Boston University arrived in Austin hoping to prove that they had learned from their mistakes Friday night, instead they leave the Longhorn state with even more questions after an abysmal offensive performance. With the Terriers trailing 19-18 with just over six minutes to play in the first half, Texas went on a 31-10 run over the next 10 minutes that was just the beginning of a Longhorns blowout.
The Longhorns cruised to an 82-46 victory behind 28 points from J’Covan Brown whose free throw with 15:35 remaining, tied him with the entire Terriers team at 28. It was that kind of night for a Boston University squad that was picked to finish first in the America East preseason poll but is still adjusting to new boss Joe Jones’ system.
For the Terriers, Darryl Partin led the team in scoring for the second consecutive game with 14 points. Backcourt mate D.J. Irving added 10 points for Boston University who shot just 29.8 percent (17-57) and turned the ball over 25 times against a swarming Longhorns defense. The Terriers failed to break 30 points until the 10:31 mark of the second half and proved incapable of getting any kind of offensive rhythm in the opening round of the TicketCity Legends Classic.
Playing their second game in 50 hours, Boston University entered Sunday’s game hopeful that they could at least stick with a Texas squad that only returned one of their top eight players from a year ago. The Terriers had the better end of play for the opening 14 minutes at the Erwin Center behind strong rebounding and some impressive play by the team’s role players.
Midway through the half, Terrier guard Mike Terry Jr. made a rare strong move to the basket for a layup which was followed by freshmen Zach Chionuma scoring on a fast break to take a 15-13 lead. Unfortunately for the Terriers it would be their last lead of the day. J’Covan Brown, the one key returner for Rick Barnes and the Longhorns, decided to take over the game shortly afterward. Brown scored eight of his 16 first half points in the Longhorns 18-6 run to end the half.
With Texas leading 31-21 at halftime, Joe Jones and his staff entered the break needing to make a few obvious fixes. The Terriers turned the ball over 14 times in the half and shot just 27 percent while slowing down a very inexperienced Texas offense. Leading scorers Darryl Partin and D.J. Irving were unable to get to the hoop and seemed to be forcing shots and Dom Morris, the team’s best option inside, looked tentative at best on the offensive end.
Unfortunately for the Terriers, the only halftime adjustments that seemed to pay off were for the home team as the Longhorns’ offense heated up significantly.
Texas opened the second half on a 26-8 run with Brown once again providing most of the damage. The junior guard scored 12 points on 4-5 shooting and added three of his team high eight assists to team up with Myck Kabongo in sparking the blowout. Kabongo a top 10 recruit nationally out of Canada, had six points and seven assists in his collegiate debut.
Overall Texas shot 46 percent for the game after a first half where they shot just over 30 percent. The Longhorns drained 11 three-pointers and recorded 23 assists compared to just 10 turnovers.
For Boston University the second half was just one mistake after another as the Terriers couldn’t get anything going until garbage time. Facing a taller and more athletic Longhorns team, the Terriers consistently settled for 3-point attempts where they went 4-25 (16 percent) for the game and committed sloppy turnovers.
On several possessions, the Terriers seemed to struggle with what they were supposed to do on an offensive set just as much as the Longhorn defenders.
The Terriers will have a week off before their next game when they take on Cornell University at 2PM next Sunday. Over Thanksgiving weekend the team will play the rest of their TicketCity Legend Classic play with games against Cleveland State, Rhode Island and Hofstra.