BU vs. Harvard Videos: Post Game Press Conference and Game Highlights

Harvard Press Conference

Features: Coach Tommy Amaker, sophomore guard Siyani Chambers, and junior guard Wesley Saunders



BU Players Press Conference

Features: Senior forward Dom Morris, and sophomore guard Maurice Watson Jr.



BU Press Conference

Features: Coach Joe Jones



BU vs. Harvard Game Highlights


Game Highlights courtesy of Harvard Athletics via youtube.

The Day After: Harvard University 78, Boston University 70

A game like yesterday's leaves plenty of room for excuses. The bench was thin, thinner than ever before. Harvard is significantly improved from last season. Shots stopped falling at a critical point.

The Terriers aren't making excuses, though -- and they shouldn't. This game was theirs for the taking, and it was given away, piece by piece. When BU was up nine and had a chance to put Harvard away, the Terriers let Harvard creep closer. When BU had three offensive rebounds on one critical possession and Jeff Pelage was sent to the free throw line, the 6-foot-9 center missed both free throws. When BU was down three points late in the game and called a timeout, the next two Terrier offensive possessions resulted in turnovers leading to Harvard fast breaks.

The Crimson seized control of the game when control was offered -- but control was offered by the Terriers. There's no excuse for that.

Live Blog: Harvard University at Boston University

Expected starting lineups:
Boston University
G Tyler Morris
G Corey Lowe
G Carlos Strong
F Valdas Sirutis
F Jake O'Brien

Harvard University
G Jeremy Lin
G Oliver McNally
G Max Kenyi
F Doug Miller
F Keith Wright

Final score: Harvard University 78, Boston University 70

Team leaders:
Points
BU: John Holland, 18
Harvard: Jeremy Lin, 19

Rebounds
BU: John Holland, 9
Harvard: Pat Magnarelli, 6

Assists
BU: Corey Lowe, 4
Harvard: Jeremy Lin, 4

The Day After: BU 75, Harvard 59

Sure the Terriers had a gameplan and executed it extremely efficiently. BU coach Dennis Wolff is right when he said doubling Keith Wright in the post (and forcing him to turn the ball over seven times) held the key to victory for BU, but yesterday's victory wasn't an ordinary by-the-books -- or in this case, by-the-practice plan -- win.

It marked the occurrence of something much different -- the transformation of a group of wide-eyed, talented yet vastly inexperienced rookies to a collection of mature players, determined to accomplish what they know is possible -- a winning season (and NCAA tournament berth) for the first time in their careers. The fact that this win marked the first time since 2004-05 the Terriers have achieved four non-conference victories prior to the start of conference play is certainly a good start.

The disparities between BU's victory at Harvard two years ago and this season's romp weren't only seeded in the Terriers' hot shooting (after all, they scored 78 points in their 2006 win) but rather defensive maturity, disciplined offense and minimal turnovers.

The balance on offense was similar to how the Terriers performed at Northeastern, demonstrating the bevy of shooters BU has. It presents a tall task for any team attempting to guard BU, especially the mismatch Jake O'Brien creates on the perimeter because of his length and ability to shoot the 3. With any single player possessing the ability to get hot, there shouldn't be many nights when everyone goes cold, but if there is, the Terriers could be in trouble.

While there weren't many negatives to take out of the blowout victory, there were some. First, the interior defense. Harvard still scored 42 points in the paint, despite the neutralization of Wright. Evan Harris did some damage down low, but BU also allowed too many uncontested layups in the lane. Harvard isn't exactly a beastly interior team and they'll need to improve their guarding in the paint if they hope to eclipse their previous conference win totals over the past three years. Wright is good, but he's nowhere close to the likes of Darryl Proctor or Marqus Blakely -- talented forwards BU will have to face twice apiece this year.

Offensively, BU could stand for a post scorer as well for nights when the offense might go cold. After all, the Terriers can't be expected to shoot 45-50 percent from beyond the arc on a nightly basis.

