John Holland tried to dunk on the best player in America East.
After playing sparse first-half minutes due to foul trouble, the 6-foot-5, 190-pound freshman wing rose up over a 6-foot-5, 220-pound forward in the early minutes of the second half and attempted a momentum-altering jam. Unfortunately, the University of Vermont’s Marqus Blakely — he of the 18.6 scoring and 9.1 rebounding averages — is far from an easy dunk target. As Blakely challenged, the ball ricocheted off the iron, arching into the air and into the hands of Vermont point guard Nick Vier.
Holland wasn’t the only player to fail on a dunk attempt over Blakely on Friday night. With less than 10 minutes remaining, sophomore Carlos Strong missed while challenging Blakely on a one-on-one fastbreak. But Strong’s try came second, and did not garner the future attention of Blakely. Holland wasn’t so lucky.
“You always take that personal when someone tries to dunk on you,” Blakely said of Holland’s missed attempt. “So you always try to get them back.”
So, with Vermont leading by 10 in the final minutes of the game, Blakely got him back, taking a pass from junior Mike Trimboli and finishing — over Holland — with authority.
“You always feel bad when someone gets you like that,” Holland said. “Maybe I’ll try to get him back some other time.”
But the significance was about more than two athletically gifted players trying to dunk on each other. The sequence was about one player — Holland — challenging the very player his potential-compass points him toward.
While both are the same height, there is a canyon of a difference between the two. Blakely has 30 pounds on the freshman, and is also more of an inside presence, taking two 3-pointers to Holland’s 52 while shooting .552 percent from the field. The two also play different positions, with Holland creating from the wing and Blakely the paint, but the similarities lie in their elite athleticism — the kind that can shift the entire dynamic of any game in America East.
Eighteen games into his freshman year, Holland is starting to take advantage of his natural gifts. With the Terriers falling behind after leading at halftime, Holland took it upon himself to get to the rim and draw fouls, effectively getting to the free-throw line twice in the opening five minutes of the half, while often being guarded by Blakely. The aggressiveness lasted throughout the game, as it has during Holland’s play during throughout the conference schedule, when the Terriers have otherwise struggled to score points in the paint.
“One of the things I thought before the season started is we would have the type of team that would be able to beat you off the dribble,” said BU coach Dennis Wolff. “That would maybe make up for the lack of points from the post players. Holland has stepped up and done a good job.”
With averages of 12.6 points and 6.8 rebounds over his last five games, opponents are starting to take notice.
“Holland, I give him credit, he had a really good game,” said Vermont coach Mike Lonergan. “We had Marqus on him, a pretty good defender, and he was taking us to the basket. He was kind of keeping them in it. He’s going to be a great player for them.”
That 220-pound monster Holland tried to dunk on is already a great player, and there are plenty of steps left on the road the freshman must take to approach that level of play. In terms of size, statistics and experience, Blakely is a year ahead, but few players in the league can say they’ve tried going dunk-for-dunk with the Catamount the way Holland did.
Maybe his next one will go in.
