Men's Basketball vs. Manhattan (12/1/07)

by Ryan Matsuura

On paper, sophomores Carlos Strong and Corey Lowe were dominant. The two swingmen combined for 48 of the team’s 65 points in the team’s 72-65 loss to the Manhattan Jaspers at Case Gymnasium.

But in terms of the bigger picture, Terriers head coach Dennis Wolff couldn’t have been more disappointed after the team dropped their sixth consecutive contest.

“Today is the worst I feel in a press conference as the BU coach in 14 years,” he said. “I’m usually not at a loss for words, but to describe the state of where we are at right now, I’m not sure I can do that adequately. My first thought is that these stats are totally irrelevant.

“We played with very little passion, almost no confidence at some positions and a lack of execution at just about every position.”

The Terriers’ lack of execution on offense translated into yet another slow start offensively. The Terriers turned the ball over five times in the first five minutes of the game and did not score until sophomore John Holland’s layup with 12:31 left in the first half.

Manhattan (4-3) scored the first nine points of the game and never relinquished that advantage. The Jaspers consistently knocked down threes and mid-range jumpers off their secondary fast break, shooting 46% from the field and 45% from beyond the arc. Freshman guard Rashad Green led the Jaspers with a career-high 20 points and nine rebounds, five coming on the offensive glass.

Other than a 14-6 run in the final 2:55 in the first half, the Terriers were inefficient offensively and did not show much urgency. Strong had 12 straight for the Terriers in that span, including three three-pointers. He had started the game off 0-6.

The run closed the gap the Jaspers lead to two, but sophomore Antoine Pearson snuck by the Terriers defense and scored in transition to put the Jaspers up 30-26 going into halftime.

“I thought Corey [Lowe] and Carlos [Strong] continued to try to make plays until the end of the game,” said Wolff. “Carlos, from that standpoint, has had two decent offensive games in a row.”

Strong finished the game 9-21 from the field and 3-8 from long-range for 25 points. He also made an impact defensively, tallying two blocks and four steals.

Outside of Lowe and Strong, Wolff was very critical of his team’s lack of execution offensively. The Terriers often forced the ball inside, committing 19 turnovers, and did not finish in the paint when they had good position.

“It’s just a situation where we are not doing anything right. I can’t put it in any way other than that,” said Wolff. “Where we are at right now is clearly my fault, and we need to figure out a way to change the whole air around our team. I don’t have an easy answer for everything. So we need to regroup, come in here tomorrow and try to figure it out.”

A scoring drought to begin the second half put the Terriers in desperate mode right out of the locker room. Manhattan went on a 14-3 run in the first 7 minutes, including ten points from Green in that time frame.

“We’re not giving enough effort. The minute one bad thing happens, it’s like a snowball racing down a hill. You can sit in the stands and watch it. It goes from one guy to the next guy to the next guy,” said Wolff. “We aren’t mature enough to fight through it and have any mental toughness to do what we need to do. We don’t have one guy that’s going to keep us [playing hard].”

The Terriers were also handcuffed by sophomore Scott Brittain’s foul trouble. He picked up two quick fouls in three minutes early on in the first half and did not get off the bench until after halftime. He had 7 points and 9 rebounds in only 17 minutes before fouling out with 38 seconds left in the game.

With a lack of an interior post presence for the majority of the game, the Jaspers keyed in on the Terriers’ perimeter attack. The Jaspers also were able to grab 11 offensive rebounds and out-rebounded the Terriers 41-36.

“We don’t show enough fight defensively, we don’t rebound when we need to rebound,” said Wolff. “Contrary to what the stats look like, our lack of any play in or around the basket is a large part of where we are at right now.”

The Terriers look to get back on track on Tuesday December 4 when they take on the Harvard Crimson at Case Gymnasium. Pre-game coverage will start at 6:40 with tip-off at 7 PM on WTBU.