"I look at our team and the makeup of our team being what it is," Wolff said. "We’re playing to the strengths of the kids who are getting the majority of the minutes. In the perfect world if I could build an ideal team, would I like to have a back-to-the-basket scorer who we can count on regularly getting baskets? Absolutely. I do think we have some guys that can fill that void, but they have to play better and be a little more consistent in practice."

Those players are Scott Brittain and Jeff Pelage, but since neither have been completely healthy yet this season, it'd be unfair to judge their mediocre performances thus far and/or project them out for an entire season.

Another one of BU's struggling players, Tyler Morris, had what was arguably his best game this season on Wednesday and could have been even better if the rim wasn't so unkind. He had four shots rim out that would have boosted his stat line significantly. That said, he rarely touches the rim in practice, so there's still something going on between how he executes in practices as opposed to his game performance. He also had six assists, but still struggled with turnovers (six), including two bad ones late in the second half with the game well in-hand.

"All I really want out of him is for him to relax," Wolff said of Morris. "And if he would relax a little bit more than he would just make the easier plays."

Links:
Firing on all cylinders
BU throttles Harvard
Terriers dominate the Crimson
Defensive woes, turnovers plague Crimson in home loss to Terriers

Post-game Audio & Photos

Audio following Wednesday night's 75-59 win against Harvard.

BU coach Dennis Wolff's overall statement on the game


Wolff praises Corey Lowe's defense of Lin


Wolff on BU's unselfishness and team shooting


John Holland discusses motivation for his work ethic


Jake O'Brien says he feels more confident with each game


Holland was happy BU didn't let Harvard close the gap


O'Brien and BU's defense executed the gameplan to perfection


O'Brien comments on his first collegiate dunk

Live Blog: Boston University vs. Harvard University

Boston University (3-2) and Harvard University (3-1) tip-off at 8:00 p.m. at Lavietes Pavilion. The game marks the end of a three-game road trip for the Terriers. BU hasn't lost to Harvard in the last seven games, but the Crimson lead the all-time series, 32-26.

Here are the starting lineups for this evening's game:

Boston University Terriers
02 F Matt Wolff
13 G Corey Lowe
21 F Jake O'Brien
23 F John Holland
24 G Tyler Morris

Harvard University Crimson
04 G Jeremy Lin
10 G Drew Housman
23 G Max Kenyi
24 F Doug Miller
42 F Keith Wright

First half summary:

Both teams burst out of the gate, and while BU had an early advantage Harvard stayed close. The foul differential was strongly in Harvard's favor, especially early on. Matt Wolff and Scott Brittain both picked up two quick fouls and were pulled.

Along with the fast pace came some occasionally sloppy play from both teams. Tyler Morris had four assists in the first half, but his four turnovers helped Harvard stay in the game. Good transition defense from both teams -- particularly BU -- helped minimize the effect of many of the turnovers. Despite the good defense, however, both the Terriers and the Crimson could have and arguably should have taken better care of the basketball.

After early trouble rebounding the ball, particularly on the defensive end, the Terriers upped the intensity on the boards. With the increased effort came improved play. A pair of threes from John Holland and Valdas Sirutis keyed a short 8-2 run to stretch the lead to eight. The Crimson recovered and traded baskets with BU as the half came to a close.

At the half: Boston University 41, Harvard 34

Second half summary:

John Holland did his best cannonball impression early in the second half. After a productive first half, he was everywhere in the first few minutes of the second stanza, playing excellent pressure defense, scoring a layup in transition off a deflected inbounds pass, and creating opportunities for his teammates. His energy rubbed off on his teammates, as BU quickly extended its halftime lead to 10, then 13.

