BOSTON – As the season has gone along, Boston University’s young team has grown. They have grown past the disappointment of losing several games in the final seconds early on and past the season-opening five-game losing streak. Now, as the Terriers go two games above .500 in conference play after a 79-72 win over Maine on Tuesday night, it is clear that the tougher part of their growth is what lies ahead.
The Terriers have plenty of talent, and that was one reason to believe this team would start winning games at some point. It was just a question of when that would happen. The Terriers bounced back from the tough start to the season to win six non-conference games, and before losing at Hartford on Saturday they had won five of six and made it a game above .500 overall on the season. They also got themselves on the other side of some tough games, as they were able to win games late or with the odds very much against them.
“I thought the Albany game was a great character win, I thought the home game against Vermont was a great character win,” said head coach Joe Jones. “That shows you that we’ve got the capability of doing it. Now it’s about being consistent, and we’re not as consistent as you want to be.”
On Tuesday night, Maine grabbed an early lead and then regained the lead at 22-19. It was short-lived, however, and Boston University heated up after that. In scoring 13 straight points to begin a 28-4 run, the Terriers seemingly couldn’t miss the remainder of the half, shooting over 58 percent from the field including an 8-14 mark from long range. They would lead by as many as 21 before going into the locker room up 48-32.
It started, as it so often does, on defense. Maine regained the lead largely from driving to the basket and getting layups or free throws, and that’s how they have to score since they are a poor jump shooting team. The Terriers did a better job of shutting off the penetration later in the half, and as they started making shots the lead grew quickly. Then they forced turnovers to start the second half and looked poised to run away with the game.
That’s when this team’s immaturity showed up. Credit Maine for finally going away from a zone defense that wasn’t working on this night and then getting stops with it, but that wasn’t the only reason the Black Bears made it a ballgame and got within eight a couple of times and then seven on a basket in the final seconds.
“We played a great first half, and I thought the first seven-eight minutes of the second half, I was pleased with. Then we lost our concentration,” said Jones. “I thought we could have really extended our lead. It was really poor in terms of our decision-making on offense down the stretch.”
Jones really stressed this because he’s done this long enough to know that talent alone doesn’t win games. The Terriers aren’t eligible for the America East Tournament since they are leaving for the Patriot League next season, so for Jones this is all about building for the future while trying to win now. You can see it during games, when he’s getting fired up on the bench more than he ever has before. If that didn’t make it clear, that he harped on this in the post-game press conference Tuesday night surely did.
Meanwhile, the Terriers have lost several close games. Learning from close wins is often better than doing so from close losses, but it’s also easy for a team that loses close ones to think, “We’re all right, we’re so close we can turn these into wins easily.” Of their 11 losses, only three have come by double digits and only once could you say that they got thumped – a 75-48 loss at Stony Brook.
This team is still young, with just one little-used senior and three juniors on the roster, a point Dom Morris noted. It partially explains this, but not entirely.
“I think next year, we’ll get the mentality where, when you’ve got a team down, you step on their neck,” said Morris, who scored a career-high 20 points on Tuesday night. “I think we’re just young.”
The Terriers have also started winning despite lacking size all over the place. They have no serious inside scoring threat other than Morris, and he likes to be away from the basket more than on the low block. They are also small in the backcourt, but have found a way to make it work as D.J. Irving and Maurice Watson, Jr. play off each other very well and push the pace. With that lineup, they have to play fast, and they do.
Earlier in the season, Jones said he felt the team tended to wear down in the second half with fatigue setting in. That was one thing that didn’t help them finish games. Now they appear to be fine physically, so it’s much more mental when this team doesn’t finish well. In the last 17 minutes of Tuesday’s game, they were out-scored by 15 points.
“When we were able to go on that run, we played with a great deal of energy, and I’m trying to convince them of that,” said Jones. “I think they think, ‘Wow, we’re really talented, we’re going to be okay.’ They don’t understand, it doesn’t matter if you’re talented or not.”
Boston University has to head on the road for their next two games, including a date with Vermont next Tuesday. The tests for this team to finish better will keep coming with six games to go. The hope Jones has is that they will finish the season strong by finishing games strong.
