After dropping its first two NESCAC games last weekend to heavyweights Middlebury and Williams, extending its losing streak to four, the men's basketball team will hit the road still searching for that elusive first conference victory in a pair of weekend matchups against Colby and Bowdoin.
Though the two games are not yet must-win, the Jumbos realize that they need to stop their recent skid as quickly as possible to get the season turned around.
"We can't just settle and be content with just competing," tri-captain James Long, a junior, said. "We have to keep playing like we're down 10 or down 15, because when you start playing like you're up in the NESCAC, that's when you lose leads."
On Friday night, Tufts will tip off with Bowdoin (11-2 overall, 1-0 NESCAC) in Brunswick, Maine. The Polar Bears are one of the NESCAC's hottest teams and have won eight straight games, including last Saturday's toppling of Colby.
The Bowdoin offense has exploded during the winning streak, averaging nearly 81 points per game. The offensive renaissance on Jan. 13 hit its apex in a 113-58 thrashing of University of Maine at Presque Isle, in which every Polar Bear who entered the game had at least one point, rebound and assist.
Offensive efficiency has been a cornerstone throughout the season for Bowdoin, which is fourth in the NESCAC in points per game, while shooting an outstanding 51.5 percent from the field and averaging a conference-leading 18 assists per game. With its constant ball movement and creativity, Bowdoin's attack presents problems for a Tufts defense that ranks last in the conference in points allowed, at 69.7 per game.
Bowdoin's offense is centered on junior forward Will Hanley, who leads the NESCAC in scoring at 20.4 points per game. In the team's NESCAC opener against Colby, Hanley filled up the box score with 22 points, 19 rebounds and 8 assists. The 6-foot-7, 200-pound forward managed to score 16 points and pull down 11 rebounds when Bowdoin came to Medford a year ago, but Tufts' defense held him to 7-of-16 shooting from the field, a result it hopes to duplicate. In that matchup, Tufts limited Bowdoin to just 36.8-percent shooting and forced 17 turnovers in a 58-53 victory, just one of two Tufts NESCAC wins in 2009-10.
The Jumbos will go further north to face the Mules (8-7 overall, 0-1 NESCAC) on Saturday afternoon. Much like Tufts, Colby has been inconsistent early and is still trying to find its identity.
The team finished last year at 6-3 in the NESCAC and 19-6 overall, but has struggled in 2010-11, largely due to a high rate of turnovers. They average 20 of them per game, a statistic that does not bode well against a Tufts defense that generates a conference-best 10 steals per contest.
The key to Colby's offense so far has been senior forward Michael Russell, who has averaged 17.1 points per game while also pulling down a conference-best 12.8 rebounds per game. Both teams rebound well, especially on the offensive end, so the battle of the boards will be important in this matchup.
The Jumbos have had an up-and-down season so far, and this Maine road trip may prove a pivotal turning point. If the Jumbos come away empty-handed, it will put Tufts in a mid-season hole. But if they can come out of the weekend with a pair of victories, the Jumbos will be right back in the middle of the NESCAC pack.
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Contributed reporting by Claire Kemp
