Men’s Basketball: The magic number 70

By: Greg Levinsky

Early in the 2018-19 slate, the Boston University men’s basketball team had no trouble scoring. In their first four games the Terriers eclipsed at least 70 points.

The Terriers went 3-1 over those games, including two road victories before falling in what has now become a three-game slide to bring their record to 3-4 overall.

BU started with a win at Northeastern, loss to Vermont, win over Emerson, win at Albany, and have fallen in order to Eastern Michigan, Drexel and Rutgers – all challenging road games.

Seventy seems like the magic number for both BU and its’ opponents. It’s been that way since the beginning of last season. Here’s why:

When the Terriers eclipse 70 points, they are 3-1, having only fallen to America East preseason favorite Vermont, 78-72 in BU’s home opener. When scoring below 70, the Terriers are 0-3, and have been outscored by double-digits in each contest. All three of those contents have come against tough non-conference foes, but nonetheless, it’s a thought provoking statistic.

This pattern extends a trend exemplified by a pattern from last season. Twelve of BU’s 15 wins during the 2017-18 slate came when they scored at least 70 points. They went 12-4 scoring 70 or more points and 3-12 when scoring below 70.

It also extends to the defensive end of the floor, or what their opponents score. There’s just something about that number 70.

Last year the Terriers went 6-10 when allowing 70 or more points in a game, 9-6 when giving up under 70. This year, the Terriers are 1-3 when allowing 70 or more points and  2-1 when allowing under 70 points per game.

And what is the average score of Terrier opponents this year?

Ironically enough, it’s 70 on the nose.

Greg Levinsky can be reached at glevinsk@bu.edu. Follow him on Twitter @GregLevinsky