Following a tough loss to Springfield on Saturday night, the men's basketball team hoped to bounce back against Babson College on Tuesday. But while Tufts has topped the Beavers each of the last two seasons, it couldn't repeat this year, falling 76-63 and dropping its record to 3-3.
Babson improved its record to 5-1 with the victory.
In a fairly lackluster performance, the usually energetic Tufts offense was easily contained by a tenacious Beaver defense. Babson had little trouble harnessing the sharp-shooting trio of sophomore Phil Barlow and juniors Mike McGlynn and Brian Shapiro. McGlynn was held to just six shots on the night.
"We simply did not perform well," coach Bob Sheldon said. "If I had to grade our performance last night, I would give us an F."
Neither squad played well in the first half, as Babson shot 9-29 in the period, while Tufts was only slightly better at 10-30. The Jumbos only attempted eight three pointers in the first half, and did not connect on any of them. Despite Tufts' ice cold shooting, the team went into the half trailing by only one point, 24-23.
"That first half was some of the worst basketball I've seen in a long time," Sheldon said.
In the second half, however, Babson sophomore Jeff Hines caught on fire, sinking seven points in the first four minutes. Hines transformed a one-point halftime lead into a 31-25 advantage with 16:20 remaining. But Barlow and freshman center Craig Coupe kept Tufts within striking distance, each scoring four points over the next three minutes. A Babson three pointer at 12:09 put the Beavers up by 11, and though a Coupe put-back 20 seconds later reduced the margin to nine, Babson answered immediately with a breakaway lay-up.
Despite Shapiro's team-high 19 points on the evening, Hines' 16 second-half points proved too much for the Jumbos. The Beavers lead by double digits for the final 11 minutes of the game, rolling to the victory.
"We out-rebounded them (36-25), but we also had something like 17 turnovers," Sheldon said. "It was just one of those games where nothing went right."
After averaging 25.4 three-point attempts through their first five games, the Jumbos put up a mere 17 shots from beyond the arc against Babson, their lowest total of the season. Babson surely did its homework on Tufts' guards - McGlynn was held to a season-low six field goal attempts.
"Teams are scouting us now," Sheldon said. "Before they didn't really know what we were about, but now they know that they have to shut our shooters down from outside. They didn't give Mike many good looks last night."
The team performs best when it is patient and chooses good shots, as was the case against Salem State on Nov. 25, when the Jumbos scored 100 points. However, the Beavers did not yield many good looks at the basket, resulting in hasty shooting by the Jumbos.
"We were really just taking what they gave us," Sheldon said. "It wasn't a change in game plan, we just didn't get good looks at the basket."
A bright spot for the Jumbos was the play of Coupe, who finished the night with 11 points and seven rebounds. With teams focusing on shutting down the perimeter shooters, Coupe's inside presence will be crucial to Tufts' success.
"[Coupe] has really been exceeding our expectations so far," Sheldon said. "He's gonna have to step up and be an inside force for the rest of the season. We're real pleased with how he's been playing so far."
Although the Babson game did not turn out as the team had hoped, the Jumbos see it as an opportunity for improvement.
"Sometimes it takes a kick in the ass to get you to improve," Sheldon said. "Hopefully this was it."
Next up for Tufts is a game against 7-0 MIT. Coming off of two straight losses and sitting at 3-3, the Jumbos will need to win this game to stay above the .500 mark.
"We're gonna be pumped up for this game," Sheldon said. "This is as close to a must-win situation as you can get this early in the season."
Tufts and MIT square off tonight at 7:00 in Cousens Gym.
