America East Notebook
Terriers Hit Their Stride, Run Out of Gas
It took a while, but Boston University hit its stride after losing their first five games of the season. In the Terriers’ defense – not that they need it, as they are again playing some of the nation’s best defense – their first five games included Duke, Michigan, Rhode Island and George Washington.
The Terriers’ turnaround was sure to include improved offense, and that has indeed been the case. While their defense will clearly give them a fighting chance against anyone, they still need to score, and struggled mightily to do that early on. In three of their first four games, they topped 50 points just once. Since the loss at George Washington, where they had a couple of hot streaks, the Terriers have topped 60 points in all but one game, getting 58 in Saturday’s 58-55 win at Maine.
The Terriers first got going with a 73-62 win over Harvard, continuing their recent dominance of the Crimson. On Thursday, they rode runs of 19 and 11 unanswered points to a 67-46 blowout of visiting New Hampshire.
Leading the resurgent offense in the winning streak was freshman sharpshooter Corey Hassan. After a number of tough misses in early games, Hassan hit his three-pointers at a 66.7 percent clip during the win streak. If Omari Peterkin, who had consecutive double figure scoring games with 12 against Harvard and 16 against New Hampshire, can continue his recent play, the Terriers will have a solid inside-outside offensive combination.
The Terriers ran out to an early lead at UMass on Monday, then struggled for much of the remainder of the game en route to a 64-45 loss. Head coach Dennis Wolff felt there was a simple explanation for their struggles aside from the good play of the Minutemen.
“We ran out of gas,” said Wolff, whose team had played four games in seven days. “UMass deserved to win the game, but I think the more time went on, we were fighting ourselves as much as UMass.”
Going forward, the Terriers currently have to make do with ten scholarship players, as Tyler Morris is out for the season and Matt Wolff might be due to injuries and sophomore forward Tony Gaffney is suspended indefinitely. That was part of their slow start, but now they appear to be turning the corner as they have a ten-day layoff for final exams and hit the road for the final three games of 2005.
Bad Night for New Hampshire
Head coach Bill Herrion was not happy with the way the Wildcats played in their 67-46 loss at Boston University last Thursday night. He knew when he took the job that he inherit a team that was very thin both in terms of depth and team strength, but that wasn’t the issue he had Thursday.
“What this team and this program has to start learning soon is the way you have to compete to have a chance to win games,” Herrion said. “I was just very, very disappointed with the lack of fight and the lack of competitiveness that this team played with tonight.
“What we need to find out here at UNH – quickly – is what guys want to play, who wants to be in this program, who believes in this program as we start to build it, and we move on.”
The Wildcats clearly seemed to be going through the motions after they took an early 8-4 lead. The offense didn’t seem to have much direction, which owes partly to the absence of point guard Jermaine Anderson (sprained ankle), and the lack of life that Herrion spoke of was apparent.
The loss to the Terriers was the conference opener for the team, and they were fresh off their second victory of the season, a 71-65 win over Robert Morris. Herrion saw this as an opportunity for his team, which consists of eight freshmen and sophomores. The jury is out on whether or not they really took it in, with Saturday’s loss at Vermont added in.
“I told our guys coming into this game that if we’re ever going to have a chance of eventually competing for a championship in this league, you’re probably going to have to go through these guys here,” said Herrion, an assistant at Boston University under Mike Jarvis from 1985-90. “This program has been very consistent and very successful for twenty-plus years. We’re a team that was picked last in our preseason coaches poll.”
UMBC Looks for Improvement
If Saturday night’s win over Stony Brook is any indication, this season could be a good step forward for UMBC. The Retrievers appear to be developing some offensive balance, which wasn’t something many expected coming into the season since they lost their leading scorer from last season’s team and didn’t have anyone average in double figures.
The Retrievers had three players score in double figures, led by senior forward John Zito. The America East Co-Player of the Week came alive in the second half and finished with 16 points and seven rebounds. Mike Housman had 13 of his 15 points in the first half, when the Retrievers shot nearly 47 percent from the field and held the Seawolves below 35 percent.
Head coach Randy Monroe was pleased with the fact that they won despite getting just one point from Brian Hodges, but not surprised by it.
“I think we have that kind of team,” Monroe said. “If you told me Brian Hodges was going to get one point and we would win, I’d say you’re crazy. The good thing about this team is that on any given night, someone can step up and help us.
“At the beginning of the year, I was saying to myself as a coach, where’s the scoring going to come from? We’ve had balance for the beginning of the season.”
The Retrievers also had 19 assists and 10 turnovers, a big improvement from their season statistics in both categories entering the game.
Challenging Year Begins for Stony Brook
Steve Pikiell was clear in what he told his team about the challenge facing them this season.
“We have as tough a schedule as there is in the league,” Pikiell said after Saturday’s loss at UMBC. “I told our guys, it’s not going to be easy, no one’s going to hand us anything. We have to earn our wins.”
The Seawolves, who have an experienced backcourt but little experience in the frontcourt, have yet to post a victory. Thus far, their schedule has included games at Villanova, St. John’s and Hofstra, and still ahead are games at Connecticut, George Washington and Boston College. That’s not the kind of schedule that an inexperienced team like the Seawolves is going to have an easy time with.
The Seawolves have struggled mightily on the offensive end, as they are last in the conference in scoring and field goal percentage by wide margins. Pikiell attributes it largely to the team’s inexperience, and he’s happy to see some strides along the way even though the record doesn’t show it. The Seawolves are guard-oriented, and at this level that can carry a team a long way. But right now, they’re still gaining experience and trying to get better.
A promising development has been the play of freshman forward Stephane Bakinde. Bakinde is an athletic forward who looks like he will be a very good player in the conference down the line. He showed some flashes in Saturday’s loss to UMBC, where he had seven points in 19 minutes and had stretches where he made plays each time down the floor.
Other Notes
- Maine has been without senior guard Kevin Reed for the entire season thus far. Speculation is that his left foot injury, which the staff has been mum about, will not cost him the season, but head coach Ted Woodward alluded to the possibility of missing the season in an interview last month with the Portland Press Herald when he said, “With any injury that requires time, (missing the season) is always something that is a possibility.”
- Vermont continues to win at Patrick Gym, opening up conference play with a 58-53 win over New Hampshire last Saturday. It was also another sellout, which shows that even with a 3-4 record overall and being in rebuilding mode, the fans in Burlington will still come out to see their team.
- The big surprise thus far has to be Hartford, and not just because they’re 4-3 overall and won their conference opener over Maine. The Hawks are leading the conference in scoring, field goal percentage, and most surprisingly of all, both assists and assist/turnover ratio. Not only were the Hawks last in all four categories last season, they lost a game in which they committed just three turnovers – they had just three assists and shot just over 31 percent in that game.
- Preseason favorite Albany has a 2-5 record, but that has to be taken with a grain of salt given the opponents they have played. Their five losses include Syracuse, San Diego State and UCLA. Perhaps more importantly, this guard-oriented team now has big man Kirsten Zoellner getting better, as he was recently America East Co-Player of the Week and has averaged 11.5 points in the last four games.
- A little ways from Albany, Binghamton is off to a tough start at 1-6. While the losses include Niagara, Oklahoma and Hofstra, they’ve also lost to two Northeast Conference teams and struggling Brown last Saturday. For the biggest reason, don’t look at the statistics: head coach Al Walker and senior guard Andre Heard both spoke of a lack of aggressiveness after the Brown game. The lack of bench production hasn’t helped, either: they average about 10 per game off the bench, and Schafer Jackson has yet to hit a three-pointer this season.
