With its overtime loss to the University of Vermont last Saturday, the Boston University men’s basketball team did something it hadn’t done in 76 days this season: it lost twice in a row.
The Terriers have been steadfast in rebounding from losses this season by consistently winning the next game, a feat they’ve pulled off five times so far. BU hasn’t experienced consecutive losses since it fell Nov. 14 and Nov. 18 and started off the season 1-2 — when then-No. 8 Iowa and then-No. 17 Boston College proved upsets are few and far between.
But since then BU has managed to climb to second place in the America East in part because it has kept its losing streaks down to, well, one game. The Terriers (13-9 overall, 7-3 America East) fell for the second-straight time Saturday to Vermont, who, at 16-5 and 9-1 in the conference, must have taken some tips on Cinderella seasons from the New England Patriots.
A Vermont-BU America East championship game is probable, and the Catamounts seem to have the Terriers solved at this point in the season. Both games were close, but what is the psychological toll that a season sweep has on a player?
“I think their feeling is that if we have to play them a third time we can beat them,” said BU coach Dennis Wolff. “We played Vermont very well, we just didn’t make quite enough plays to win it at a tough place on a road. It’s obvious that we bounced back after losing to [the University of Hartford Jan. 29] and played a good enough game at Vermont to win, but we just couldn’t get a break here and there.”
Wolff ‘ Co. are apparently downplaying the two losses to the white-hot Catamounts in order to focus on the Terriers’ remaining six games. Of the six, BU has already defeated four of the teams once this year and all are well below .500 on the season.
But according to Wolff, in order for the Terriers to win games down the stretch some things need improvement. The brawn is in place, but not always the brains.
“We need to play with a better basketball IQ. We have to recognize the things that have hurt us, and it’s frustrating to me that it has taken us this long for us to realize. Our guys have played hard in just about every game, but we haven’t played smart enough when we needed to and that has hurt us,” Wolff said.
“When you get to this point in the college basketball season, you can’t take anything for granted.”
And after nearly three months of hitting the floor and banging bodies in the paint, BU has to be aware of its collective health, which has been surprisingly strong this season.
“We’ve tried to be conscious of [fatigue]. We gave them off on Sunday,” Wolff said. “I’m very cognizant of not wanting them to lose their legs heading into these important games.”
“I don’t think they’re happy about it at all,” Wolff replied when asked about how the Terriers have taken the two-straight losses.
If BU isn’t accustomed to having that rainy, dark cloud over its head for this long, it may want to look toward junior forward Paul Seymour for inspiration.
Seymour, the America East Rookie of the Year in 1999, has struggled to find his stroke all season, shooting just over 30 percent from the floor and less than 23 percent from three-point range.
But now the skies have lifted. Seymour, a go-to player up until this season, seemed to have lost his sharp-shooting but erupted with a team-high 19 points in the overtime loss to Vermont Saturday. Shooting 16.7 percent in the conference heading into the game, the junior nailed 8-of-19 shots (42 percent) and grabbed a season-high eight boards.
“Paul played well but there were a lot of bright spots,” Wolff said.
A notable absence from the Terriers’ practice yesterday was sophomore guard Kevin Fitzgerald, who is sidelined with a lower back contusion. “Kevin fell on his back and has a bone bruise. He started to practice alittle [yesterday] and should be fine tomorrow,” Wolff said… Saturday against Vermont was the first time BU allowed a league opponent to shoot over 40 percent (48.2) … The Terriers will play the University of Maine tomorrow night, the only America East team BU has not yet played. BU will face Maine twice this month.
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