Heading into Friday night’s game against No. 1 University of Kentucky, Boston University men’s basketball coach Joe Jones said his team was aware that it was going to be an uphill battle, but remained focused on the task at hand.
“We just wanted to play fearlessly. We did not want to back down. We wanted to be able to respond to any run they made,” Jones said. “We knew they were going to make some spectacular plays. The crowd was going to get going, so we wanted to play through all that mentally, and we did a pretty good job of that.”
While the Terriers (1-2) kept it competitive for most of Friday’s game at Rupp Arena, they were ultimately defeated by a score of 89-65 after the Wildcats (4-0) pulled away in the second half.
With a lead of only five at the half, the Wildcats struggled with putting the Terriers away early, allowing BU to capitalize and remain in the contest.
Sophomore guard Cedric Hankerson had a career night, scoring 24 points including a mark of 5-of-9 from the 3-point range.
“He’s been able to rise to the occasion,” Jones said of Hankerson. “I saw it last year against Connecticut, against Maryland and now at Kentucky, him being able to elevate his game and do what’s needed. The way they were playing us, they were just trying to flow us to the rim, and he took full advantage of that.”
With just over five minutes gone in the game, the Terriers found themselves in a 12-4 hole due to a pair of 3-pointers from Wildcat guards Aaron Harrison and Devin Booker. However, a 3-pointer from BU freshman guard Cheddi Mosely at 14:28 sparked a rally for BU, as the team tied the game at 16-16 almost four minutes later on a dunk from junior forward Justin Alston.
Kentucky followed with a 10-0 run, including four points from Harrison, who led the team with 19 points of his own.
BU was able to climb out of the deficit on the back of Hankerson, who nailed two treys in the closing minutes of the first half to make it a 33-26 game.
With less than two minutes left in the first half, junior forward Nathan Dieudonne registered four straight free throws to help cut down the deficit to 38-32. It was a homecoming of sorts for Dieudonne, who grew up in Louisville, Kentucky and was named Kentucky’s Mr. Basketball during his senior year at Trinity High School. Dieudonne finished with 10 points, four assists and five rebounds.
“I thought the whole experience was awesome,” Jones said. “The fact that we got to go on the road for a whole week together and spend more time together as a basketball family. We were able to visit Nate’s house, were able to practice at his high school, and I think all those things have impact on your team.”
Sophomore guard Eric Fanning hit a 3-pointer five seconds left in the half to make it a 40-35 contest going into halftime.
In the second half, the game remained close until around the 16:00 minute mark. The Terriers managed to cut the deficit to two on another 3-pointer by Hankerson at 16:20, but from that point on, it was all Wildcats.
Kentucky guard Andrew Harrison contributed most of his eight points during a 19-7 run by the Wildcats that put the Terriers in a 12-point hole with 9:09 left on the clock.
The lead was then cut to nine at 8:29 from another 3-pointer from Hankerson. It was the last single-digit deficit that the Terriers faced in the match, as Kentucky asserted itself for the remainder of the second half en route to the 89-65 win.
“They are a very imposing team physically, more so than any team you’re going to face because of their size and length,” Jones said. “I feel like we got a lot out of that experience overall. The one thing is being able to handle adversity on the road. Our guys did a good job of that.”
The Wildcats were just coming off a win over No. 5 University of Kansas on Tuesday where they decimated their opponent by a score of 72-40. BU was the first opponent to score more than 60 points against Kentucky this season.
“The game itself was great in terms of confidence levels for our guys,” Jones said. “I feel like they believe they are able to play against anybody on our schedule, and we became a closer team because of the whole experience.”
