In 74-60 loss at San Diego, a familiar struggle returns for BU men’s basketball
The Terriers dismal shooting prompted memories of a year ago, and the offensive struggle that BU thought was a thing of the past.
Joe Jones wore a wry smile throughout most of his postgame video call with reporters after a 74-60 loss to San Diego on Friday night, metaphorically throwing his hands up at a frankly brutal shooting performance from his Boston University men’s basketball team. 9 of 33 was the clip from beyond the arc, and it doomed the Terriers against an opponent that was almost handing them open looks.
“Couldn’t knock them down,” the head coach concluded. “And that happens sometimes, you know?”
It does, but anyone who followed this group’s infuriating ineptitude from 3-point range for most of last season would’ve watched that showing at Jenny Craig Pavilion and left quite a bit more stressed than Jones did.
That looked like the worst version of BU from a year ago. The one that couldn’t score and couldn’t win. The one that was careening towards the cellar of the Patriot League before, suddenly, the shots started falling.
The Terriers’ looks were mostly open on Friday against the Toreros, and the results were mostly not even close. BU grew far too familiar with the underside of the front rim — when its 3s even hit the rim at all. It got so bad that theories like depth perception in a bigger arena or jetlag from a trans-continental flight began to come to mind.
“Not sure,” Jones said when asked if he had anything to attribute it to. “We didn’t make shots in practice yesterday. I was hoping we got that out of our system. So, you know, not sure.”
In any case, the 3s simply have to start falling. Especially against opponents like San Diego (1-1), with its confronting length down low (the Toreros blocked six shots on Friday) but smaller perimeter defenders. “We weren’t going to finish over them in the paint,” Jones explained. “We had to take the shots that they gave us, and they gave us open ones.”
They gave the open ones to the players BU (0-2) would’ve wanted, too. Guards Miles Brewster, Kyrone Alexander and Mike McNair — all starters and all critical for an injury-riddled BU — made nine 3s between them in a close, season-opening loss to Northeastern on Monday. They looked comfortable and played like they had the green light whenever.
Then on Friday, they went a combined 4 of 20 from behind the arc.
Senior guard Ben Palacios, forced into action due to an injury to starting senior Ethan Okwuosa, was 3 of 5 from deep and finished with a team-leading 15 points. Everyone else — and they were promisingly efficient against the Huskies — collapsed.
Which can’t happen, not with the health issues the Terriers are dealing with. Jones said Okwuosa (one of BU’s best on the dribble drive) reaggravated a knee issue he suffered before the season and that BU “will be without him for a little while.” Starting big Otto Landrum, a junior, remains out with an ankle injury. And while the second half of the starting Terrier frontcourt, junior Nico Nobili, returned from a shoulder injury on Friday, he wore a dark black sleeve under his jersey and only played 14 minutes. “He’s doing the best he can with what he has,” Jones said.
Senior Malcolm Chimezie, himself coming off a significant injury, and 7-foot freshman Ben Defty are the ones left to pick up the pieces. Jones pushed back on excuses, saying “those other guys are pretty good,” and he does have some evidence to back that up. Chimezie, after an excellent opener, scored 9 points, went to the line 12 times, and collected 9 rebounds.
But the reality is that BU is a team led by its backcourt.
“This is the hand that we’re dealt,” Jones conceded.
So the Terriers need to find a way to make 3s. And by that same token, they need to figure out how to function on nights when they can’t.
That was another problem against San Diego.
“We hung our heads a little bit when we missed some shots,” Jones said. “There are some demoralizing plays that went down, and you’ve got to be able to fight through that.”
San Diego led wire-to-wire, but BU cut its lead to two early in the second half. The Terriers then missed their next seven shots. The Toreros erupted on a 15-0 run at the other end, and that was kind of that.
“We’ve got to be able to play when things aren’t going our way,” Jones said. “They just kind of broke us.”
Torero junior guard Kjay Bradley Jr., a transfer from San Diego City College, killed BU to the tune of 28 points (10-of-18 shooting), 7 assists, 5 rebounds and 4 steals. It was similar to Northeastern junior transfer LA Pratt’s performance at Case Gym on Monday — after which Jones was incensed at his team’s defense — but the Terriers played better at that end on Friday. A 64 percent Husky shooting clip became 48 for the Toreros. Still too high, according to Jones, but progress.
Besides: defense was not at all the glaring issue.
“We had a bad shooting night, and we need to be tougher,” Jones said. “It’s as simple as that. It’s not overly complicated.”
That’s certainly the hope. These Terriers, who found their stroke from downtown in a stunning late turnaround last season, have reason to believe they can shoot. Despite the ugly misses Friday, there was never once a hesitation to let it fly, not from Brewster (11 points, 5 of 14 shooting), McNair (9, 3 of 11) or Alexander (2, 1 of 9).
After starting league play 2-5, BU finished as the No. 2 seed in the Patriot League tournament last season. This is a group that believes — correctly — that it’s good.
And yet, here they are, at 0-2, a date with No. 22 UCLA (1-1) awaiting them on Monday. Barring a huge upset, BU men’s basketball will be 0-3 in 2024-25, just like it was in 2023-24.
And shooting, once again, is a big reason why.
It’s probably just a blip on the radar. But from the outside looking in, it’s frightening nonetheless.
Now we wait to see the resolve on the inside.
“We have high expectations for ourselves, and when those things don’t come together, your focus drifts,” Jones said. “And I think that’s kind of where we are right now. It’s like, alright, why is this happening? We’re a good team. We’re working hard at it. And all of a sudden, we get in the game, and things aren’t going our way.”