If the Boston University men’s basketball team has one major advantage over conference rival and Sunday opponent University of Vermont, it is scoring depth.
That depth – which has appeared throughout the season – was on display in Thursday’s 71-59 win over the University of Maryland, Baltimore County at Case Gymnasium. Four players scored in double figures for the Terriers (18-4, 12-1 America East) for the seventh game this season.
Senior forward Jason Grochowalski and junior guard Chaz Carr led BU with 13 points. Sophomore guard Shaun Wynn added 11 points and senior forward Ryan Butt scored all 12 of his points in the second half.
“We have good depth. It’s not just good depth, but we also have guys who can score. It makes it difficult to zero in on us,” Wolff said. “You look at Bell’s line (eight points) and he should’ve been in double figures as well. I think it helps us when we’re trying to extend the floor.”
The plan to speed up the game didn’t work for the Terriers in the first half as they fell behind by 12 points. They turned that around in the second half, shooting 51.5 percent (17-33) from the floor.
“I don’t think we can play much better than we did in the second half,” Wolff said. “Once we took control of the game we were smart and we got good shots.”
Wolff wouldn’t mind seeing his team play the same way on Sunday afternoon when it fights for a share of the conference lead in a noontime game against Vermont (16-5, 12-0) at Patrick Gymnasium in Burlington.
“Obviously it’s a big game. I know it’ll be a great atmosphere,” Wolff said. “We have a lot of respect for their team.”
BU currently sits one game back of the Catamounts, and a win on Sunday would even the teams in the standings. If, after a BU win on Sunday, both teams win the rest of their remaining conference games (not a certainty by any means), a coin would be flipped to determine who receives the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament.
The perks for the top seed include hosting the conference final on its home-court if the team advances that far, as well as possibly avoiding a semifinal game with pesky Northeastern University (a probable No. 3 seed).
In the last meeting between Vermont and BU, the Catamounts escaped with a 59-57 win at Case Gymnasium. In the conference final last year, they also got the best of the Terriers at “The Roof,” 56-55. Both games ended on missed three-point attempts by Carr.
“We’ve had nothing but close games with them for five or six consecutive games, and I don’t expect anything different,” Wolff said.
Vermont is led by junior forward Taylor Coppenrath, who is fourth in the nation in scoring at 24 points per game. To get an idea of how good Coppenrath is, just look at his two games last week.
He averaged 21 points, and while that is below his season average, he still earned a share of the America East Player of the Week award, along with Carr. It was his fifth time winning the honor this year.
Playing a supporting role for the Catamounts is redshirt junior guard T.J. Sorrentine, who is averaging 14 points per game. That number is down from his sophomore season in 2001-02 (he sat out last season after breaking both his wrists) when he averaged 18.8 points per game to nab America East Player of the Year honors.
For most of this season, the duo of Sorrentine and Coppenrath has run the show for coach Tom Brennan’s squad. One of the two has had a share of the team lead in scoring in every one of the team’s 21 games.
But the main question for the Catamounts all season long has been whether anyone besides Coppenrath or Sorrentine could shoulder the load.
The answer was in the affirmative in Vermont’s game against Northeastern University last Saturday. Coppenrath was double-teamed for most of the game, leaving sharpshooter Alex Jensen open to score 18 points on 6-8 shooting from three-point land.
Still, Jensen has struggled for most of the season – he was held scoreless when BU faced the Catamounts in January.
One player who wasn’t on the court against BU in the January game was Matt Sheftic. The fifth-year senior sat out most of the season while rehabbing from an ACL tear in his knee. He made his first appearance against Northeastern, playing just seven minutes.
In Vermont’s last game, a 67-60 win over Stony Brook University on Wednesday, he played 17 minutes and scored seven points.
The Terriers remember Sheftic from his performance last year in the conference tournament game, when he torched them for 23 points and took home the Reggie Lewis Award, given to the championship game’s Most Outstanding Player.
“I think Sheftic is skilled. He gives them a big body,” Wolff said. “He’s a tremendous kid, so I’m happy that he’s back playing in what he has decided will be his last year.”
The Catamounts may need that big body more than they first thought. Center Scotty Jones, who exploited the Terriers baseline defense for 10 points in January, sat out Vermont’s game on Wednesday and may miss the game on Sunday with a knee injury.
Whoever is stalking the middle for Vermont, Butt said the game would be the challenge that he’s been looking forward to since the two teams last met.
“We’ve kept pace with Vermont,” he said. “It’s just one game with them now.”
This is an account occasionally used by the Daily Free Press editors to post archived posts from previous iterations of the site or otherwise for special circumstance publications. See authorship info on the byline at the top of the page.
