Game Notes * December 2, 1999 * Boston University at Massachusetts * 7 p.m.

The 91st Season The Boston University men's basketball is in its 91st season of varsity competition. Since 1901-02, the Terriers have totaled an 842-854 record (.496) In the last 20-plus years, B.U. has registered a 330-258 mark (.561)... In that span, there have been 14 winning campaigns, six 20-win seasons, and four NCAA Tournament appearances (1983, 1988, 1990, and 1997).

Boston University/Massachusetts Series Notes Tonight is the 65th meeting between the two schools... Massachusetts leads the all-time series, 35-29... The Minutemen have won the last four meetings, including a 90-42 win on January 5, 1993 in Curry Hicks Cage - the last time the two teams met... The series dates back to the 1921-22 season... The Terriers' last win against Massachusetts came on November 30, 1988 as Jeff Timberlake scored 22 points in a 78-76 win at Hicks Cage.

Terriers Against Non-Conference Foes In head coach Dennis Wolff's five-plus seasons, the Terriers are 24-26 against non-conference opponents...This season, B.U. is 0-4 against non-conference opponents... Last season, B.U. was 4-4 in non-conference games... The Terriers' last win against a non-conference opponent came on December 29, 1998, an 80-58 decision over Canisius in the consolation game of the Bobcat Classic at Montana State.

Wolff Against the Atlantic 10 Head coach Dennis Wolff is 2-3 against teams from the Atlantic 10 Conference... Wolff's last win against an Atlantic 10 foe came against LaSalle on December 28, 1997, 77-65, at the Arizona State/Tribune Classic in Tempe, AZ.

Recapping Providence - Tuesday, November 30, 1999 Sophomore guard Dereck Franklin (Chantilly, VA) led three Terriers in double-figures with 14 points, but Providence's Erron Maxey's game-high 19 points, led the Friars to a 85-70 win at the Providence Civic Center on Tuesday night... The Friars led throughout in building a 37-30 halftime lead... At the break, Providence shot 51 % (14-of-27), half of those on three-point field goals. Franklin, with seven points, and freshman forward Jacob Kudlacz (Glen Cove, NY), with six points led B.U. at halftime... With 16:11 remaining in the game, B.U. drew within five, 44-39, but could get no closer as Providence went on an 8-0 run to extend its lead to 54-41 with 12:34 to play... The lead grew to as much as 20, 72-52, with 4:48 left, but the Terriers managed to outscore the Friars, 18-13, in the final four minutes as the game ended, 85-70... B.U. outrebounded Providence, 34-28... Jean Avebe (Yaounde, Cameroon) scored 12 points and added a season-high nine rebounds.... The Terriers shot season-highs from the floor, 43 % (25-of-58) and the free throw line, 78.9 % (15-of-19).

Slow Start for Terriers Boston University is 0-4 to open the start of the season for the first time since the 1975-76 season... That year, Roy Sigler's squad opened the season 0-8 and finished with a 7-19 mark 24 years ago... B.U.'s last win came on February 19, 1999, a 68-54 decision at Vermont.

Youngest Terrier Squad in School History With only two upperclassmen on its 12-man roster, this year's Boston University team is the youngest in school history. The Terriers graduated five seniors from last year's club, leaving them with two seniors and 10 underclassmen for the 1999-2000 season. Every previous Boston University team has fielded at least four upperclassmen, while no Terrier club has featured more than nine underclassmen. Below is a look at some of the youngest squads to wear the Scarlet and White:

        Year            Fr      So      Jr      Sr
        1999-00         5       5       0       2
        1995-96         4       3       3       1
        1987-88         3       6       2       3
        1983-84         4       5       3       1
        1982-83         4       4       2       2
        1977-78         4       4       1       3

Tale of Two Halfs In the early stages of the 1999-00 season, the statistics show that the Terriers play well in the first half of its games, while some of that production tails off during the second 20 minutes of action... B.U. is shooting 46.3 % from the floor in the first half (51-of-110), while managing to shoot 34.4 % in the second half, (40-116)... From three-point range, the Terriers are shooting 45.2 % (14-of-31) in the first half as opposed to 20 % (8-of-39) in the second half... A t the free-throw line, B.U. has connected on 77.2 % of its opportunities in the first half (17-of-22) and 69.1 % of its chances in the second half (38-of-55)... Terrier opponents are shooting the ball well in the first half, 46.6 % (48-of-103) from the floor and 48.7 from three-point territory (19-of-39)... A key note statistic is that opponents are shooting 60.4 % (26-of-43) from the free throw line in the first half and 83.8 % (57-of-68) from the charity stripe in the second half.

