Yesterday, the Boston University men’s basketball team (7-12, 4-3 America East) made the journey up to the far corner of the country to get ready for tonight’s match-up against the University of Maine (10-11, 5-4). Last time the two teams met, BU emerged victorious, 65-63, at The Roof.
But the Terriers were a very different team then and so were the Black Bears. Maine is now on a five-game winning streak while the Terriers are coming off a heartbreaking loss to the University at Albany and are still missing one of their most important pieces.
Their last game against Maine was a contest of three major runs. Maine got ahead early, stretching its lead to as many as ten points, but the Terriers timed their push well, taking their first lead with 17:31 remaining in the second half. The Black Bears’ final run of the game brought them to within one point just seconds before the final buzzer, and a failed three-quarters court shot left Maine with a loss: A loss that is one of the reasons why Maine, fourth place in the conference, is nipping at the heels of the third-place Terriers in the conference standings.
If you compare the box score from that game to the projected lineups for tonight, there is one glaring omission: freshman Corey Lowe and his 17 points and 7 rebounds. Since Lowe has been day-to-day with his foot slipped in a protective boot, the Terriers are 1-1, including a 59-53 win over the University of Maryland-Baltimore County and a 52-50 loss to Albany.
Without Lowe, two Terriers have risen to the challenge to fill his shoes. Senior co-captain Omari Peterkin stepped up his game against UMBC, dominating the paint and putting up an impressive line of 19 points, 14 rebounds, four blocks and two steals. And Tyler Morris put them team on his back against the Great Danes, scoring 21 points, including 12 in a row coming out of the break.
But one thing’s certain — while the Terriers have been getting big games from the usual suspects, they need to do a better job of feeding the guy who’s having a monster night. This point is best evidenced by the too-few touches Morris got in the final minutes of the Albany match.
“I think they guarded him better, and I think that our recognition level of, be it him or whoever’s got the hot hand, has not been what it needs to be,” said BU coach Dennis Wolff said. “On the very last play before we had to foul, I’m standing here again debating whether to call timeout again or not, and we had the right play and we had him coming off the screen. As a group, we need to be more focused on what the play is supposed to be and who it’s supposed to go to.”
So while Lowe will be in street clothes for at least tonight, possibly returning Saturday against Hartford, it’ll be up to his teammates to find a hot hand to lead them on the offensive end. At least that’s the only end with any doubt tonight. While BU is second worst in scoring, with 60.7 points per game, its defense has been a rock throughout the entire conference schedule.
“Defensively, fundamentally, we’re much better than we were earlier in the season,” Wolff said.
The Terriers currently lead the America East conference in both opponent’s scoring (56.3) and opponent’s field goal percentage (.374). That defense will need to hold the line against a Black Bear squad that will welcome the Terriers with a trio of players averaging double figures. Seniors Jon Sheets (11.9 ppg) and Chris Bruff (13.1 ppg) are good scorers, and Wolff says it is key that the Terriers limit Sheets’ looks. But both Sheets and Bruff are supplemental players to senior star Kevin Reed.
The 6-foot-3 Reed is a statistically similar player to Albany’s 6-foot-1 senior Jamar Wilson. The two are back-to-back at the top of the conference scoring ranks – Wilson at 19.1 ppg and Reed trailing at 18.6 – and both rebound very well for their size, with Reed (6.8) just barely leading Wilson (6.7). But the comparisons stop there.
“He doesn’t move with the ball the way Wilson does,” Wolff said. “He’s more of a straight-up catch-and-shoot guy and an offensive rebounder. We gotta defend him on the catch and make sure that we box him out.”
If the Terriers do that and their offense is efficient, they should be in competition for a conference win in the final minutes of the game. The win would stave off both Maine and UMBC — teams that are waiting in the wings for that third spot in the standings. A BU win tonight would have serious implications in terms of the playoff picture, but Wolff said it’s important for his players not to look too far ahead.
“I don’t think any one game is so big,” Wolff said. “I think it’s important to keep your perspective in this league and understand that you’re always going to be capable, right up until the middle of March, to win the next game.
“It’s very important because it’s the next game,” he continued. “We have to be very careful of getting ahead of ourselves or overemphasizing one game to these guys. What we gotta do is play better at those segments at the end of games. Whatever happens in the playoffs, we know that if you win the first game, then we’ve got two games at Agganis [Arena].”