Grading the Terriers: 12/3 at Boston College

By Shep Hayes/DFP Staff

Offense: B
For the first time since 1974, Boston College and Boston University faced off in men’s basketball and the Terriers won. BU scored a season-high 75 points en route to victory and played one of its best games of the season as a team. Offensively, Darryl Partin continued to assert his position as one of the top scorers in the country, posting 27 points. After playing for few points but many assists on Wednesday night against Delaware, D.J. Irving bounced back to his normal scoring level, dropping 17 points. Though the lead changed 13 times, the Terriers were able to begin pulling away with about 12 minutes left in the game, closing out better than they did at the start of the season against Northeastern University and Cleveland State University.

Dom Morris had a double-double in one of his best performances of the year, with 11 points and 11 rebounds. He made all four of his shots in the paint, and even his lone 3-point attempt fell into the basket. At one point in the second, Morris was able to get an offensive rebound and then pushed the ball back up into the air for two. How he did it is anyone’s guess.

But, there were still some major holes in the BU offense. Namely, Matt Griffin’s inability to make a 3. He went 3-of-12 from beyond the arc, and it got tiring to hear his shots end with a clang off the rim. Griffin did, however, have one clutch 3 for the Terriers as they began to pull away, narrowly preventing a shot clock violation. Still, he needs to make his 3s more consistently as the Terriers face tough opponents in their next three games.

The BU bench – which Griffin was a part of Saturday afternoon – was also nonexistent for yet another game, scoring only 13 points. The Terriers have had to rely heavily on their starters and that will eventually come back to bite them if they fail to get any sort of production from their reserves.

Defense: B
The Terriers did an effective job of controlling the Eagles. BU grabbed 85.7 percent of its defensive boards and disrupted the BC offense in the paint a number of times. Pat Hazel led the team with three blocks, and Travis Robinson was able to jump up and swat away a ball from a shooting Eagle. As the momentum of the game began to slide in favor of BU, Irving had a particularly nice strip, one of 12 times the Terriers were able to grab the ball away from the Eagles.

Malik Thomas: A+
Malik Thomas had a career afternoon. He played one minute, and had a rebound and two turnovers. When he entered as the second half was coming to a close, the walls of Conte Forum were filled with chants of “MA-LIK” coming from the BU faithful in attendance. A nice reward for the sophomore's excellent game.