Freshmen Providing Scoring Punch Freshmen guards Matt Turner leads the Terriers in scoring this season, averaging 13.0 ppg and fellow freshmen, Paul Seymour and Jacob Kudlacz average 9.8 ppg and 8.0 ppg, respectively... In all, the Class of 2003 accounts for 40.5% of B.U.'s scoring offense this season.

Strong Start for Turner Matt Turner had a fine collegiate debut on Friday, November 19 vs. Northern Illinois University... Turner led the Terriers in scoring with 20 points on 7-of-15 shooting and dished out six assists in 38 minutes of work.... Through four games, Turner leads the Terriers in scoring, 13.0 ppg, and assists, 3.5 apg... The 5-7 guard is second on the team in minutes played, averaging 33.0 minutes per game.

Seymour Connects From Three-Point Land Paul Seymour scored all of his team-high 18 points from three-point land in the, 91-79 overtime, loss at James Madison on November 22nd... Seymour connected on 6-of-9 from beyond the arc... His six three-point field goals were the most by a Terrier since Billy Beal made 7 on January 12, 1999 vs. New Hampshire... Through four games, Seymour leads the Terriers in made threes (8) and is tied with Matt Turner in attempts (22).

Avebe on the Mark Senior forward Jean Avebe (Yaounde,Cameroon) leads the Terriers in field goal percentage after four games... The 6-7 forward is shooting 60 % from the floor this season (17-of-28)... Avebe scored a season-high 14 points in the season-opener vs. Northern Illinois ... Last season, Avebe posted career-high averages in both points (7.5 ppg) and rebounds (4.9 rpg)... He had eight double-figure scoring outings, including a career-high 19-point effort vs. Northeastern on February 19,1999.

Franklin Getting Focused In his last two games, sophomore guard Dereck Franklin has led the Terriers in scoring, 15.5 ppg , assists, 3.5 apg, and minutes played, 39.0... Franklin also leads the Terriers in free-throw percentage at 84.2 % (16-of-19).

Graham is Golden Sophomore forward Jerome Graham (N. Minneapolis, MN) was named to the Doral/Florida International Tip-Off Classic All-Tournament Team on November 20... Graham averaged 8.0 ppg and 3.5 rpg in the two games... The 6-8 forward also shot 53 % from the field (7-of-13).

Kudos to Kudlacz Freshman forward Jacob Kudlacz (Glen Cove, NY) saw his first collegiate action at Providence on Tuesday night... In 23 minutes of action, the 6-8 forward scored eight points on 4-of-7 shooting and collected two rebounds... Kudlacz sat out the Terriers first three games of the season with an ankle injury.

Shooters Heating Up After shooting 7-of-38 (18 %) from three-point range in its first two games, Boston University has connected on 16-of-40 attempts (40 %) in its last two contests... Last season, B.U. shot 33.4 % from three-point territory.

Head Coach Dennis Wolff Head coach Dennis Wolff is in his sixth season at Boston University and sports an 86-65 record (.569 pct.)... During his tenure at B.U., Wolff's teams have captured two America East regular-season championships, and earned one NCAA Tournament berth (1997)... Wolff was hired on April 5, 1994 after serving 12 years as a Division I assistant at Virginia (1990-94), Southern Methodist (1989-90), Wake Forest (1985-1989), and St. Bonaventure (1982-84)... Wolff also served as the head coach of Division III Connecticut College, recording a 30-18 record in two seasons.

Wolff Coaching 152nd Game at B.U. Dennis Wolff will be coaching his 152nd career game as head coach of the Boston University men's basketball program tonight against Massachusetts.. Wolff's 152 games on the bench ties him with Mike Jarvis and John Burke for the second most games coached as men's basketball coach at B.U....Only three other coaches in the history of the Terrier basketball program have coached 150 or more games: - Matt Zunic, who coached seven seasons from 1952-59, is the all-time coaching leader in games with 154. - Mike Jarvis, currently coaching at St. John's University, and John Burke, who succeeded Zunic from 1959-66 each led the Terriers in 152 games... Jarvis is the program's all-time winningest coach with 101 victories from 1985-90.

