Quick Hits For the Holiday
As we head into the long holiday weekend that will feature the NIT Season Tip-Off finals and the Great Alaska Shootout, we have some quick hits on some teams we’ve had a look at thus far in the young season.
Friars Get Back on Track Against Old Rivals
Boston College and Providence came into Wednesday night’s game fresh off a loss in which they didn’t play well, hence a striking similarity in the urgency of the game. Each team was 1-1 coming into the game and had some question marks based on the most recent game. A good crowd gathered, especially considering it was the night before the holiday.
The Eagles never quite looked like they were in the game, trailing for most of it en route to a 73-64 Providence victory. It was a quality win for the Friars to get back on track after Saturday’s loss to Brown, where they shot below 20 percent in the second half.
The Friars made a real statement about how they will play this season in the way they beat the Eagles. They beat them on the glass, using their physical front line as sophomores Geoff McDermott (18 points, 16 rebounds) and Jonathan Kale (11 points, 6 rebounds off the bench) led the Friars to a 42-31 rebounding edge.
“I said the game was going to be won from the 10-foot line in, and that’s where it was won tonight,” Providence head coach Tim Welsh said.
The Friars also got big nights from starting guards Sharaud Curry (18 points on 5-9 shooting) and Weyinmi Efejuku (17 points). Curry got the offense going and also hit a clutch three-pointer from well behind the arc as the shot clock was about to expire. Efejuku looked like the player he’s capable of being, going in for dunks on fast breaks and getting scoring opportunities on the wing.
“When our guards play like that, offense becomes easier,” Welsh said. “Weyinmi and Sharaud really controlled the tempo for us.”
If the Friars play like they did Wednesday night, they’ll win more than their fair share of games this season. That’s a good sign for them, especially heading into some more difficult non-conference games ahead like Sunday’s against George Washington.
Home Cookin’ For the Huskies in Rivalry Renewal
After a brutal stretch to start the season on the road, Northeastern opened up its home slate with an impressive 73-54 win over cross-town rival Boston University. The Huskies scored the game’s first 12 points and made 8-of-12 first half three-point shots to be in control early. In the second half, the Terriers got within 49-44, but the Huskies responded with a 22-5 run that put the game away.
The Huskies were playing their fifth game in seven days, with the first four coming in five days and including Syracuse, Pittsburgh and Massachusetts, all of which have NCAA Tournament potential (with the Panthers being a Final Four favorite of many). It’s just the beginning of a non-conference slate that might be the toughest in the nation, and it would have been easy for them to come back and not play well, especially since Adrian Martinez (career-high 21 points) was in a boot for several days before the game.
“The road trip we were on was a tremendous learning experience for this team,” said head coach Bill Coen. “While we were on the road trip, we played some very talented teams – Syracuse, Pitt and UMass – and they really made us look at ourselves and what we were doing. I think that really sharpened our game for tonight.”
The difficulty of the trip and short turnaround were points not lost on Terrier head coach Dennis Wolff.
“They deserve all the credit in the world for playing as hard as they did, particularly in the first 20 minutes with what they just went through,” Wolff said after the game.
Last season, the teams didn’t play each other for the first time in over 60 years. They were supposed to play, but disagreements on the site and confusion on a non-exempt tournament kept that from happening.
Young Terriers Struggle Early
Dennis Wolff hasn’t had many teams this young during his tenure at Boston University, as he starts four freshmen. But a number of departures the past two seasons, including the transfer of Ben Coblyn last month, have led to the roster being loaded with freshmen and sophomores. The only upperclassman to start a game is redshirt sophomore Ibrahim Konate, who doesn’t have a wealth of experience as his career thus far has been hit with injuries, so it’s safe to say that the Terriers are getting an education on the job.
Tuesday’s loss at Northeastern drops the Terriers to 1-3, and it was a game they were really never in except for a brief time in the second half when they got within five. The game also continued something few probably expected coming into the season, even with the relative inexperience: struggles on defense. Through four games, Terrier opponents are averaging almost 71 points per game and shooting just below 50 percent from the field.
“We continue to make immature plays, which probably is somewhat attributed to the youth of our team, but nonetheless we’re making bad basketball plays that’s given them numerous extra opportunities,” Wolff said.
