Following a tough loss at the hands of Bucknell University Saturday, the Boston University men’s basketball team will look to get back on track Thursday when it visits the United States Military Academy.
This will be the first of two away games for the Terriers (8-11, 4-4 Patriot League), who come into this contest after losing to Bucknell (11-10, 6-2 Patriot League) at home by a score of 92-77. Despite being down only two points at the half, BU could simply never mount a comeback to overtake the Bison attack.
“We played unselfishly for the most part, and we had stretches of the game where we played very hard, but we were very inconsistent with our focus and our effort throughout the game,” said BU coach Joe Jones.
Bucknell was led by the tenacious scoring of guard Chris Hass, who had a game-high 28 points. He and sophomore guard Cedric Hankerson are both in the top five in scoring in the Patriot League, but Hass got the best of Hankerson in this contest.
One notable performance in the loss for BU was the play of junior guard John Papale, who set a career high with 22 points. He also hit three long-range shots during the game, placing him in ninth place all-time in scoring at BU with 173 points.
“I was happy to see John play as well as he did offensively,” Jones said. “There are times when he becomes more of a playmaker when we need him to be more of a scorer. He came out strong in this game, and when we got down early, I thought he showed the aggression that we’re looking for on the offensive end.”
Hankerson and junior forward Nathan Dieudonne each added 15 points for the Terriers. With BU’s inexperience, it is important that the upperclassmen continue to show up and contribute like they have been recently, Jones said.
“The big thing for us is that our older guys have to pick up their leadership, and we have to get guys focused in terms of our defensive effort,” Jones said.
The Terriers start this road stretch Thursday against Army (13-6, 4-4 Patriot League), who, despite having a better overall record than BU, are tied for third in the Patriot League with the Terriers. The winner of this matchup will improve to 5-4 in league play.
BU will have a tough task ahead of them in this matchup, as Army is the top-ranked offense in the Patriot League, scoring an average of 75.6 points per contest. It should turn out to be a high-scoring game as both teams rank in the bottom three in league defense.
“The pace of the game is going to be very fast because we want to push it too,” Jones said. “We just have to be ready to compete, and we have the athletes to do that. For us, if we can play at a good pace, I like our chances.”
The Black Knights are led by junior guard and 2013-14 First Team All-Patriot League selection Kyle Wilson. Wilson leads the Patriot League in scoring and is 24th in the nation with an average of 19.3 points per contest. Army boasts another scoring threat in 6-foot-7 forward Tanner Plomb who averages 15.2 points and 5.4 boards per game. The key for the Terriers will be to shut down the two-headed monster that is Wilson and Plomb.
Army comes into Thursday’s game looking to extend its winning streak to three games. Most recently, they came away with a narrow 68-66 victory over American University on Monday.
Trailing 66-61 with under two minutes to play, the Black Knights scored a few quick buckets to tie the score at 66. Guard Dylan Cox, who had five points and six assists on the day, hit a contested shot in the final seconds for the game-winner. Plomb led all scorers with 26 points in the game.
In this game and beyond, Jones said he is looking for a more consistent effort on the defensive end of the floor.
“The main thing for us going forward is effort and defense,” he said. “We need to understand that if we’re going to win, we need to get stops.”
Nick Neville is a junior in COM studying journalism and the Sports Editor of the Daily Free Press. When he's not making a paper on Beacon Street, you can catch him working as a Sports Correspondent for the Boston Globe or helping to produce BU's only professional sports talk show, Offsides. Follow him on Twitter: @n_nebs95
