For the third straight season, the Boston University men’s basketball team will face off against George Washington University, with tonight’s game at 7 p.m. at Case Gymnasium.
The Terriers (3-3) have dropped the previous two games to the Colonials (3-3) and hope to reverse that trend tonight, and gain their first non-Ivy League win in the process.
George Washington, like BU, has played a tough early schedule, losing three games to top 15 teams. It played against the No. 14 University of Connecticut, No. 2 University of Texas, and the No. 9 defending champions, the University of Maryland.
The Colonials will present the Terriers with the same problem that Boston College and St. Joseph’s University did earlier in the year: a quick, high-scoring guard tandem.
Senior Chris Monroe and sophomore T.J. Thompson make up the Colonials starting backcourt, and they lead the team in scoring with 19.8 and 13.2 points a game, respectively.
They can also be expected to bring defensive pressure like the Terriers saw against the Eagles and Hawks.
‘Hopefully we will handle the pressure better than we did against BC and St. Joe’s,’ BU Coach Dennis Wolff said. ‘Our lack of care with the ball hurt us tremendously in those games.
‘You can’t win turning it over as many times as we have been.’
The Terriers said they feel they will be able to handle the Colonials defense if they just play smarter on offense.
‘It’s not so much the pressure, but us making our own mistakes and tearing ourselves apart,’ sophomore guard Chaz Carr said. ‘We haven’t been playing up to our abilities the past few games and we want to calm down and play with confidence.’
While the Terriers continue to struggle shooting the ball, their defense and rebounding continue to shine.
Even though the team is only shooting 39 percent from the floor and 26 percent from beyond the arc, BU is limiting its opponents to 40 percent shooting and have out-rebounded the opposition, 230-190.
‘Our defense has been pretty consistent and our rebounding has been fine,’ Wolff said. ‘Our problem is our offense.
‘Even in the St. Joe’s game we turned it over like nine straight times and five of them [turned into] easy baskets [for them without them] even having to score against our half court defense.’
Another challenge that the Colonials with present to the Terriers top-notch defense is the perimeter play of their young big men. George Washington starts three freshmen in its frontcourt, in Omar Williams and Pops Mensah-Bonsu, each six-feet-nine-inches tall, and Mike Hall, at six-foot-eight-inches. Hall is coming off a week in which he won the Co-Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week award, for averaging 15 points and eight rebounds.
While the Terriers may be able to take advantage of their inexperience, their ability still concerns Wolff.
‘They are very athletic and they all dribble the ball,’ Wolff said. ‘We have to make sure we get back on defense because they’re going to try to run, and once we’re back we recognize the fact that those guys, even though they’re a little bigger, can all put the ball on the ground.’
With another big test tonight and one against Ohio University on Friday, now more than ever, the Terriers need Carr to show the form he showed last year down the stretch after junior guard Matt Turner went down with a shoulder injury.
Carr seems to be playing with more uncertainty and less aggressiveness than he did last year, and he might be still adjusting to playing with Turner again.
‘I just have to get my confidence back, and trust in my abilities, my coaching staff and my teammates,’ Carr said. ‘It’s definitely coming along, though.
‘The last few practices I’ve been getting it back.’
The Terriers certainly hope so, because Carr can provide the team with the spark it needs as it looks to rediscover its offensive touch.
‘After this week we’ll have an accurate picture of what our team looks like and the areas we need to improve.’
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