Defense Will Be The Key Defense has been a cornerstone in the Dennis Wolff era. In Wolff's five seasons, B.U. has a 74-22 mark when holding opponents under 70 points... In 1998-99, B.U. was 9-5 when holding opponents under 70 points, and was 8-1 when allowing under 60. The Terriers also held opponents under .400 shooting from the field 10 times in 1998-99... B.U. was 8-2 in those games.

Reviewing 1998-99 Boston University completed the 1998-99 season with a disappointing 9-18 record... The Terriers, who finished 5-13 in league play, lost to Towson, 71-58, in the first round of the America East Championships... It was the first non-winning season since 1994-95, and just the second campaign in the 1990s that the squad did not reach double figures in victories.

Quoting Wolff on 1999-2000 "We will be young and raw, but I feel we will improve as the season progresses. The freshmen class is talented, but will have to grow up quickly."

Costello is Fourth on B.U. Career Three-Point List With 143 three-pointers, senior Mike Costello ranks fourth on the B.U. career three-point list. In 1998-99, Costello connected on a team-high 48 three-pointers, including eight games with three or more... Costello finished ninth in America East with a 36.5 % success rate from three-point land.

Dereck Franklin Earns All-Rookie Recognition Dereck Franklin earned America East All-Rookie Team accolades in 1998-99... A four-time Rookie of the Week honoree, Franklin was one of just seven players in the 20-year history of the America East Conference, including former B.U. star Tunji Awojobi 97, to capture the weekly award four or more times in a season.

Three-Point Field Goal Streak at 97 B.U. currently has a 97-game three-point field goal streak... The last time the Terriers were held scoreless from beyond the three-point arc was Feb. 10, 1996, when they were 0-for-10 in a loss at Vermont... B.U. has hit three-pointers in 149-of-151 games in the Dennis Wolff era.

America East Success Boston University is one of the charter members of the America East Conference, which was founded in 1979. In those 20 seasons, the Terriers have won a league-record 165 conference and 30 tournament contests, including championships in 1983, 1988, 1990, and 1997. Terriers Among America East Statistical Leaders Matt Turner is 13th in the America East Conference in scoring, (13.3 ppg), and 5th in assists per game (5.0)... Sophomore guard Dereck Franklin is 4th in free throw percentage, 84 % (16-of-19) and sophomore forward Ignacio Rodriguez is 10th at 75 % (9-of-12)... As a team, B.U. is 4th in free throw percentage, (66.7 %), 7th in scoring offense, (64.7 ppg), 8th in scoring defense, (79.7 ppg).

Butt Signs National Letter of Intent Ryan Butt, a 6-7, 235-pound power forward from Hempfield H.S. in Landisville, PA, signed a national letter of intent to play for the Terriers.

B.U. On the Radio Twenty-one of Boston University's 26 basketball games this season will be broadcast live on WROL-AM 950 (Boston), WCRN-AM 830 (Worcester), and WPLM-AM 1390 (Plymouth). Rich Levine returns for his fifth season to call the action, while Doug Guy will provide analysis for the sixth year.

www.gobu.com Media members and fans of Boston University men's basketball and all Terrier athletic teams may now access information on the Internet by typing the URL: www.gobu.com... Rosters, game notes, news, schedules and results, statistics and other information regarding Boston University athletics will be updated on a regular basis on the department's homepage.

Playing the Best Boston University annually plays a challenging non-conference schedule. Last season, the Terriers played three teams that reached the 1999 NCAA Tournament (UNC Charlotte, Miami of Ohio, and Delaware) as well as two that played in the postseason N.I.T. (Alabama and Colorado). In 1999-2000, B.U. will compete in two in-season tournaments -Last month at Florida International and in late December in 1999 N.I.T. Champion California's holiday tournament. In addition, the Terriers will renew their long-time rivalries against New England neighbors Massachusetts and Providence.

Joe Tompkins Tribute This season the Boston University men's basketball team will be wearing black arm bands in tribute to longtime B.U. employee and Terrier supporter Joe Tompkins... Joe died suddenly at work on Tuesday, July 13, 1999.

 

Head coach: Dennis Wolff (Connecticut 78), 6th season Assistant coaches: Larry Greer (Northeastern 89) 6th season Orlando Vandross (American International 92) 3rd season Kevin O'Brien (Tufts 80) 1st season Administrative Assistant:: Kieran Donohue (Virginia 97) 2nd season Athletic Trainer: Mark Laursen (Appalachian State 83) 2nd season Strength and Conditioning coach: Glen Harris (Springfield College 94) 3rd season