BOSTON – With four conference games remaining in the regular season, the Boston University men's basketball team will visit American on Wednesday night with tip-off slated for 7 p.m.
The Terriers are currently tied for third in the Patriot League with Saturday's home opponent, Navy, and are one game behind Colgate (9-5) with Lehigh (7-7) sitting in the fifth. There are four teams tied for sixth at 6-8.
TERRIER TIDBITS
- BU is 7-7 on the road this season after going 6-9 last year but has dropped the previous two contests at Lehigh (80-75) and Colgate (74-60).
- The Terriers already avenged an earlier loss to Loyola and will now focus on doing the same against American to avoid being swept in a season by a conference opponent for the first time since 2013-14.
- This past Saturday, senior Cedric Hankerson (13.6 ppg) returned with 11 points and nine rebounds after missing the previous five games to injury ... He is followed by sophomores Max Mahoney (12.4 ppg) and Tyler Scanlon (10.7 ppg) in scoring.
- Scanlon leads the Terriers in rebounding (5.6 rpg), assists (2.7 apg) and steals (1.4 spg) ... Freshman Walter Whyte (8.7 ppg) is second on the team in rebounding at 5.1 rpg but has missed the last two games to injury.
- The Terriers lead the PL in field goal shooting percentage (46.5 FG%) and are trying to finish atop a conference in the category for the first time since leading the America East in 2012-13 (44.9 FG%).
- BU is averaging 71.7 ppg and is holding opponents to 72.3 pppg and 45.0 FG%.
SCOUTING AMERICAN
- The Eagles are 3-7 at home compared to their 2-13 road mark with home wins over Loyola Maryland (76-65), VMI (69-64) and Howard (74-63) ... They are coming off an 80-78 OT loss to Lehigh and have also dropped hard-fought decisions at home to Holy Cross (60-57) and Mount St. Mary's (59-56).
- American ranks ninth in scoring in the PL at 64.2 ppg but features three of the top 10 scorers in the PL ... Sa'eed Nelso ranks second at 18.1 ppg and 4.8 apg while also averaging 3.9 rpg and 1.7 spg.
- Larry Motuzis (14.4 ppg) and Sam Iorio (14.0 ppg) are 8th and 10th, respectively, in scoring with a combined 92 3-pointers and a combined 11.2 rpg.
- The Eagles are holding opponents to 73.0 ppg and 48.1 FG% ... They rank 44th nationally in steals at 7.5 spg.
BU-AMERICAN NOTES
- BU leads the all-time series, 9-4, in a rivalry dating back to 1997-98.
- Since joining the Patriot League in the summer of 2013, BU is 7-2 vs. the Eagles in conference play but is 0-2 in PL tournament action.
- In the last meeting at BU, after the Terriers tied the game, 41-41, at 10:42 (2H), American hit back-to-back 3-pointers to grab the lead for good ... BU pulled within five (54-49) at 3:21, but Iorio (26 pts., 5-10 3FG) keyed an 8-2 spurt with a pair of 3-pointers to put the game away ... Terriers had a season-high 21 turnovers in the loss.
- Last season with a 12-pt. deficit in the first half, the Terriers rallied at American for a 67-64 victory ... The score was tied, 58-58, with 4:01 remaining when Mahoney put BU ahead for good ... Justin Alston ('17) had a game-high 21 points, while Scanlon owned 16 points.
