Instant takeaways from the BU men's basketball team's 80-74 overtime win over UAlbany
Sophomore guard Kyrone Alexander (career-high 27 points) and senior forward Malcolm Chimezie (9 points, 7 blocks) led the Terriers, who won a tight contest against an impressive America East opponent.
BOSTON — There are no must-win games in the non-conference slate, something this Boston University men’s basketball team can atest to.
But nevertheless, the Terriers could’ve really used a win over UAlbany on Saturday at Case Gym.
And after an overtime thriller, BU got it.
Kyrone Alexander finished with a career-high 27 points and made an enormous, go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:56 to go in the extra period, then fellow sophomore guard Mike McNair canned a wide-open corner triple to seal the win with 36 seconds to play.
Here are four takeaways from the victory:
Unlike last weekend, BU came to play from the jump.
It was an intense and competitive game from the opening tip, an environment in which BU thrived. The Terriers’ trio of starting guards — graduate Miles Brewster, Alexander and McNair — willed themselves to the rim throughout the first half. Forwards Malcolm Chimezie and Ben Defty (a freshman) got involved in the paint, too. BU finished the opening 20 minutes with 24 points in the paint, shot 58 percent from the field, and corralled 8 offensive rebounds.
It was a stark difference from last Sunday’s 73-65 home loss to Sacred Heart, in which the Terriers fell into a 17-4 deficit within eight minutes. After the game, head coach Joe Jones said plainly: “We were terrible to start the game. We were awful.”
It couldn’t have been further from BU’s start on Saturday. Against the Great Danes, the Terriers jumped out to a 6-0 lead and forced coach Dwayne Killings (a former BU assistant) to call an immediate timeout. UAlbany worked its way back into the game, and proceedings were back-and-forth from there, but the Terriers’ competitiveness never wavered. BU finished the half on a 7-0 run to head into the break leading, 35-27, its largest lead of the game.
Kyrone Alexander and Mike McNair, once again, were excellent.
The two guards were BU’s lone bright spots in Sunday’s loss, combining for 40 points. They led the way for BU again on Saturday — Alexander finished with his aforementioned career-best on 7-of-14 shooting and McNair added 15, while only missing one shot.
Alexander, the team’s leading scorer, continued to do what he does, using his size to work his way into the paint for tough buckets, while also being a reliable catch-and-shoot threat from downtown. When UAlbany (6-4) took the lead down the stretch, Alexander near-single-handedly kept BU (4-5) in the game. He’s finished in double digits in all but two games so far this year.
McNair, however, flashed the improvement that has made him a starter in his sophomore year. Mostly a shooter as a freshman, he’s developed into an all-around offensive player. In the first half, McNair was perfect from the field and converted multiple up-and-under layups while draped by an opponent. He was fearless attacking the paint, something he’s displayed all season despite not showing it as a freshman.
Put simply — McNair’s development only 36 games into his collegiate career has been remarkable. He didn’t start a game last year but has started all nine as a sophomore.
BU committed too many turnovers and missed too many free throws.
This was a really impressive performance on offense for BU — the Terriers shot 54 from the field, scored 36 points in the paint and got contributions from everybody.
But BU committed 19 turnovers, which allowed the Great Danes to stick around. When UAlbany went on a 10-1 run midway through the second half to tie the game, they used takeaways to do it — junior guard Amar’e Marshall made it 46-46 with an enormous fastbreak jam off a Brewster turnover. The Great Danes finished with 17 points off turnovers, to BU’s 11.
Missed free throws were an equally big problem. BU shot 17 of 28 from the line, and after the Terriers made multiple impressive plays to get themselves to the stripe — be it an offensive rebound, or an and-one layup or 3-pointer — BU proceeded to miss the shot.
It cost BU valuable momentum in a close game.
The Terriers are shooting just 65.8 percent from the stripe so far this year.
Otto Landrum returned to the lineup.
The junior forward missed the first eight games with a fractured ankle. He didn’t start on Saturday, but checked in after four minutes, wearing a black brace on his right ankle. He finished with 2 points, 2 rebounds, an assist and a block (the assist and block weren’t officially counted, but we promise they happened).
Landrum started all but three games last season as part of a post-tandem with fellow junior Nico Nobili. He also suffered an injury in the offseason but returned for BU’s second game of the year. Nobili, however, has missed the last two games.
So the Terriers’ starting bigs aren’t fully back, yet, but Landrum’s return is, obviously, a significant step. In Landrum and Nobili’s place, Chimezie and Defty have held down the fort. Both were impressive on Saturday — Chimezie finished with 9 points (and 7 blocks) and Defty 10 points (on perfect shooting), meaning that BU, all of a sudden, is looking at four legitimately effective bigs it can trot out.