Coming off of two impressive victories to open the season, the Boston University men’s basketball team made the trip down to Storrs, Conn., to take on the then-No. 19 University of Connecticut in the 2K Sports Classic.
D.J. Irving scored 17 points in loss to UConn this past Sunday.
While they put up a tough fight throughout the game, the Terriers (2-1) were unable to come away with an upset victory, falling to the Huskies (4-0) 77-60 Sunday.
In the opening minutes, UConn immediately went after the Terriers’ lack of size in the backcourt. A turnover and a quick scoring run put the Terriers behind 8-0 just over two minutes into the game.
“We came out a little tentative on their floor and needed an attack mentality and didn’t do that,” said BU coach Joe Jones. “I knew that if we just made a basket I was confident we could work our way back.”
The Huskies’ quick start was only part of BU’s worries as the Terriers struggled to get their offense going. Their first basket came over five minutes into the first half with free throw from senior guard D.J. Irving.
BU did not hit its first field goal until sophomore guard Cedric Hankerson nailed a 3-pointer to cut the UConn lead to 19-7 with 11:26remaining in the half. Prior to Hankerson’s deep ball, the Terriers were 0-for-12 from the field and 0-for-7 from beyond the arc.
After Hankerson’s jumper, the Huskies continued their dominance. Over the next five minutes, UConn went on a 13-2 run to take a 32-13 lead. With 6:16 remaining, Jones called a timeout to gather his team.
“We just wanted to settle down and play,” Jones said. “I just wanted to let them know to stay within our concepts on offense and defense and that everything will be okay.”
In the final minutes of the half, the Terriers, led by an energetic effort by Irving, went on a 19-5 run to cut the Huskies’ lead to 37-32 heading to halftime. The stretch was capped off by a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Irving.
“We showed some great resiliency and toughness,” Jones said. ‘That’s just the result of playing hard and competing, good things are going to happen. We were able to get some daylight there and [sophomore guard] Maurice [Watson Jr.] did a great job of finding [Irving].”
To start the second half, the Terriers did not shy away from the aggressive play they displayed over the final seven minutes of the first frame. BU started the half outscoring UConn 11-5 to take a 43-42 lead two-and-a-half minutes into the second frame.
While the Terriers posted a slim lead, UConn charged back and never fell behind again. With 13 minutes remaining in the game, the Huskies opened up a seven-point lead with two electric dunks, forcing Jones to call another timeout.
“I thought we hit a rough patch,” Jones said. “To play a team like that, you have to play at a certain level for 40 minutes, and we weren’t able to do that.”
The Terriers failed to move the ball around effectively as the half progressed and as result, the team was forced to take many contested deep shots. The Huskies took advantage of this, grabbing a 64-49 lead with 8:05 remaining in the game.
Unfortunately, BU could not muster another comeback as the Huskies went on to win the game handedly by a score of 77-60.
After beginning the half hitting four of the first five shots, the Terriers ended up shooting 10-28 in the half, and 4-17 from 3-point range. Overall, BU shot 34.4 percent from the field in the game.
“Against a team like team like that you have to make shots,” Jones said. “I thought we got good shots throughout the game, they just didn’t go in. I thought if we shot the ball better, it might’ve been a different story.”
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