Whether it is shooting, defense, rebounding or another facet, a basketball team can usually base its identity around one area. The Boston University men’s basketball team may lack that sort of go-to identity, as evidenced in its 74-71 loss to Bucknell University Saturday.
The Terriers (10-11, 3-5 Patriot League) took a 17-point lead early in the first half, yet soon found themselves watching that lead shrivel through turnovers and missed opportunities.
“I didn’t think we handled [losing the lead] well,” said BU head coach Joe Jones. “At times, our guys are really hard on themselves and they internalize things during the game, and we have to learn how to let things go. I have to find a way to keep them positive.”
All is not glum for the Terriers, even if they find themselves in the middle of the pack in several key Patriot League statistics. They’re sixth in scoring margin, fifth in field goal percentage, fifth in rebounding margin and third in turnover margin.
Yet it appears as though BU lacks one clear-cut strength, and some of that could be chalked up to season-ending injuries to junior guard Cedric Hankerson and senior forward Justin Alston. Jones, however, maintains belief in the players he has on the court.
“We got a good team,” Jones said. “It’s obvious we have enough to win — there’s no doubt. Without all the injuries we had, we have enough to win, and we have to find a way to win with the team we have.”
In Saturday’s contest against Bucknell (10-9, 7-1 Patriot League), the Terriers looked to establish a strong team defense early on, as the Bison shot 37.9 percent in the first half. This pace could not sustained, though, and the Bison took over in the second half.
“The way we came out defensively in the first half is how we have to play,” Jones said. “We couldn’t sustain it obviously in the second half. They were shooting [66.7] percent in the second half, which is unbelievable. It’s a shame, because it was a game that I thought was a winnable one if we could just execute some things, and I just thought we made some poor decisions throughout the game.”
The Terriers have played in several of those types of contests this season already. Eight of the team’s games have been decided by seven points or less, with BU coming out victorious in four of them.
“We won some close games,” Jones said. “They have some confidence that they can get it done, we just have to stay positive. If we handle the downs in the game better, then we’re going to be in a better situation. I really thought some of the plays we made, we were really down on ourselves, and it’s hard to work through that during a game.”
Jones expressed that in BU’s first close game of the season — an 87-84 overtime loss to Northeastern University — his team had a different offensive approach. BU attempted 29 3-pointers in that contest, yet only shot 19 treys against Bucknell.
“We throw it in a lot more than we did,” he said. “If you watch the Northeastern game, we were shooting up threes and now we don’t shoot as many threes. We’re a little more balanced, which I like.”
As the aforementioned disparities reveal, BU is still in search of an aspect it can hang its hat on. Meanwhile, Jones stressed that the responsibility of keeping his team’s frustrations in check lies solely on his shoulders.
“We have to talk about it,” Jones said. “A lot of our guys put a lot of pressure on them to win [because] they want to win. The good thing about it is that they care, they’re good people, they’re great players. They have a ton of positives about them. I have to do a better job working them through that.”
