{"id":39964,"date":"2024-01-25T12:41:58","date_gmt":"2024-01-25T17:41:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/?p=39964"},"modified":"2024-01-25T12:42:46","modified_gmt":"2024-01-25T17:42:46","slug":"mens-basketball-bu-collapses-against-army-in-most-disappointing-loss-of-the-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/2024\/01\/25\/mens-basketball-bu-collapses-against-army-in-most-disappointing-loss-of-the-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Men\u2019s Basketball: BU collapses against Army in most disappointing loss of the season"},"content":{"rendered":"

Featured image by Jacob<\/em> Ireland<\/p>\n

By Henry Dinh-Price<\/span><\/p>\n

BOSTON \u2014 This is a turning point.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A disastrous second half in which BU (7-13, 2-5 PL) was outscored 46-29 by the Army Black Knights (6-14, 2-5 PL) leaves the Terriers, now on a three-game losing streak, with more questions than answers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Terriers have turned in their fair share of poor performances this season, but BU\u2019s 69-59 loss to Army at Case Gym on Wednesday certainly feels like the most devastating.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of been a consistent theme. We played, you know, pretty well in the first half of games, and then we really struggled to score in the second half,\u201d BU head coach Joe Jones said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then our defense really, we\u2019ve struggled to defend well in the second half. We\u2019re pretty consistent holding people under 40 percent in the first half of every game, and then in the second half they shoot 50 percent,\u201d he continued.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But Army didn\u2019t just shoot 50 percent in the second half. They shot 58.3 percent, making 14-of-24 shots. BU, on the other hand, shot an alarming 27.6 percent in the final 20 minutes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Army entered the game tied for last place in the Patriot League. And in nine road games this season, Army was just 1-8. But after Wednesday\u2019s matchup, the Black Knights are tied with the Terriers in the conference standings, both already five games out of first place just seven games in.<\/span><\/p>\n

On Wednesday, BU got off to a rapid start. The Terriers scored 18 points in the first seven minutes of play. 12 of those points came in the paint, as guards made a concerted effort to drive to the rim.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Through those first seven minutes, BU\u2019s offense looked unlike anything it has shown so far in Patriot League play. The Terriers rely on the 3 more than any other team in the conference, taking 26 per game in conference play. And these 3s are only dropping at a 29.1 percent rate, a league low.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But when BU put its head down and attacked the rim early, it scored at will. The Terriers started the game shooting 8-for-11, taking an 18-10 lead.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think we were a little more patient in the first half, kind of getting multiple drives,\u201d Jones said. \u201cWe played pretty well.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Terriers were able to carry the early lead into halftime, ahead 30-23 at the break.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But in the second half, BU free-falled.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

BU took 29 shots in the second half. It made eight.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Terriers reverted to their old ways. The aggressiveness seen in the opening minutes was no longer present.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn the second half, I thought we kind of fell into how we\u2019ve been playing in terms of taking a lot of 3s and not making them,\u201d Jones said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

BU shot 3-for-14 from behind the arc in the second period.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cGod. Man. Oh, man. That\u2019s been rough,\u201d Jones continued.<\/span><\/p>\n

Army capitalized, going on an 11-3 run over five minutes to tie the game at 40 with 11 minutes remaining.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As the Black Knights drew even, and subsequently traded baskets with BU, they fed 6-foot-8 junior forward AJ Allenspach every time down the floor.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Allenspach scored nine points on 4-for-4 shooting in just a four-minute span. An and-one flip shot from his left hand gave Army their first lead, 43-42, since the opening three minutes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Allenspach, who averages just 3.2 points per game, finished with a career-high 11 points on 5-for-6 shooting.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe kid, Allenspach. He was the difference in the game,\u201d Jones said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

BU fought back, taking a 49-47 lead after a go-ahead layup from sophomore forward Nico Nobili with 6:24 remaining. But that would be the last positive moment for the Terriers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Army went on a 13-0 run over the ensuing four minutes and 40 seconds. By the end of the run, Army\u2019s 60-49 lead with under two minutes remaining put BU in an insurmountable hole.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

