{"id":40093,"date":"2024-01-30T13:15:20","date_gmt":"2024-01-30T18:15:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/?p=40093"},"modified":"2024-02-09T18:47:25","modified_gmt":"2024-02-09T23:47:25","slug":"another-blown-lead-another-missed-chance-will-bu-mens-basketball-ever-turn-the-corner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/2024\/01\/30\/another-blown-lead-another-missed-chance-will-bu-mens-basketball-ever-turn-the-corner\/","title":{"rendered":"Opinion: Another blown lead; another missed chance. Will BU Men\u2019s Basketball ever turn the corner?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

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

WORCESTER, Mass. \u2013 20 minutes of the best basketball we\u2019ve seen from BU all season. Only to be followed by a second-half collapse, something that has become all too familiar for the Terriers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

BU (8-14, 3-6 PL) got off to a blazing start against Holy Cross (6-16, 3-6 PL) on Monday. Through 13 minutes, the Terriers had already scored 29 points in front of a packed house at the Hart Center.<\/span><\/p>\n

At halftime, BU led 37-33 while shooting 14-for-29 from the field and 5-for-9 from 3.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Back cuts, aggressive drives to the rim, extra passes setting up wide-open 3s. It was an offensive clinic.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe were terrific. We were terrific,\u201d Jones said. \u201cWe were playing to our identity.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe first half of the year, whatever you wanna call it, you know we were settling a ton, hoping that we shoot the ball better and we were kinda playing to get 3s off, to be honest with you,\u201d Jones continued. \u201cWe\u2019ve tried to change our identity, and we\u2019ve tried to go to the basket more, and put more pressure on the paint, and I thought in the first half we played our best half.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But it’s a 40-minute game, and the last 20 were ugly at best.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

8-for-31 shooting, 2-of-11 from 3. Just 26 points.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If that\u2019s not bad enough, try seven-and-a-half minutes of scoreless basketball. How about 14 missed field goals in a row?<\/span><\/p>\n

The Terriers looked like they were playing at Dick\u2019s Sporting Goods, with a literal lid over the basket.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Seven blocks from Holy Cross junior forward Caleb Kenney had the same effect.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI thought Kenney\u2019s blocked shots really changed the momentum of the game,\u201d Jones said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But when Kenney wasn\u2019t affecting shots at the rim, the Terriers defaulted to settling for difficult jump shots, something Jones has tried so hard to stray away from as of late.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe reverted back to what we\u2019re trying not to do,\u201d Jones said. \u201cIt\u2019s hard not to do it when there\u2019s pressure, right? You\u2019re just trying to score, you\u2019re not thinking about your identity.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

BU has collapsed before, but a 19-3 Holy Cross run over 10 minutes of play in the second half summed up the most brutal stretch of BU\u2019s season.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The once potent Terrier offense completely lost their way in the second frame.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI have to find a way to get the ball inside. Deeper. Right now, we\u2019re catching it, you know, 10 feet (away) and we\u2019re dribbling 18 times a score. That\u2019s not good offense,\u201d Jones said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And as the offense faltered, the defense failed to get stops. At one point, Holy Cross made seven of its last eight shots.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe gotta focus on what we can control. We can control our energy and effort on the defensive end in the second half games. That\u2019s what we should be thinking about,\u201d Jones said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

BU got punched in the mouth, giving up its lead for the first time all game with 9:41 remaining. And it didn\u2019t have a counter move. The Terriers stayed on the ropes, taking haymakers until Holy Cross had built up a 9-point lead.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After that, the BU offense couldn\u2019t get enough going to complete a comeback, falling 65-63.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A second half collapse? It\u2019s been the story throughout conference play for the Terriers. It\u2019s only fitting that after BU\u2019s best half all season, it still found a way to lose.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If basketball were only a 20-minute game, BU would be 6-2-1 in Patriot League play. Of those six games in which the Terriers led at the half, they have only won once \u2013 on Saturday at Lafayette.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After the first half against Holy Cross, it looked like BU would follow up that win against Lafayette with a second-straight. But when it mattered most, the Terriers folded. Yet another setback in what has been a tumultuous season.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re this close to turning the corner, but you gotta keep going. It\u2019s hard. It\u2019s hard to win one game. It\u2019s hard.\u201d Jones said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But will BU ever turn that corner? To do so, it will have to rattle off multiple wins in a row, a feat it has struggled to achieve this season.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

BU is just 1-7 in games following a win. The only victory? <\/span>A 60-58 win over Loyola Maryland (4-17, 2-6 PL).<\/span><\/a> It took heroics \u2013 17 points in the final 8:12 from senior forward Anthony Morales \u2014 to squeak out a victory.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe were lucky to win that game,\u201d Jones said. \u201cMorales was unbelievable.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Simply put, BU hasn\u2019t played a complete game following a win this season. And now deep in the hole, sitting in eighth place halfway through Patriot League play, time is running out on the Terriers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sure, progress is nice. A win over first-place Lafayette on Saturday, followed by 20 minutes of outstanding play is a better 60-minute stretch than any other this season.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve shown that we can play,\u201d Jones said.<\/span><\/p>\n

But without a win to show for their performance in Worcester, BU squandered a chance to pick up some much-needed momentum against a struggling conference opponent.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And until BU shows that it can rattle off three or four wins in a row, the progress won\u2019t be more than a consolation prize for the 2023-24 edition of the Terriers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Featured image by Jacob Ireland By Henry Dinh-Price WORCESTER, Mass. \u2013 20 minutes of the best basketball we\u2019ve seen from BU all season. Only to be followed by a second-half collapse, something that has become all too familiar for the Terriers.\u00a0 BU (8-14, 3-6 PL) got off to a blazing start against Holy Cross (6-16, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23098,"featured_media":39608,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1023,1024,1026,1027,19],"tags":[1128,1129,1903,69,1145,1902],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40093"}],"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=40093"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40093\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40248,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40093\/revisions\/40248"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}