There might have been a glimmer of hope for Terrier fans at the outset of the matchup between the Boston University men’s basketball team and the No. 14/13 University of Connecticut.
But by the end of the first half, everyone who was watching the game at the XL Center in Hartford, Conn. knew what was about to happen: a 92-64 blowout victory for the Huskies (5-1) sealed the Terriers’ (2-6) sixth loss of the season.
Senior co-captain Corey Lowe’s absence due to an injured right foot seriously limited the Terriers’ offensive production. Lowe is BU’s second leading scorer behind junior John Holland, averaging 13.7 points and 4.4 rebounds per game.
‘Obviously it hurts not to have Corey,’ BU coach Pat Chambers said after the game. ‘[Senior co-captain] Tyler [Morris] shares his point guard duties, but then again, this is life. This is basketball.
‘You’ve got to fight through adversity, fight through injuries, and we had plenty of guys who tried to step up and make plays.’
The Terriers did see increased minutes from their lone freshman, B.J. Bailey, who had 10 points. The young gun had logged just 33 minutes prior to the Terriers’ trip to Hartford ‘-‘- last night he played for 24.
Holland and sophomore Jake O’Brien were the leading scorers for BU. Holland tallied 37 minutes and had 23 points, while O’Brien recorded his second career double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds.
O’Brien led in points and rebounds in the final five minutes of the first half. The sophomore scored 11 of the Terriers’ 14 points during that stretch and added seven rebounds.
Senior Jerome Dyson and sophomore Kemba Walker were the standouts for UConn, scoring 22 and 15 points, respectively. Walker, a Big East All-Rookie team selection from last season, also added 10 assists for the Huskies.
The Terriers hung with their opponent for the first 10 minutes of the first half, but that would be as long as this powerful UConn team would allow BU to stick around on its home court.
The Huskies, who visited the Final Four last season, dominated in every sense of the word after that -‘-‘- they hammered the boards with 54 rebounds to the Terriers’ 29, and shot 30-of-35 from the free throw line. BU hit 17 of its 25 free throws.
The first half ended with very little chance for a comeback for the Terriers, who left the court down 52-34. However, in a move that perplexed Chambers, the referees forced BU to retake the court because of Bailey’s foul on Walker with 0.2 seconds left on the clock, not even enough time for an inbound pass. The Terriers returned to audible boos from a crowd that filled less than half of the complex.
The Terriers’ inability to hit from beyond the 3-point arc was a cause for concern once again, shooting a tepid 7-for-25. The Huskies took less than half that number with 4-for-11 shooting from 3-point land. The Terriers were off the mark from the field as well, hitting 20 of their 66 attempts.’
However, on a positive note, BU was also playing one of the top teams in the land with a severely curtailed rotation. With just six scholarship players available and senior Valdas Sirutis out with an injury, the Terriers had to dig deep into their roster, starting sophomore Jeff Pelage at the center position and seniors Sherrod Smith and Tunde Agboola seeing significant minutes.
Chambers saw his team’s performance as another stepping stone to dominance in the America East Conference ‘-‘-‘- and with that an NCAA Tournament berth ‘-‘-‘- this season.
‘We’re getting guys good reps,’ Chambers said. ‘They’re getting good minutes heading into the America East. And that’s why you make a schedule like this. We’re putting guys in a good position to learn and get better, regardless of the score.’
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.
