BU Men’s Basketball Takes on Lehigh Wednesday in Patriot League Championship | BU Today

Chance Gladden has dreamed of enjoying in the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament—higher referred to as March Madness—since he was eight years previous.

After his miraculous game-winning three-pointer for the Boston University males’s basketball crew’s 73-72 victory Sunday over top-seeded Navy in the Patriot League semifinal, he is nearer than ever to attaining that dream.

“I’ve been around basketball all my life, watching March Madness, the tournament, and all that,” Gladden (CAS’29) says. “It would mean the world to me.”

Gladden’s buzzer-beating game-winner, a operating leap shot from about 40 toes out, gave him “a surreal feeling,” he says. Online, the shot has generated tens of millions of views, however extra importantly, it superior the No. 4 Terriers to the championship recreation Wednesday, the place they’re going to take on second-seeded Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa.

It’s BU’s first Patriot League championship recreation since 2020. The Terriers gained that recreation, however misplaced the prospect to compete in March Madness as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic canceled the match.

A second Patriot League title for this system and competing in the nationwide match for the primary time since 2011 would imply quite a bit to the present gamers and coaches after the challenges they’ve confronted this season. The crew has handled intensive accidents all yr.

“When you fight and you fight through adversity and you want to win and you want to buy into what the group has offered, no matter how many guys you have,” guard Michael McNair (CAS’27) says, “I think it shows the power in that.”

The Terriers have confronted the Lehigh Mountain Hawks twice this season and misplaced each video games, though each have been shut. BU fell to Lehigh 93-91 in additional time at dwelling January 14 and 70-67 on the highway February 22.

BU goes into the championship having gained 9 of its final 10 video games, however the lone loss got here two and a half weeks in the past—in opposition to Lehigh.

The Terriers’ preparation for the championship recreation has included watching movies to determine what they should do higher to achieve success—and that begins with protection and defending the ball.

“We’ve really got to cut down on our turnovers offensively, because that’s probably our biggest hurdle right now,” head coach Joe Jones says. “We’ve got to be able to win the 50/50 balls and outhustle and outcompete our opponent on their floor.”

“We want to rebound a lot better. The last two games we haven’t rebounded very well, so we want that to be a very big point of emphasis,” Gladden provides. “When we don’t have those turnovers, our offense really flows, and we get good shots and make those shots at a high percentage.”

During Sunday’s semifinal in opposition to Navy BU shot 55 % from the ground and 46 % from behind the arc. Gladden led the way in which with 26 factors, 24 in the second half. McNair tackled on 22, 17 of them in the primary half. The Terriers will want massive video games from each gamers in opposition to the Mountain Hawks.

The two “have really stepped up their game this year with all the injuries,” Jones says. “We’ve been able to ride them—they’ve delivered time and time again.”

Although Lehigh is a well-balanced and well-coached crew, the Terriers really feel strongly that Wednesday’s matchup will result in a BU victory.

“We’re very confident. We’ve always been confident throughout the year, whether we were winning or losing—that’s what makes us dangerous,” McNair says.

The BU males’s basketball crew battles Lehigh in the Patriot League Championship Wednesday, March 11, at 7 pm in Bethlehem, Pa. The recreation will probably be broadcast on CBS Sports Network.