Sunday, November 13, 2011

Texas-sized win: Longhorns rout Terriers, 82-46

By Craig Meyer/DFP Staff

The conditions for the Boston University men's basketball team entering its second game of the season were not exactly ideal.

Having played a heated game against a cross-town rival that went into overtime on Friday night, the team had to wake up early the next morning to catch a flight to Austin, Texas.

Also, it doesn't help when the team you're traveling to play has made 13 straight NCAA Tournaments and sports one of the highest-rated freshmen classes in college basketball.

The culmination of these factors was one that the Terriers experienced the full effect of as they could not recover from a fast second-half start from the University of Texas en route to a 82-46 drubbing at the hands of the host Longhorns.

Texas guard J'Covan Brown exploded for a game-high 28 points and eight assists, while guard Julien Lewis made his collegiate debut an impressive one with 18 points.

Trailing Texas by 10 points at halftime after having played it close for much of the first half, the Terriers quickly fell victim to a 14-7 run from the Longhorns in the first four minutes of the second half, a run that extended the lead to 45-28.

From there, Texas went on a 12-1 run to open the Terriers' deficit to 57-28 with 12:17 remaining, turning what was once a closely-contested game into a blowout.

Facing a major conference opponent in just their second game under new head coach Joe Jones, the Terriers struggled in two critical aspects of the game, two areas that were largely responsible for the final 36-point loss -- protecting the ball and shooting.

Turnovers and general sloppy play plagued BU for much of the game as the Terriers turned the ball over 24 times, a mark that included 15 giveaways in the first half alone. Senior guard Darryl Partin and sophomore forward Dom Morris each had five turnovers in the game.

Additionally, BU shot 29.8 percent from the field on the day, along with a 16 percent mark from beyond the 3-point arc. In contrast, Texas shot 46.3 percent on its field goals, including 42.3 percent on 3-pointers.

There was a noticeable sign of progress down low for the Terriers, however, as they out-rebounded the Longhorns 39-30 (15-10 on the offensive boards) after being thoroughly out-manned on the boards two nights before against Northeastern to the tune of a 52-32 margin.

For the second-straight game, Partin and sophomore point guard D.J. Irving were the team's leading scorers as they pitched in 14 and 10 points, respectively.

After playing two games in three days, the Terriers will be out of action for a week and will travel to upstate New York to take on Cornell University Sunday, Nov. 20.

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