BU men's basketball collapses on defense in season-opening loss to Northeastern: 'We've got to get back to who we are.'
The Terriers allowed the Huskies to shoot 64 percent from the field, the highest mark they've given up since 2019.
BOSTON — Kyrone Alexander couldn’t quite believe the number he was presented with in the press room above Case Gym on Monday night. A reporter pointed out Northeastern’s 64 percent field goal percentage, to which the sophomore guard mumbled under his breath: “Wow.”
Then he chuckled a bit.
“You’re not winning much games if the opponent’s going 64 percent,” he said.
About 10 minutes later, his head coach trudged into the room and was slightly less political.
“One of the worst defensive performances I’ve seen one of our teams play since I’ve been here,” Joe Jones said. It was, you should know, the start of his 14th season coaching Boston University men’s basketball.
But that was the way of it in a season-opening 80-72 loss to rival Northeastern. The Huskies, without Preseason All-CAA second-team guard Masai Troutman, got at least 14 points from four different players, outscored the Terriers 21-0 in fastbreak points and, as Jones put it, “did whatever they wanted.”
Northeastern junior guard LA Pratt, a transfer from Elon, dropped 24 points (9 of 13 from the field, 4 for 8 from 3) in his first game with the Huskies to lead both teams. He made multiple critical plays in a tight second half, including a back-breaking 3-pointer with 2:25 to go that gave Northeastern a four-point lead after a 6-0 BU run. Northeastern coach Bill Coen, smiling wryly, concluded his new starting shooting guard “didn’t disappoint.”
Jones, meanwhile, couldn’t bring himself to mince words about a performance from a team that, last season, hung its hat on reliable defense for months.
“We didn’t play within our principles at all defensively,” he said.
BU was without its two starting bigs — juniors Otto Landrum and Nico Nobili — and thus trotted out a small-ball starting lineup, a rarity under Jones. But Northeastern is small, too, simply by nature (its tallest player is only 6-foot-9, and he fouled out after playing only 14 minutes). So, effectively, it was a game between two deep and experienced groups of perimeter players.
BU’s guards, who were actually quite good offensively for vast stretches, simply did not hang at the other end.
Pratt led the way, but Northeastern got 17 points and four assists from sophomore Harold Woods, 16 and four from junior Rashad King and 14 more points from sophomore William Kermoury. “None of those guys,” Jones was quick to point out, “are post players.”
“We switch a lot of guard-to-guard stuff, and we didn’t do a good job of that, we didn’t manage ball screens great,” he added. “But the biggest thing was, when they drove the ball, we had no answer. Our rotations were not there. We weren’t in a good position, off the ball, to help. We just did not play as a team.”
Alexander, albeit less peeved, expressed a similar sentiment: “Not being able to contain dudes one on one, and not having help-side [defense] when it should’ve been there. And, ultimately, that’s going to be a recipe for disaster.”
The Huskies scored 42 points in the paint, went to the line 22 times and were 7 of 16 from 3. Plus, of course, there was the 64 percent clip from the field — the highest BU has given up since January 2019. A disaster, to be sure.
“It was all about our defense tonight,” Jones said.
Which meant an encouraging performance on offense — an agonizing Achilles’ heel for this group during much of last season — was all for naught. Sophomore Mike McNair, who made his first collegiate start in place of presumed starter Matai Baptiste (6-foot-7) in BU’s small-ball lineup, scored 12 points, made four 3s and dished out seven assists. Jones said that group of five — McNair, Alexander, graduate guard Miles Brewster, senior guard Ethan Okwuosa and senior center Malcolm Chimezie — was the team’s best in a scrimmage with Yale two weekends ago.
They looked in over their heads to start, as Northeastern — powered by Pratt — jumped out to a 17-5 lead, but McNair and Brewster (10 points, 4 of 14 from the field) made several 3s without hesitation in the middle of the first half to calm BU down. After that, the Terriers pounded the Huskies in the paint, mostly off dribble penetration from their guards in the absence of Landrum and Nobili, and BU took a 39-38 lead into the half.
The Terriers finished the game with 38 points in the paint. Okwuosa (9 points) and Brewster, especially, looked as comfortable as ever driving to the cup, but McNair — known mostly as a shooter coming in — put the ball on the deck his fair share, too. Meanwhile, Alexander (team-leading 16 points) caught fire from behind the arc, including a 3-plus-the-foul late in the second half to keep the Terriers alive.
BU finished the game 9 of 21 from 3 for a 42.9 percent clip, which would’ve been sixth-highest over 33 games last season.
“We’ve got the right balance,” Jones said of his offense.
Chimezie, back from a season-ending injury last year and with an enormous role to fill, scored 14 points, was 6 for 8 from the field and hauled in seven rebounds. As the team’s only experienced big until Landrum and Nobili return, BU needs him, frankly, to play the best ball of his career. He looked the part on Monday.
“Our principles stay the same,” Alexander said of the Terriers’ offense amid the injuries. “We try to score at the rim, get inside and kick out for 3s. I think overall, we had stretches where we were able to do that.”
But in the end, he came away lamenting that the Terriers didn’t do it as well as the Huskies. That, obviously, wasn’t the offense’s fault. It was its fault at Matthews Arena in the opener last season (and for really the entire year after that), but a loss in the first game to Northeastern is a loss in the first game to Northeastern just the same.
“Home opener, to a school that’s down the street,” Alexander rued, “it’s definitely frustrating, for sure.”
And now, BU is staring at the very same 0-3 start it suffered through a year ago. A road trip to Southern California to face San Diego on Friday and No. 22 UCLA on Monday awaits the Terriers. Different year, same situation, for the completely opposite reason.
“I know these guys, it’s in them,” Jones said. “We didn’t defend with the level of toughness that we’re about. Last year at this time, that wasn’t an issue. We weren’t winning games, but it wasn’t because we weren’t playing hard.”
“We’ve got to get back to who we are,” he added.
