Bean Town Times

Terriers Head South to American for Sunday Afternoon PL Clash

Boston University (9-7, 2-1 PL) at American (11-3, 3-0 PL)

Date & Time: Sunday, Jan. 8 | 2 p.m.

Venue: Bender Arena | Washington, D.C.

Twitter: @BUGameDay | @TerrierMBB

BOSTON – Seeking its third straight win, the Boston University men's basketball team will fly south to Patriot League leader American on Sunday afternoon with tip-off slated for 2 p.m.

The Eagles are one of three unbeaten teams in the PL standings at 3-0 and are the only squad so far with double-digit wins on the season after duplicating the Terriers' efforts on Thursday with an overtime win. BU finished on a 21-7 run over the last nine minutes to beat Lafayette, 73-69, while AU posted a 73-68 win at Holy Cross.

TERRIER TIDBITS

• BU has opened 2023 overcoming double-digit deficits in back-to-back wins for the first time since the 2019-20 season and will try to start a new year 3-0 for the first time since going 4-0 in 2017.
• Senior Ethan Brittain-Watts earned a team-high and career-tying 19 points on Thursday against the Leopards. He is averaging 13.8 ppg and 52.6 3FG% over the last eight contests to increase his overall average to a personal-best 10.3 ppg with 2.3 apg.
• Graduate student Fletcher Tynen (7.4 ppg, 4.8 apg) earned his first career and BU's third overall double-double of the season with 13 points and a personal-best 10 rebounds in the OT win.
• Graduate student Walter Whyte remains the team leader in both scoring (14.5 ppg) and rebounds (6.1 rpg) with senior Nevin Zink (6.1 ppg) in second for rebounding at 5.3 rpg.
• BU is 4-4 on the road this season and has yet to win two consecutive road wins.
• The Terriers are averaging 66.8 ppg and 40.9 FG% while holding opponents to 66.9 ppg and 41.6 3FG%. Opponents are averaging 2.2 more free throws per game, but BU is averaging one more 3-pointer.

SCOUTING AMERICAN

• The Eagles are 4-1 at home with key wins vs. William & Mary (71-64) and Albany (88-62) with their lone loss coming to Siena, 64-61.
• AU owns road wins against Georgetown (74-70) and George Washington (69-64). One of the losses came at Marist (73-69), who was edged by BU, 72-70.
• Matt Rogers leads AU at 14.0 ppg while shooting 57.1 3FG%, and Johnny O'Neil owns 12.3 ppg with a team-high 6.5 rpg and 2.3 bpg.
• American ranks 17th nationally in shooting 49.4 FG% while averaging 68.1 ppg and is holding opponents to 62.1 ppg (36th best mark) and 42.1 FG%.
• The Eagles also rank 45th at 37.5 3FG% and 69th at 8.0 spg.

SERIES HISTORY

• BU leads the all-time series, 12-8, having won the last three meetings against AU after the Eagles won the previous five meetings.
• The Terriers are 5-4 all-time at AU, claiming a 79-53 decision last year following a 67-63 loss in 2020.
• That 26-point win was just the third double-digit decision on the road for BU in the series with the Terriers winning in 2016 (61-50) and the Eagles cruising in 2014 (86-56).

Original source can be found here