SOUTH KINGSTON, R.I. – Boston University is establishing an identity as a resilient team in the early going. Adversity has been present early and often, in the form of deficits in games and tough losses. But new head coach Joe Jones and his team knew it wouldn’t last, and although they had to overcome adversity again this weekend, they did just that in finishing with a 2-1 record in the Legends Classic subregional.
The Terriers didn’t exactly start out the weekend on a good note. They lost a heart-breaker to Cleveland State on Friday afternoon, a game that was more than just there for the taking. But they bounced back to take out the host team on Saturday and then pull out a 68-61 decision over Hofstra, and that’s the biggest thing they will take out of this weekend.
“We knew it was a heart-breaker,” said senior forward Patrick Hazel. “We didn’t want to turn one heart-breaker into more.”
The Terriers have had to battle back seemingly all season long. In the season opener against arch-rival Northeastern, they rallied from an 11-point deficit to force overtime before falling to the Huskies. They had to battle back in the next game at Cornell to make it a ballgame before losing. And they entered this weekend winless on the season, which was tough enough, but they opened with Friday’s loss that could have devastated them. Not only would that have been their first win, but it would have come against a Cleveland State team that could be in the discussion for an NCAA Tournament at-large bid down the road given their good start.
Jones knew the Terriers would get going once the team and coaching staff had established more familiarity with each other. One thing he saw from his team was that Hazel could be an inside threat offensively, something this team could use since perimeter scoring isn’t a concern thanks to Darryl Partin and D.J. Irving. Since then, there has been a real effort to establish him as an inside threat, and it’s starting to pay some dividends.
Hazel has always been a defensive specialist. He began his career at Marquette, where he was surrounded by Dominic James, Wesley Matthews and Jerel McNeal, so there wasn’t a big need for him or any other frontcourt player to be a big scorer. Last year, his first at BU after transferring, he was decidedly not much of an offensive option with players like John Holland, Jake O’Brien (until late December) and Darryl Partin among his teammates.
This season, though, the Terriers need an inside scorer to complement Partin and D.J. Irving on the perimeter. While sophomore Dom Morris has plenty of talent, he’s not a true post player. Hazel fits the bill, however, and he had a big weekend as he got the ball often. He scored a career-high 15 points on Friday, added 14 points and eight rebounds in Saturday’s win over Rhode Island, then posted his first career double-double on Sunday with 11 points and 10 rebounds. That went with his usual work defensively as he blocked 10 shots in the three games.
“We’re trying to get (Pat) and Dom going,” Jones said. “Those are two guys we’ve got to get going inside. We’d really like to have four guys in double figures.”
“His confidence is high right now, so we’ve got to keep feeding him so we can get baskets,” Irving said of Hazel.
Morris has the tools to score inside and out, in addition to being more athletic than he looks with his big body. Last year, he was often deferential to the veterans, but now he’s one of the veterans on a younger team, especially with O’Brien redshirting this season. With the scoring prowess of their perimeter players, one gets the idea that if Morris ever got the confidence to be the player he can be, they might be unstoppable.
“He establishes his presence in practice,” Hazel said of Morris. “We’re just waiting for that one big game from him, and once he gets it, he’s going to hit the ground running.”
The Terriers have started the season coming from behind, and they’re getting better at it as they have now broken through to win games. No team wants to come from behind all the time, but that’s been the fate of this team thus far. If the Terriers keep this up and then start better, the first few weeks may turn out to be a microcosm of the season.
