Depending on your vantage point, the Boston University men’s basketball team’s season up to this point can be considered either a great start or a somewhat disappointing start of a new era in Terrier basketball.
But for first-year BU coach Patrick Chambers, one win against four losses is not a record to be looked down on. He judges his team’s success not only by wins and losses, but the subtle improvements he sees in his players as they adapt to a new, run-and-gun style offense.
For Chambers, the Terriers (1-4) can still become an elite team if they stick to the one motto he has stressed since preseason: ‘Get better every day.’
‘The goal is to be the best team you can be by the end of the year,’ Chambers said before the season. ‘If you can do that, then everything else will take care of itself. I know every one wants to know, ‘Are you going to win 20 games? Are you going to win the America East? Are you going to bring your team to the [NCAA] Tournament?’
‘I don’t even want to talk about it. I just want to get better today.’
Chambers hopes the areas the Terriers improved on during their three-game stint in Puerto Rico last weekend carry over into Wednesday afternoon’s game against Northeastern University (1-1) at Case Gymnasium.
Chambers believes the Huskies could prove to be one of the Terriers’ toughest opponents this season.
‘They’re one of the top teams in the [Colonial Athletic Association],’ Chambers said. ‘Bill Coen is a tremendous coach, and I think they have a lot of talent. It’s a backyard brawl. I look forward to a 40-minute, tough battle. There’s no rest for the weary.’
Northeastern has played just two games this season, suffering a season-opening 59-53 loss to Siena College Nov. 17 before bouncing back with a 64-61 win over Utah State University Nov. 21.
In those two games, the Huskies received production from a few key contributors, as NU’s top four players have scored almost 80 percent of the team’s points. Senior Matt Janning leads the Huskies with 28 points and eight rebounds on the young season. Junior Chiasson Allen and senior Nkem Ojougboh follow with 22 points each, and senior Baptiste Bataille rounds out the quartet with 21 points.
The Huskies may look like they have some firepower, but outside of those four players, NU’s roster runs fairly thin. Almost half of the Northeastern roster has yet to score a point this season.
Things don’t look much better for the Terriers in terms of depth, but BU can at least count on its core of senior guards ‘- co-captains Corey Lowe, Tyler Morris and Carlos Strong ‘- along with junior forward John Holland, to put up big numbers against what has been an unreliable Husky defense.
The Terriers have certainly struggled with depth so far this season. With just nine players in their rotation, foul trouble and fatigue have contributed to the 1-4 start. BU will get some needed help as freshman guard B.J. Bailey, sidelined for the first three games of the season with a concussion, will see increased minutes Wednesday. Chambers said Bailey could play 15 to 18 minutes, a considerable boost in playing time considering the rookie has played just 12 minutes through two games.
The Terriers made improvements in free-shooting shooting last weekend in San Juan. BU shot 64 percent from the line against Iona College Nov. 13 and 67.9 percent against George Washington University on Nov. 17 ‘- both losses. Since then, Chambers has seen dramatic improvement in his team’s performance from the line. In Sunday’s game against No. 19 Georgia Tech University, the Terriers shot 78.6 percent. Although the game ended in another loss (85-67), BU competed in the first half against a team from the powerful Atlantic Coast Conference, something Chambers considers another big step.
‘I’m proud. We’re really shooting well from the foul line,’ Chambers said. ‘Entering the season, we were a high-60s, mid-60s foul-shooting team. We’re up in the 70s now, and that’s going to keep us in a lot of games and win a lot of games down the stretch.’
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