Included in that has been the Terriers turning the ball over more than 16 times per game. That doesn’t make it any easier on the defense, especially when the team is getting out-rebounded as they were through the first three games (they out-rebounded the Huskies on Tuesday by enough to swing the rebound margin for the season to a positive).
Of the newcomers, redshirt freshman Tyler Morris and true freshmen Corey Lowe and Carlos Strong have shown the most promise so far. Morris looks like the point guard of the future and, increasingly, the present, while Lowe will swing between both guard spots. When the Terriers get the ball inside to Omari Peterkin, one of just two seniors on the team, they have a good weapon. They did that for a while during Tuesday’s comeback, but he scored his last points with 7:39 left and had few touches the rest of the way. He finished with 15 points and a career-high 14 rebounds for his first career double-double.
Wolff repeatedly said, “we have a lot of work to do” to describe his team, which is to be expected with such a young group early on. Still, the schedule doesn’t get any easier with four straight road games on tap and the only home game in the next month being UMass on December 6.
“The younger guys still don’t have a clearer understanding of (how hard you have to play in Division I),” Wolff said. “Until we start playing harder, we’re going to have more nights like this than we’d like to have. You have to play hard on every play, and we’re not doing that right now.”
Crusaders Start Strong, Ready For the Road
After Tuesday night’s 82-69 win at Harvard, Holy Cross heads into its final home game for nearly a month with a 4-0 record. They could be 5-0 with a win over William & Mary on Saturday, a good way to get ready for the very difficult road slate.
The Crusaders have good talent overall, but it’s the experience of seniors Torey Thomas and Keith Simmons that have carried them to this point. That was very well exemplified in Saturday’s win over a young but talented Siena team that is sure to be a dark horse contender in the MAAC. In that game, the two split the scoring duties but made plays for the entire game. Thomas finished with 20 points, while Simmons had 18 and 11 rebounds, including several key offensive rebounds late in the second half when he was struggling to score.
“That’s what Keith does,” Thomas said of his classmate after the win over Siena. “He’s going to get the big rebounds, hit the big shot. Keith is explosive – he exerts so much energy. He never quits.”
Aside from the stellar perimeter play of the seniors, the Crusaders have had inconsistent post play, though Tim Clifford may have given a sign of better things to come when he had 22 points on 9-11 shooting against Harvard. Clifford’s main support has been sophomore Alex Vander Baan, who is better after slowed before the season by a staph infection, and a couple of less-experienced players in sophomore Greg McCarthy and freshmen Eric Meister and Andrew Keister. McCarthy has been a nice development after playing very little last season, while the freshmen both have the potential to be key complements right away but also have the growing pains.
“Our freshmen have been playing well, but tonight when I put them in they were lost in space. That’s going to happen to you some games,” Willard said after the Siena game.
One concern Willard has is taking care of the ball. In the first four games, the Crusaders have averaged 19 turnovers per game. While they have two more takeaways and have held opponents just above 38 percent shooting, he knows they can’t get away with that forever. Thomas has one more turnover than assists, a statistic he should reverse as the season goes along.
Other Notes
- Binghamton got guard Steve Proctor back from an injury on Monday, and he made an immediate impact in a 66-59 win over Mt. St. Mary’s. Known as a good defender, the senior guard had a career-high 14 points to help lead the way as the Bearcats improved to 2-1. The Bearcats need someone to be a go-to guy with the departure of Andre Heard, and Proctor is certainly one candidate.
- Once the teams were set for the NIT Season Tip-Off, many probably figured a Tennessee–North Carolina matchup would happen on Friday. Few probably figured that would be the consolation.
- Hampton has a team to keep an eye on in the MEAC this season despite their youth. New head coach Kevin Nickelberry has a team that should force turnovers and compete in games, and they also have a couple of good freshmen in forward Mike Freeman and Matt Pilgrim, the latter of whom has yet to play due to injury.
- One of the best quotes of the season thus far came from Providence head coach Tim Welsh when asked about the home games on his team’s non-conference schedule. “I learned something from Boeheim – don’t leave the state of Rhode Island. He doesn’t leave the state of New York, I don’t leave the state of Rhode Island. I like that.”