BU was hot from beyond the arc in the first half, but a sequence where BU shot the three in the second half put the Crimson away for good. After a media timeout at 11:44 in the second, O'Brien hit a three from the corner to put BU up 14. After O'Brien blocked a shot in transition, Holland fed Wolff down low. The next time O'Brien touched the ball on offense, he lofted another three from closer to the wing. When that fell BU was up 17, 62-45. A Holland layup and a three-ball from Corey Lowe bracketed an Evan Harris field goal, and at that point the Terriers were home free.

While the Terriers shot the lights out all game, Harvard shot itself in the foot with turnover problems. The Crimson had 20 turnovers, many of which occurred near midcourt and led to easy baskets for BU. While Harvard was often able to defend in transition depending on where the turnover occurred, the transition baskets and BU's perimeter shooting overwhelmed anything Harvard could muster offensively.

Jeremy Lin padded his totals with some late baskets, but it was too little, too late.

Final score: Boston University 75, Harvard 59

Leading scorers:
BU -- Corey Lowe, 20
Harvard -- Jeremy Lin, 17

Leading rebounders:
BU -- Jake O'Brien, 8
Harvard -- Evan Harris, 8

Leading assists:
BU -- Tyler Morris, 6
Harvard -- Drew Housman, 4

GAMEDAY: Boston University vs. Harvard University

Two years ago, Boston University's junior class notched its first-ever win. It came at Lavietes Pavilion (78-74) after the Terriers dropped their season opener to George Washington at Agganis Arena. It was a breakout game for the entire team (especially Tyler Morris, who had missed the previous season and scored a team-high 22 points), as hundreds of questions were surrounding the youthful group regarding whether or not they'd be able to be competitive. They were -- about as competitive as you could expect a team consistently starting four rookies to be -- and finished the year 12-18.

This time around, while Morris will once again be looking for a breakout game to help lift him out of his current funk, the Terriers are looking for much more than a "first-win" caliber performance in the final game of their three-game road. Simply put, if BU wishes to be viewed as one of the better mid-major schools in the nation, Harvard is a team they must beat.

Harvard is markedly better than they were a season ago (BU won at Case Gymnasium, 79-72), or perhaps even two seasons ago as freshman forward Keith Wright is close to averaging a double-double through four contests. To counteract what the 6-foot-7 rookie will be doing down-low, look for BU to double the post whenever he gets the ball, forcing Harvard to shoot from the perimeter. HU second-year coach Tommy Amaker isn't afraid to go with a four-guard set, so the Terriers should also be prepared to contest a lot of outside shots.

While BU's zone defense has been passable this season, it hasn't been particularly effective when BU needs to rebound the ball. Naturally, the Terriers will play the large majority of the game in a man-to-man defense, but one of the keys to victory could come in observing how well BU rebounds out of its 1-3-1 or 3-2. If Harvard's leading scorer, Jeremy Lin, begins to heat up, the switch to a zone could soon follow as BU did Saturday to cool down Mount St. Mary's guard Jeremy Goode.

Given that the tempo statistics are relatively identical (65.6, 65.9), the teams should play at a similar pace, although in practice this week, BU coach Dennis Wolff was stressing that if the Terriers have the opportunity to run, they should. So don't be surprised to see more aggressive play on the break from BU. That said, Harvard's a team that likes to apply a lot of ball pressure, so while the Terriers are fairly good at creating steals of their own, taking care of the basketball will be the number one priority.

Injury update: Both Morris and freshman Jeff Pelage were diagnosed with flu-like symptoms following the game against Mount St. Mary's, but both have been cleared to play Wednesday night. Everyone else on the team is completely healthy, including Sam Tully, who returned to practice his week after suffering an ankle sprain.

Note: Tonight's live blog will be hosted in a different format which should promote more reader feedback than the old version. The game starts at 8:00 p.m., but feel free to log on before then and let us know what you think. Then we'll kick things off at 7:30 p.m. with the new live blog format.

Projected starting lineups




















Links:
BU closes out road trip against crosstown foe Harvard
Harvard ready to take down the Terriers
Lin explodes in great week for Crimson