Offensive inefficiency plagues men’s basketball against Black Knights

Heading into a tough Patriot League matchup against the United States Military Academy, the Boston University men’s basketball team knew what it had to do to come away with a victory. But its efforts just weren’t enough.

To complete the season sweep of the Black Knights (18-11, 9-8 Patriot League), the Terriers (17-13, 10-7 Patriot League) would have had to be aggressive on the glass, as Army is the top offensive rebounding team in the Patriot League. BU would also have needed to contain the Black Knights’ offensive playmakers in seniors Tanner Plomb and Kyle Wilson. Finally, the Terriers would have needed to stay out of foul trouble with only three big men dressed for the game.

Although the Terriers did all of these things, they were unable to overcome shooting woes, as BU fell 80-71 to Army Tuesday night at Case Gym. The Terriers finished 24-of-68 from the field, and they shot a measly 28.2 percent in the second half to let the game slip away. This performance comes after an 80-59 loss to Bucknell University Sunday, a game in which BU made 32.8 percent of its shots.

BU head coach Joe Jones said he believes his team has played solid defense in the past few games, but it needs to be more consistent on offense in order to pull out victories.

“We need some shots to go down,” Jones said. “We had good looks, [but] we missed them, we missed shots at the rim. The last two games, both teams have shot in the mid 40s, [and] usually that’s good enough to win games. You make a few more shots, they probably would be in the low 40s. But you miss, and now you’re playing in transition a little more and the game becomes looser.”

If the Terriers shot anywhere near their usual percentage from the field against the Black Knights, it is likely they would have come away with their 11th conference victory. Sophomore forward Nick Havener led all players in rebounds, pulling down 15 of BU’s 43 total boards.

BU also held down Plomb and Wilson, who average a combined 37 points per game. Plomb scored only four points in the second half, and Wilson shot 5-of-14 in the game. The Terriers even managed to stay out of serious foul trouble for most of the game before Havener fouled out with 22 seconds remaining, with the game no longer in doubt.

However, BU could not shake its inconsistencies in shooting the ball. Senior guard John Papale, who averages 11.3 points per game, went 2-of-9 in the game and missed all three of his 3-point shots in 38 minutes of play.

BU winds down the shot clock and Fanning takes it to the hoop to make it 60-59 Army pic.twitter.com/tidGVlKw5A

— Jackie Bamberger (@jackie_bam) February 24, 2016

With all of the injuries his team has endured, Jones admitted that having Papale play nearly 40 minutes every game is likely wearing him down.

“This guy’s been playing too many minutes — I have to try to keep him fresher,” Jones said. “That had a lot to do with how we played. Once [freshman guard Kyle Foreman] got hurt, it really hurt us in terms of just trying to get him a few more minutes [of rest]. I thought tonight, if [sophomore guard] Eric Johnson could go, I could give him 35 to 34 minutes, but that wasn’t the case.”

Unfortunately for Jones, Papale was not the only Terrier who struggled offensively. Havener finished with zero points in the game after taking seven shots. Sophomore guard Cheddi Mosely recorded 18 points, and junior guard Eric Fanning scored a game-high 20 points but hit only one 3-pointer in five attempts.

Even Fanning acknowledged his inefficiency scoring the ball versus the Black Knights, as he shot 4-of-12 in the second half.

“They started clogging the lane a lot more after I got a few easy ones,” Fanning said. “I couldn’t get to the hole as easy as I was in the beginning of the second half. I missed some big threes that I usually make. That was a big part of the game. If I make at least one of them, we have momentum.”