Following the Terriers’ comeback win at Northeastern University Sunday, Boston University coach Dennis Wolff and his freshman guard Chaz Carr were content.
While Northeastern head coach Ron Everhart looked somewhat baffled and lamented the officiating after BU’s 95-88 overtime win, the Terriers had little to complain about. And why should they? Sunday, on the road, BU extended its winning streak to four games, solidified its second-place standing in the America East and made a case for resiliency.
Wolff said he was proud of his team’s character, and Carr followed his coach’s humility in suit, saying he “felt good” on a day when he dropped a career-high 36 points on the Huskies. Carr’s eruption was by far the Terriers’ most outstanding individual effort of the season, and it came at a crucial time, after a week’s rest at the crux of the season. Carr almost single-handedly ensured that at the least for the time being, the Terriers are the only team that can compete with the University of Vermont for first place.
“I think we’re playing hard and confidently,” said Wolff. “There was the good and the bad to having the time off [before playing Northeastern]. We had a chance to get a little less dinged up and rested, but at the same time, that edge that you need right now was a little lost and it took us a while to get into the game.”
“I was worried about the time off and I was hoping that wasn’t going to be the case but that’s the way we’ve been all year,” Wolff said. “We lost [senior forward] Jerome Graham and [junior guard] Matt Turner early on, and we had to recover from that also.”
BU (11-7 overall, 5-1 America East) is all alone in second place in the conference behind Vermont, which recently had its 12-game win streak, the second-longest in the nation, end with a loss to the University of Hartford.
After a conference shakeup at the end of last season, the Terriers and the Catamounts are the standouts in what has been a largely dismal season for the America East.
Even college basketball isn’t immune to expansion and contraction as the conference found out after the 2001 season, sending Drexel University, the University of Delaware, Hofstra University and Towson University to the Colonial Athletic Conference.
The quick exit of the America East’s four southernmost teams opened the door to budding basketball programs at State University of New York at Binghamton, SUNY-Stony Brook and SUNY-Albany.
The invasion by the trio of New York squads has produced almost nothing but struggles for the three teams. While most newcomers in any college basketball conference expect something of a trial period, a time to learn the ropes during their inaugural season, Binghamton, Albany and Stony Brook have learned mostly how to be gracious losers. The three teams have combined for just five wins in 19 conference games this season, with Albany currently winless at 0-5.
Binghamton can claim some measure of success, or perhaps an inkling of hope, posting a 3-1 record on the road in the America East and boasting the conference’s second-ranked scoring defense. Yet all three New York schools have overall records well below .500, and two of their combined five wins have come against one another.
Despite all evidence to the contrary, Wolff has said repeatedly to the Terriers this season that in basketball, overconfidence can spell disaster.
“I think the conference is very even so far; [BU] and Vermont have only lost once, but anyone is capable of beating anyone else on any given night,” Wolff said. “I thought Vermont would have a good team because they are well coached and they’ve played well. We had an opportunity against them earlier in the season and it didn’t happen for us, but we’re only looking toward our next game.
“We’ve been in some close games that we had opportunities to win, against George Washington University and Providence College, but we never allowed anything to linger into next game. I caution my guys that the only way to play is to look on to the next game; we can’t look past any of these games.”
In the least shocking development of the week, rookie guard Chaz Carr was named Conference Player of the Week for his heroics Sunday against Northeastern.
Carr’s veteran-like game, 36 points on 9-of-13 shooting from the floor and four three-pointers, were upstaged by his final two points in regulation, when BU entrusted him with the ball with just four seconds remaining and down by two points.
Carr proved true, driving through the Huskies’ defense for a rim-rounding layup that sent the game into overtime, where he accounted for seven of the Terriers’ 18 points to lock up the win.
Already a three-time Rookie of the Week, Carr is just the second freshman to be named Player of the Week in the 19-year history of the award and is making a strong case for Rookie of the Year by season’s end.
“I’m not surprised with how Chaz has played,” Wolff said. “You never think a freshman is going to come and do what he’s done, but this is what he’s capable of. I think his performances have spoken for themselves. He’s very competitive, and when he’s had to step up, he has. I wouldn’t trade him for any other freshman in the conference.”
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