Rock Chalk Terriers: BU vs. UMBC @ The Greek 2/15

Yes, they beat us once at home. Yes, they're coming off a win against Maine in Orono (a win that looks less and less impressive by the day). Still, this game is all the Terriers' to lose. I just do not see the Retrievers shooting 10% better than the Terriers from the field and hitting 47% of their threes again. Beyond Chris de la Rosa, the Retrievers boast no other scorers averaging double figures on the year, whereas the Terriers have two clear scoring threats in John Holland and Darryl Partin, as well as numerous complementary pieces around the two of them. Remember, the Terriers would have won that last one save for a late scoring drought in the final five minutes, so it's not like they got blown out. I say the Dogs (our Dogs) easily win this game to put themselves in great position to lock up the two seed after UVM beats Maine tomorrow (more on that game later tonight/tomorrow as well as a game recap of the Terriers).

As usual, a good preview of the game also can be found at the Daily Free Press' Full Court Press blog.

BU wins in mens' hockey and hoops

BU mens' basketball opened up the night with a 70-67 win in Albany. Hockey finished it with a 5-2 win over those smart bastards from across the river at Harvard.

First, the basketball team came over a 16 point halftime deficit to gain their largest come from behind win under coach Pat Chambers. Senior guard John Holland lead the team with 27 points and eight rebounds. Darryl Partin added 16 points to help BU refuse to lose this game to the Great Danes of Albany. The loss drops Albany to 1-4 in America East play while BU improves to 3-1 as they improve from their loss in to Maine in their first AE contest. Albany was lead by guard Tim Ambrose with 18 points in a game that Albany lead throughout until 4:00 to go when BU took over the game for good. BU continues AE play Monday in Baltimore at 7:00 p.m.

Next, the hockey game was the type of game BU hockey fans enjoyed as the team rose to #1 in the nation early in the season and the type of game the team needed before the toughest regular season week of the season. The captains lead the way with the scoring in a 5-2 win over (3-12-0) Harvard. Chris Connolly had two goal while fellow co-captain Joe Pereira tallied another as BU cruised once the game was tied up 1-1 early in the second. Wade Meagan and Justin Courtnall added the other goals for the Terriers. The goal was Courtnall's first and also was Pat MacGregor's first career point as he had an assist on the play.

MacGregor filled in for a suspended Max NiCastro and looked solid out there. He seemed to have grown since his last shot at action November 27th against Brown. The only flaw I noticed at the game was his failure to get on the ice. He was almost always the last guy on the ice for his line which may have been the plan to limit his ice-time but also due to inexperience doing so. I will give him the benefit of the doubt and attribute it to inexperience. Overall, a good night for the freshman.

The whole team played well and "very thorough" to quote the great Jack Parker after the game. I was at the game and liked what I saw overall from the team. This was a big game with 3 ranked opponents looming this week(#12 Merrimack, #3 BC, #4 UNH). Kieran Millan looked solid in goal while not being forced to make any great saves out of his 31 that he made before Adam Kraus took over with five to go(he leads the Terriers now with 1.00 save% and 0.00 GAA). All four of the lines were skating well tonight and looked ready for a big week ahead of them. This was a must after the weak performance up in Vermont last weekend despite the 4-2 win. The Terriers had 21 more shots than the 16 they put up in Vermont. That tells it all as they got the puck on net early and often.

I would say the disappointment of the night(if there was one) was the Coyle-Chiasson-Nieto line. Coyle played physical but didn't do anything great with the puck and Nieto was trying to develop some stuff but it just wasn't there. Chiasson had a good first period but seemed to lose his head a bit in the second and third as he looked to retaliate for a hard hit in the second by hitting any Harvard player he could find. This isn't a bad mentality to have when you're up 5-2 and I love the agressiveness but QuackQuack the elder and myself noticed he seemed to lose his offensive mindset in the third. I expect this line to bounce right back as all three of these guys looked real good up in Vermont while the rest of the team struggled.

With the win, BU moves up to t-12 in the Pairwise rankings as Miami(OH) and company took some losses this weekend as teams enter the grind of their conference schedules as BU does this week. BU's next five games are against ranked teams as they play @#12 Merrimack,#3 BC,@#4 UNH, and two @#13 Maine. The game Tuesday is the game rescheduled from last Wednesday when it was snowed out. Merrimack may be missing enforcer(read: goon) Kyle Bigos as he was hurt in their game today @ Alabama-Huntsville. The injury seems serious enough to keep him out Tuesday but this will depend on how those tests come out when the team returns home because there is no way they have the right equipment to do that shit down south.

BU falls to La Salle 84-81 for first home loss of the season

The Terriers' men basketball team dropped to 4-6 overall this season and 2-1 at home after an 84-81 loss to the La Salle Explorers at Agganis Arena. Darryl Partin lead BU with 20 points on 8-17 shooting before fouling out with 30 seconds remaining. John Holland and Dom Morris both added 15 points off the bench but this was not enough to overcome the Explorers' offensive attack lead by Rebun Guillandeaux's 21 points and Earl Pettis' 19 points. The Terriers lost the lead for good with around five minutes remaning after trailing for much of the first half by as much with 12 points with five minutes left before halftime. BU still had two chances to tie the game and send it to OT with under a minute left but G D.J. Irving missed the second of 2 free throws and John Holland missed a three at the buzzer to sum up a frustrating night for the Terriers as they could not get much consistency on the defensive end of the court. They were in the double bonus by the end of both halves and they could have used those points back at the end of the game as John Holland's shot clanked off the backboard to end the game. Matt Griffin's intentional fall in the middle of the second half also hurt and he did not see much time for the rest of the game.
I felt like Morris has the most potential to be a difference-maker on this team as you could tell when he was on the court as he showed off all of his offensive talents. Him and Partin were easily the stars of the game for BU as Holland, Jake O'Brien, and Matt Griffin all had quiet nights. This team will need more from their upperclassmen if they want to take advantage in America East play starting in January.