Men open AE with UNH

As clichéd as it sounds, everyone knows it’s true: The first win’s the hardest. And it has been hard for the Boston University men’s basketball team since the season began Nov. 14.

But that’s all behind them now.

In their first game at Case Gymnasium this year, the men left rejuvenated, beating Harvard University, 72-63, on Tuesday night. After a win that included the long-awaited emergence of shooting powers Corey Hassan and Shaun Wynn, the 1-5 Terriers are more than ready to invite the University of New Hampshire (2-5) to The Roof tonight. And though America East play may be a step down from the competition BU has seen so far, let’s face it – these are the games that really matter.

“I’m not sure we could have put together a more difficult schedule than we have,” said BU coach Dennis Wolff. “But I don’t look at the conference and go, ‘Oh, now we’re gonna roll through the America East.’ That’s certainly not anybody’s mindset.”

The Terriers and the Wildcats have had been going at it continuously since first facing off during the 1908-09 season, and since then, BU has gone an impressive 83-34. The Scarlet and White has won its last 10 games against UNH, and tonight’s contest marks the fourth time in five years the two have opened conference play against one another. And on paper, the numbers are tilted drastically toward the Terriers.

Under Wolff, BU is 21-2 against the Wildcats, including a spotless 11-0 at home. The Terriers are 14-10 in America East openers, and haven’t been beaten by the Wildcats since the 2000-01 season. Still, Wolff is wary of New Hampshire, and every team in the youthful America East for that matter.

“Nobody really knows a whole lot about either side,” he said. “I don’t think at any point will I think anything’s easy this year.”

The Terriers, picked to finish No. 2 in the America East in the preseason coaches poll, will again play without the suspended Tony Gaffney, along with the injured Matt Wolff and Tyler Morris. Ben Coblyn is still questionable for tonight’s game.

But according to Wolff, UNH will match his undermanned team with a depleted roster of its own.

But BU is growing more and more comfortable with its new roster. Freshman forward Ibrahim Konate is averaging 9.7 points per game and shooting 72.2 percent in the last three games. Junior Omari Peterkin contributed his best performance against the Crimson, logging career numbers in points (12), boards (6) and minutes (26). In the Terriers’ last two games, Wynn has put up 15 ppg while going 10-for-15 and hitting 82 percent of 3-point attempts – a marked improvement from the 3.5 ppg, 16 percent shooting and 14 percent from behind the arc in the first four games.

And then there’s Hassan. The Merrimack, N.H. native will match up against his home-state team, one that competed with BU for the sharpshooter’s perimeter skills. Hassan’s 9.2 ppg is second on the team, and the freshman hit 4-of-6 from downtown against Harvard after going a combined 2-for-15 in the games with George Washington University and the University of Rhode Island.

The Terriers hit 56 percent from the field at GW and nearly kept pace against Harvard, putting up a 53.1 percent performance.

UNH, the bottom-dweller of the preseason coaches poll, boasts wins over Colgate University and Robert Morris University, the conference’s No. 4 scoring defense (BU is No. 2) and its No. 2 rebounding defense (BU is No. 4). But the Wildcats also lost to Harvard, 71-50.

“One of the things I’ve learned over the years is comparative scores don’t mean anything,” Wolff said. “Every game has its own life to it.”

Still, the Terriers are ready to get their conference schedule rolling.

“I think it [gives] everyone a catch-your-breath type of thing,” Wolff said. “If we’re sitting here before the UMass game [Dec. 12] and we’re 3-5 – which absolutely could happen – I think were all feeling pretty good about it.”