BU\u2019s five starters were the ones in the game down the stretch. It was ugly.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Terriers missed eight straight field goals, settling for 3s and contested jump shots.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

No one stepped up. No one demanded the ball. No one scored.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Terriers don\u2019t have a player averaging double-digit points this season, and it showed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

20 games into the season, BU still doesn\u2019t have a go-to scorer.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSince I\u2019ve been here, I probably have had three guys that I kind of organize the team around. Usually, it\u2019s one big and then two perimeter guys I can kind of work through. Those guys play 30 minutes,\u201d Jones said. \u201cThis a whole different animal here.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In Jones\u2019 13-year tenure as BU\u2019s head coach, this group stands out as his most untried. Eight additions to the roster. Four freshmen, two Division II transfers, and two team managers turned walk-ons.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in a new horizon right here trying to figure it out. We\u2019ve never been this inexperienced,\u201d Jones said. \u201cWe have two freshmen lead us in scoring in a league game. Like that has never come close to happening. Never.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The two freshmen Jones alluded to were Kyrone Alexander and Matai Baptiste. Alexander finished with 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting. Baptiste shot 4-of-9 and finished with 10 points in his first career start.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While the two had solid performances, BU\u2019s key returning players fell flat. The team\u2019s leading scorer, senior point guard Miles Brewster, finished with 7 points on 1-of-7 shooting. And production from BU\u2019s bigs was almost nonexistent. Sophomore forward Otto Landrum had a goose egg, shooting 0-for-4. And while Nobili scored 8 points on 3-for-3 shooting, he was passive.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think we got to talk to a couple of guys that are our key guys,\u201d Jones said. \u201cI think sometimes guys start feeling the weight of scoring on their shoulders and then that leads to some bad decisions. So we got to work through that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The outlook for BU\u2019s season was different this year. In the annual Patriot League preseason poll, the Terriers were projected to finish fifth in the conference, instead of their usual top-two projection in each of the previous three seasons. But at 2-5 in conference play, the Terriers haven\u2019t even matched these tempered expectations.<\/span><\/p>\n

BU shot 37.5 percent on Wednesday, and across seven Patriot League contests, the Terriers have made just 37.1 percent of their field goals, which ranks worst in the conference.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to win any game shooting below 40 percent and that\u2019s where we\u2019ve been the whole league season,\u201d Jones said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

BU\u2019s 3-point shooting was even worse. 6-for-26. Just 23.1 percent.<\/span><\/p>\n

Even having Brad Stevens, current president of basketball operations and former head coach of the Boston Celtics, in the building couldn\u2019t give BU any added juice.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Stevens was in attendance to support Kevin Kuwik, Army\u2019s head coach, who served under him for a single season at Butler University. But he still reached out to Jones after BU\u2019s brutal loss.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

During Jones\u2019 postgame press conference, Stevens gave him a call. Jones quickly told Stevens he was in the middle of a press conference and that he would call him back.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI guess people like me,\u201d Jones said jokingly before continuing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody knows we don\u2019t lose like this. So it\u2019s like, this has been unbelievable.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Looking forward, BU has the toughest of tests ahead. A road matchup against the first-place Lafayette Leopards (8-12, 7-0 PL) in Easton, Pa. on Saturday at 2 p.m. BU lost its first matchup against Lafayette 59-51 at Case Gym on January 6th.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully we can reel off three or four wins and get going,\u201d Jones said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think we have enough talent that we can turn a corner.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Featured image by Jacob Ireland By Henry Dinh-Price BOSTON \u2014 This is a turning point.\u00a0 A disastrous second half in which BU (7-13, 2-5 PL) was outscored 46-29 by the Army Black Knights (6-14, 2-5 PL) leaves the Terriers, now on a three-game losing streak, with more questions than answers.\u00a0 The Terriers have turned in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23098,"featured_media":36978,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1026,1027,19],"tags":[1128,1131,69,1145,1902,1848],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39964"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23098"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39964"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39964\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39966,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39964\/revisions\/39966"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}