Matt Griffin = Clutch

As I've mentioned earlier, I'm working as a beat writer for the men's basketball team this season, so throughout the year, I'll be posting my FreeP articles up on the blog from time to time.

I start this week with my piece on Matt Griffin, whose perfect shooting day and 21 second half points propelled BU past a hapless Marist team.



The scene inside Case Gymnasium was placid if not downright sterile. A once-exuberant Boston University crowd had watched as its men's basketball team became entangled in a low-scoring struggle against a Marist College team that went all of 1-29 last season.

The hard bass lines of "Teach Me How To Dougie" reverberated and echoed through the rafters of The Roof as both teams continued to pile up turnovers and missed shots.

Even with only 15 minutes left in the game, the score was still locked in the 20s. The game didn't merely need a star. It was clamoring for one.

And then came Matt Griffin.

The junior guard, a transfer from Rider University, scored 21 points for the Terriers to ultimately push them past the Red Foxes (0-3) by a 58-37 score on Friday night.

Perhaps most remarkable about Griffin's performance was his perfection, not even in the metaphoric or hyperbolic sense. He was literally perfect for BU, shooting 7-of-7 from the field, including an impressive 5-of-5 from 3-point range.

"It was one of those feelings that you can't describe," Griffin said. "It was one of those times when you're in the zone and you don't want it to end."

Such confidence was apparent as the second half played out. Griffin continually found a way to get open, and after getting his shot off, he'd begin to backpedal, holding his stroke as the crowd rose to its feet. The inherent assumption was the same after a while – the ball, regardless of how it may have looked out of his hand, was going in.

Yet for so much certainty throughout so many crucial junctures in the second half, uncertainty was such a dominant theme for both Griffin and his team before and during the game.

Facing a Marist team that has not won a game since Jan. 2 of this year, it was presumed that BU coming off an impressive showing in the Preseason National Invitational Tournament would have little trouble in its home opener.

That was not the case through the first 20 minutes of the game.

With junior forward and co-captain Jake O'Brien playing limited minutes because of a stomach virus and senior forward John Holland held to seven points for the game, BU struggled mightily on the offensive end in the first half.

The team shot a collective 8-of-26 from the field and had already turned the ball over eight times, all of which added up to an unexpected 21-20 halftime lead.

"I just wasn't happy with the offense, us sharing the basketball, moving it," said BU coach Pat Chambers. "I felt like we were on our heels a little bit."

Going into the game, Griffin wasn't exactly the favorite in the clubhouse to be the deciding factor in the game. After starting the team's season-opener at Northeastern University, Griffin was listless in the team's first two games before a promising 10-point performance against Villanova University last Wednesday.

However, that slow start, together with the emergence of freshman guard D.J. Irving, pushed Griffin out of the starting lineup and further back on the team's depth chart.

Through it all, though, Griffin remained undeterred.

"When I came here, it wasn't about starting, it wasn't about coming off the bench," Griffin said. "None of that really mattered to me."

Thus the situation was presented – BU needed a second-half surge to avoid a disastrous home-opener and Griffin needed another opportunity to prove himself.

Match made.

With BU down 28-27 with less than 14 minutes remaining in the second half, Griffin buried a 3-pointer, giving him his first points of the game and giving the Terriers a lead they would not surrender.

From that point forward, Griffin kept his hot hand going, scoring 18 of the team's final 28 points to lead the charge on a 31-7 run that turned a stalemate into a rout.

The Marist game proved to be a critical litmus test for this BU team and its depth. With Griffin's career night, the Terriers managed to pass that first test.

"I think that's a great part of our team," Griffin said. "We have guys who can really come in and provide energy and really pick our team up."

But while the win over Marist was a necessary – albeit not always pretty – step forward for a remodeled BU roster still finding its way, the night undoubtedly belonged to Griffin.

"Matt Griffin earned every shot he made tonight," Chambers said. "Nobody works harder. He earned everything. I was so proud of him and so happy for him. As a coach, you root for kids like that who work so hard."