In an up-and-down season for the Boston University men’s basketball team, the turnover margin has shaped the outcome of numerous contests. The Terriers often turn the ball over more than their opponents, but things took a turn Monday night at Case Gym.
In the process of pulling out an 87-84 overtime win over Loyola University Maryland, BU (10-9, 3-3 Patriot League) committed just eight turnovers as compared to Loyola’s 15.
“That was one of the keys to the game — limit your turnovers,” BU head coach Joe Jones said. “We’re just getting more comfortable together. We went through this stretch where no one really knew what was happening. You just watch the games and now we’re just practicing together and that’s huge.”
In a first half in which BU shot a blistering 53.3 percent from the field for 43 points, it also committed just one turnover and forced seven. The Terriers have improved in this area during Patriot League play, as they are plus-12 in the category, as opposed to being minus-24 outside of it.
While this improvement has led to three Patriot League losses, it most certainly played a factor Monday night against the Greyhounds (4-13, 3-3 Patriot League).
“They have good guards and do a really good job of taking care of the ball,” Loyola head coach G.G. Smith said. “[Guard Kyle] Foreman is a freshman who takes care of the ball and having [sophomore forward Cheddi] Mosely out there really helps them.”
Smith added that his team couldn’t solve BU’s offense, and said that contributed to their inability to generate turnovers.
“There’s nothing really to say — they just don’t turn the ball over,” he said. “We tried to trap a little bit, cut off the handoffs [and] really couldn’t get anything out of them. We had 15 and it was kind of the biggest difference in the game.”
BU finished the game with eight turnovers, yet its inability to secure rebounds and force turnovers almost put the game out of reach. After being down by as much as 14 points, BU clawed back, forcing Loyola turnovers aplenty.
Even with that, Loyola had four turnovers in the second half as opposed to BU’s five. The real difference came in the five-minute overtime period, as the Greyhounds gave up the ball four times as opposed to BU’s two.
Junior guard Eric Fanning finished with a team-high four turnovers, but that surely can be forgiven by his impact on the scoreboard. He finished the game with a career-high 37 points, which included 22 free throw attempts.
“In the first couple of games, turnovers killed us, and it’s mainly me and Kyle because we mostly have the ball — I mean [senior guard] John [Papale], but John never turns the ball over,” Fanning said. “It’s basically me and Kyle playing sound, slowing stuff down. Like last year, when I would play, I would just play 100 miles per hour, but now I’m able to slow down and take shots.”
Foreman leads the Terriers in turnovers with 51, yet that is than outweighed by the 72 assists he has racked up thus far. The Clyde Hill, Washington native finished the game with eight assists to one turnover, further improving his ratio.
“Kyle, he’s a freshman so he’ll have those turnovers, but it’s a learning process,” Fanning said. “[Turnovers] has been an emphasis though. We talk about it every game, when we don’t turn the ball over we get so many good shots.”
With guards such as Foreman and Mosely holding onto the ball, the Terriers were able to control their own fate at home in Case Gym.
