the offensive end and defensively, we’re starting to pick things up too,” Hazel said. “Things are starting to gel now, but we really haven’t done much yet. We just have to keep building one day at a time.”
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