BOSTON – Returning four starters from last year's squad that reached the Patriot League semifinals, the Boston University men's basketball team will open the 2018-19 season at Northeastern on Tuesday night with the NESN broadcast slated to begin at 8 p.m.
The Terriers enter their 110th season with eighth-year head coach
Joe Jones at the helm and will continue a crosstown rivalry with the Huskies that has turned into one of the nation's most exciting. Eleven of the last 12 meetings have featured a single-digit victor with three matchups requiring overtime and four being decided by three points or less.
TERRIER TIDBITS
- The Terriers were selected to finish fourth in the PL preseason poll while collecting a pair of first-place votes.
- Junior and 2018 All-PL Third Team honoree Max Mahoney is the top returning scorer at 12.9 ppg ... He shot a school-record 60.1 FG% from the field and averaged 4.8 rpg.
- Fellow junior Tyler Scanlon averaged 10.5 ppg with a team-high 5.5 rpg and 3.0 apg ... He also led the Terriers with 44 steals.
- Both Mahoney and Scanlon reached 20+ points in at least one game last season along with sophomore Javante McCoy (8.9 ppg) ... They also had at least one double-double along with sophomore Walter Whyte (9.3 ppg, 5.0 rpg).
- Whyte became the seventh Terrier in six years last March to claim All-PL Rookie Team accolades.
- The Terriers only have one senior, Kamali Chambers, the team's fewest since having zero available in 2014-15 ... Coach Jones also had just one senior in 2012-13.
- BU welcomes seven newcomers (five freshmen, one redshirt-freshman and one junior) to this year's roster, the most since featuring 10 in 2010-11 (seven freshmen, three junior transfers).
- 6-foot-2 guard Alex Vilarino sat out this past semester after transferring from Texas Tech in January 2018 ... He ranked No. 42 in New Engladn Recruiting Report's Class of 2017 and averaged 18.8 ppg, 6.7 rpg and 5.4 apg at McKinney H.S. (Texas).
- 6-foot-3 guard Garrett Pascoe averaged 14.2 ppg and 7.1 apg to earn All-Metro honors in California, while 6-foot-8 forward Jordan Guest averaged 13.4 ppg and 7.8 rpg.
- 6-foot-9 Jack Hemphill ranked No. 36 at the power forward position according to ESPN.com after averaging 18 ppg and 12 rpg in North Carolina.
- BU finished sixth in the Patriot League last season averaging 70.5 ppg despite finishing second at 46.2 FG%, the program's highest mark since 1993-94 (47.3 FG%) ... Opponents averaged 71.8 ppg by shooting 45.0 FG%.
- The Terriers went 9-9 on the road last season ... Earned notable wins at eventual PL champion Bucknell (snapped the Bison's 15-game home win streak, which was the seventh longest active streak at the time) and Lehigh (snapped the Mountain Hawks' eight-game win streak) in the quarterfinals ... Posted 3-3 non-conference mark with wins at New Hampshire, Bethune-Cookman and Maine with losses to UConn, Miami (Fla.) and Harvard.
SCOUTING NORTHEASTERN
- The defending CAA regular season champion Huskies return 11 letterwinners from last year's squad that went 23-10 overall and 14-4 in the CAA ... They came up just short in the CAA title game to the College of Charleston, 83-76.
- All-CAA First Team member Vasa Pusica, a 6-foot-5 transfer from San Diego, averaged a team-high 17.9 ppg and 5.1 apg while shooting 42.7 percent from behind the arc ... CAA Defensive Player of the Year and 6-foot-4 guard Shawn Occeus averaged 10.8 ppg and 1.9 spg.
- The Huskies averaged 74.9 ppg and 48.4 FG% while holding opponents to 68.8 ppg and 44.8 FG% ... They nearly doubled opponents in made 3-pointers, 9.2 - 4.8, by holding teams to just 29.9 3FG%.
- NU went 12-2 at home last season with a one-point loss to Hofstra (71-70) and five-point defeat to College of Charleston (69-64) ... The Huskies earned impressive wins against PL champion Bucknell (82-64), America East regular season champion Vermont (71-67) and Harvard (77-61).
SERIES HISTORY
- In a rivalry dating back to 1920-21, the series is tied, 73-73, but Northeastern has won seven of the last nine meetings.
- Last season at Case Gym, the Huskies edged BU, 65-59, despite the Terriers finishing ahead in FG% (40.4 - 40.0) ... NU went 20-of-24 at the charity stripe, while the Terriers shot 8-of-16.
- BU only returns 27 points from the contest, while the Huskies return 55 points.
- Two years ago at Matthews Arena, BU could not overcome its slow offensive start in which it scored 25 first-half points ... Down 16 at the half, the Terriers tallied 52 points in the second but fell short, 87-77 ... They bounced back a week later with a 65-63 home win.
- The Terriers have lost their last three visits to Matthews Arena with the last win occurring in 2008 (83-75).
