On October 12 — the Boston University men’s basketball team’s first day of practice — Tyler Morris jogged back and forth along the sideline until he was told to stop by athletic trainer Will Rondeau.
Hampered by shin splints and recovering from offseason surgery, the redshirt sophomore guard was exempt from participating in certain drills with the team, but no restriction was placed on running and dribbling. So that’s what Morris did for at least 20 minutes.
Fifty-three days later, BU’s co-captain is still out, rehabbing a stress reaction in his right tibia, and the Terriers have lost six-straight games — three in embarrassing fashion.
There are multiple things fundamentally wrong with the Terriers right now, headlined by scoring a conference-worst 56.4 points per game.
Averaging 17.4 turnovers per game can’t happen either, especially when players are only managing 12 assists a contest. A minus-42 rebounding differential is troublesome as well, and even though BU is one of the smaller teams in the nation, a lot of the boards the Terriers aren’t pulling down are coming at crucial moments.
However, all of these statistical shortcomings can be fixed, whether through individual or coaching efforts. How to box out the opponent or lock down on defense are issues, but they’re not the issue. Virtually the same team proved it’s capable of performing better than it currently is at the end of last season, which culminated in BU’s first America East tournament quarterfinal win in three years.
What the Terriers are lacking is exactly what Morris exhibited on the first day of practice by monotonously patrolling the sideline — complete concentration and effort.
“We don’t have one guy that’s going to keep us in the right things, and talking and doing everything we stress daily,” said BU coach Dennis Wolff after Saturday’s 72-65 loss to Manhattan College.
That guy is Morris.
Nobody’s making an excuse for the current funk, because the players who have been competing possess the talent to win basketball games. But had the Indianapolis native been active since Nov. 9, BU probably wouldn’t be in such poor shape.
An excellent 3-point shot, solid defense, an above-average ability to feed the post, and superb ball-handling skills are all tools Morris brings to the table. With such a complete athlete in the lineup, players like sophomore guards Corey Lowe and Carlos Strong will automatically get better looks at the basket. By adding another dangerous scoring threat to the court, opponents won’t be able to eliminate Lowe and Strong’s outside shot like St. Joseph’s University did three weeks ago.
Complimentary to enhancing BU’s skill level, what the Lawrence North High School product provides are intangibles.
While it hasn’t been the case all season, the Terriers’ lack of hustle Saturday was disturbing. Morris would have attempted to prevent the mental lapses that contributed to an eight-minute scoring drought to begin the game.
“I think it’s about everybody doing a little bit of self-reflection,” Morris said. “Everybody should be able to self-reflect on these losses and say, ‘These are the things I did well. These are the things I could do better and I’m going to work my ass off to do the things I don’t do well better.'”
When Wolff criticized BU’s passion in Saturday’s press conference, one couldn’t help but recall Morris’s unwavering look of concentration while playing last year. Even this season, Morris jumps from the end of the bench to encourage his teammates, in the process exhibiting his extreme desire to be involved.
“You can tell that he’s the one with the intensity,” Wolff said. “He wants to win and he knows how to go about it.”
“What I realized last year is that being America East Rookie of the Year is a hollow award,” Morris said. “If you don’t win games and you get awarded, it doesn’t mean anything.
“The teams are remembered, not the individuals,” he continued. “As long as we have an attitude of winning as a team, I think we’re going to be fine.”
Morris should transmit that attitude to the court during his anticipated return against the University of Delaware on Dec. 22, a day that will ultimately segment BU’s season: pre- and post-Morris.
“In this gym, clearly the mentally toughest person is him,” Wolff said. “Even though he’s not the point guard, he’s the one that would have kept some sanity [in Saturday’s game] and we lost that.”
Because, according to Wolff, the Terriers haven’t had more than five good practices all season, the majority of the time spent under the yellow lights at Case Gymnasium has been used on re-teaching the basics. The propensity to learn and move forward hasn’t yet taken hold, and after a year of consistent improvement, BU is spinning its wheels.
“The reason it’s so hard for us to move forward is because every day we make the same exact mistakes,” Morris said.
It’s not only Morris’s 13.4 points per game last season that ought to aid the ailing Terriers, but his capacity to squelch mistakes after the first time he makes them.
Following tonight’s contest against Harvard University, one game will separate Morris from his projected return. So how does he hope to help the team when he reenters the lineup?
“In whatever way possible. I’m willing to do whatever it takes,” he said. “I think a lot of guys on our team have that attitude, but they’ve just got to implement it a little bit more.”
