It appeared as though things couldn’t get much worse for the Boston University men’s basketball team following its 89-59 demolition by Cornell University on Monday. Even with the loss, the Terriers’ lack of effort and coach Dennis Wolff’s harsh words for his players following the game, the reality was that Cornell is a very talented basketball team.
The College of the Holy Cross, however, is not. Not even close, as its Ratings Percentage Index of 306 is among the worst in the nation (as is its offense). By comparison, Cornell’s RPI is 94 while the Terriers’ is 222.
That said, BU dropped its fourth consecutive contest Friday night (and second in a row in embarrassing fashion) to Holy Cross, 68-49, at Agganis Arena. Coupled with the loss to Cornell, the Terriers have lost their last two games by a combined score of 157-108 – a margin of 49 points.
Holy Cross never trailed, as the Crusaders led 17-5 shortly after the first media timeout and finished with four scorers in double figures, including sophomore forward Andrew Keister, who recorded his first double-double of the season (15 points, 11 rebounds).
The Terriers never came within less than five points of their opponent after Holy Cross’ early run, as the Crusaders picked up their first road win while running BU’s losing streak at Agganis to six games (eight games excluding postseason contests).
The final three games before the start of conference play have not been kind to the Terriers over the last four seasons, as BU has gone a combined 1-11 in that trio of contests and 0-3 each of the past three seasons.
Given that streak, as well as the way Wolff spoke about his players following the Cornell loss, it was remarkable to see BU (5-7) deliver such a flat and uninspired performance Friday. In essence, Wolff challenged his team to practice harder and execute better. The Terriers didn’t answer his request, turning the ball over 17 times and running extremely sloppy offensive sets -some in which BU players seemed content with standing around the perimeter and letting Holy Cross (5-9) contest their shots.
While nothing was made easy for BU offensively, the severely clunky execution led to the Terriers’ 37.2 shooting percentage from the floor and a season-worst 17.6 shooting percentage from beyond the arc. Entering the game, BU was converting an average of 10.1 3-pointers per game – the eighth-best mark in the nation. Against Holy Cross, it made just 3-of-17 (two of which came from BU’s leading scorer, freshman forward Jake O’Brien, who had 16 points). No other BU player reached double digits in scoring.
In their last five games, the Terriers are shooting 26.4 percent from beyond the arc (31-of-117) and they’ve made seven in the past two games. For a team that takes more than 45 percent of its shots from long range, that mark isn’t going to lead to many victories. Sure, BU’s recent drought from downtown is a result of teams keying in on the Terriers’ dangerous perimeter shooters, but it’s also a testament to work ethic. Instead of searching for better shots and working harder during offensive possessions Friday, it seemed at times as though the Terriers were content with tossing up ill-advised shots.
With Holy Cross leading 24-16 and 7:00 remaining in the first half, junior co-captain Corey Lowe was assessed a technical foul after he had some choice language for the officials. Once Wolff realized Lowe had been assessed a technical, he picked up one of his own, giving Holy Cross six shots from the charity stripe – four for the technicals and two for the foul on the original shot attempt.
Crusaders freshman guard Devin Brown – one of the best free-throw shooters in the nation coming in at 96.4 percent – missed two shots, as did senior guard Lawrence Dixon. Brown made good on the final two (as the player originally fouled), but the Crusaders turned the ball over after two missed shots on their next possession, garnering two points out of a possible eight or nine. This sequence happened in the midst of a 6:22 field goal-less streak by Holy Cross, but the Terriers were still unable to significantly chip away at the lead, as Holy Cross led by seven at the half.
Following a pair of free throws by sophomore forward John Holland (who started over junior guard Carlos Strong after losing his starting spot Monday) that pulled the Terriers within five, the Crusaders went on a 10-0 run, pushing their lead to 15 and virtually ending the game with 14:50 remaining in the second half.
Allowing runs after a slight push has become an all-too-common theme for BU this season, as it’s happened on multiple occasions. And in the last two games, the runs have been so large that it’s near impossible for the Terriers to come back. Prior to the 30-point loss at Cornell, BU had not lost a game by double digits all season – now the Terriers have done so in back-to-back contests.
Lowe was later called for another technical (again for choice words and body language) with 4:00 remaining in the game, which was also his fifth foul. BU’s leading scorer tallied four points on 2-of-8 shooting and was 0-of-5 from 3-point range when he fouled out. It was only the fifth time in his career (and first this season) Lowe has gone an entire game without making at least one 3-pointer. Despite the large deficit Friday, the Terriers can’t afford to have their best player fouling out no matter how much time is remaining or how frustrated the team may become.
The lone bright spots were BU’s two freshman forwards, who displayed the talents for which they were recruited – O’Brien for his inside-out shooting game and Jeff Pelage for his ability to do the dirty work down low and score when called upon. Pelage notched a career-high nine points (3-of-4 from the field), exhibited aggressive post moves and fought hard for five rebounds. O’Brien, while initially bothered by the physicality of Holy Cross’ big men, found his range in the second half and mixed his shots well en route to his seventh double-digit scoring performance of the season.
Game notes: Junior forward Scott Brittain did not play, but was healthy for Friday’s game. ‘hellip; Strong logged just five minutes after leaving the game with an apparent knee/leg injury. No injury report has been issued and Wolff did not comment. As soon as The Daily Free Press learns of any details regarding the extent of Strong’s injury, it will be reported on www.dailyfreepress.com/hoops. … Sophomore guard Andrew Beinert led the Crusaders with 18 points, including four 3-pointers. ‘hellip; The Terriers were outrebounded by a 30-18 margin. … Holy Cross now leads the all-time series against BU, 51-12, and has won the last six meetings.
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In your live blog ,Nick, you noted that the freshman stars do not seem to do as well their second year…I have watched you signal Holland’s “emergence” last yearand now watch this year’s 2 freshman stars. Holland is playing like he is scared..wolff is giving too much negative reinforcement and negative press , signaling his moves on the court…what’s more doesn’t it seem like Holland can’t make even his first move without being immediately called and punished for mostly ‘ticky tack’ fouls by the referees following Wolff’s disparagement of Holland…Something is more than rotten when a team can be brought down so quickly and a STAR Player like JOHN HOLLAND can be too scared to make his charasmatic, amazing moves which are catalysts for the team…Has the defense by the opposing team become early foul calls by the refs? Has saving the best work for the game and not exhausting themselves in practice, with so many team injuries, become the reason to prevent team stars from shining? These referees need to be called off!!! Hopefully WOLFF will call on his whole team and not only his freshman stars…STOP RANTING and develop an Opposition, COACH. LET your Sophmore REEMERGE this season.!!!!LET HOLLAND PLAY!!!!!!!