Instant takeaways from the BU men's basketball team's 64-61 loss at Merrimack
The Terriers cut a 15-point second-half deficit to one, but couldn't cross the finish line.
NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. — Head coach Joe Jones called it back on Monday in Boston. Friday night’s matchup with Merrimack at Lawler Arena was one of the most important games of the season thus far for the Boston University men’s basketball team.
For a group that had shown signs of elite potential, but was still inconsistent, an opportunity for a third consecutive win towards the end of non-conference play was critical. So too, was playing against Merrimack’s notoriously aggressive defense for an offense that had struggled to function under pressure from opponents.
And goodness — was BU so close to an enormous victory.
Trailing by two with 30 seconds to play, BU collected two huge offensive rebounds off of missed corner 3-pointers and eventually found sophomore guard Kyrone Alexander under the basket. Alexander — BU’s leading scorer — missed the point-blank layup, but was fouled.
He made the first free throw, but his second to tie the game fell achingly short with seven seconds to go. The Terriers (5-6) fell to the Warriors (5-6), 64-61.
BU just couldn’t climb all the way back.
BU trailed by as much as 15 in the second half, the result of a series of defensive breakdowns early in the frame. But starting with a boon from a lineup full of backups — freshmen Azmar Abdullah and Ben Defty were especially impressive — the Terriers slowly chipped away at the lead. Jones returned to his full starting lineup for the final seven minutes, and with cold-blooded shooting from graduate guard Miles Brewster and sophomore guard Mike McNair, plus critical plays from senior forward Malcolm Chimezie, BU eventually cut the lead to one with around a minute to play.
Then, Merrimack junior forward Bryan Etunmu drained an immediate 3-pointer — his second of the half after entering with just two made 3s on the season — a shot to which Jones threw his hands up in response.
Alexander responded with a corner 3 of his own — after a remarkable offensive rebound from Chimezie — then, BU got a stop. But Alexander’s heartbreaking missed layup and missed free throw meant the Terriers fell just short.
Slowly but surely, BU figured out Merrimack’s notorious zone.
The Warriors’ zone defense, run by ninth-year head coach Joe Gallo, has been dubbed the “No 3s” or “Make Chaos” defense. The idea is simple, as BU head coach Joe Jones laid out after his Terriers’ defeated Merrimack at Case Gym last season: “They bring their wings up really high.”
It’s an extremely aggressive approach, one that limits dribble penetration. But it also, as Jones said last season, leaves plenty of open space inside the 3-point line. “If you can get it in the middle,” he said, “you can get some things.”
BU used entry passes into the high post to great effect then, and tried the same approach on Friday. It was a disaster at first — Merrimack started on an 11-0 run and BU missed its first seven field goals. But the Terriers eventually started to grow comfortable. Junior forward Otto Landrum (see below) kick-started BU’s offense, but BU’s other two healthy forwards — senior Malcolm Chimezie and junior Ben Defty — quickly followed. With well-executed entry passes from one another, to one another, the Terriers’ bigs kept their team afloat.
BU didn’t get a single point from a guard until 15 minutes into the game. Chimezie lead BU in the first half with 10 points on 5-of-8 shooting (he finished the game with 14 points and 5 rebounds).
Otto Landrum was a bright spot in his third game back.
The 6-foot-10 big man near single-handedly kept BU in the game early in the first half. He assisted the Terriers’ first four baskets, all of them sweet entry passes to the low post from the high post, then rebounded a missed BU 3-pointer, got fouled, and made both free throws. It meant Landrum scored or assisted the Terriers’ first 10 points.
Landrum finished with 4 points, 4 rebounds and 7 assists.
It was Landrum’s third game back from a fractured ankle. He didn’t start — perhaps because he isn’t healthy enough, perhaps because Chimezie has been so good in his place — but was a lively addition off the bench. BU’s bad start on Friday would’ve turned real ugly without him.
Before both of Landrum’s free throw attempts in the first half, a voice in the crowd hollered “Hi Mom!” in reference to the video that made him go viral on social media last season. Fans waiting for Landrum outside of the locker room became a staple of BU’s 2023-24 season, and on Friday, a group of supporters screamed his name as he walked off the court for halftime.
BU, certainly, will be glad the Otto Landrum Experience is finally back.