Basketball Team Meets BU Tonight

A tall and reasonably fast Boston University quintet appears at the Blockhouse at 8:45 p.m. tonight, as Norm Shepard tries to make it two in a row. Shepard's varsity beat Tufts 67 to 56 Saturday, but he expects the Terriers to put up much more of a fight.

Nice under-the-backboard work by Ed Smith and John Rockwell was the strong point of the Tufts game, but the varsity often lacked the speed necessary to play Shepard-brand fast-break ball. Its shooting from the outside was also weak. Shepard has accordingly pushed fast Jim Gabler up to the guard spot in the starting lineup. Under Shepard's system there will be three guards and two centers.

Shepard expects Gabler to add speed both offensively and defensively, and he is also banking on Gabler's competent ball-handling and accurate shooting. Gabler will be teamed with sophomores Gerry Murphy and Bill Hickey on the back line. Hickey set up many plays against Tufts; and played more than 30 minutes.

Smith and Rockwell will be back at their pivot posts. Smith sank 22 points in the team's debut, closely followed by Rockwell with 19; Shepard is counting on his two tall men for much of tonight's scoring. Captain Bill Prior will replace them at center.

BU Fast-Break

Coach Vince Cronin's BU features a tall center, Marty Finnegan, and plays fast-break ball along Shepard's own lines. On the basis of previous work, the teams rate evenly: the Terriers easily beat MIT last Saturday, but Shepard's squad has trimmed the Engineers twice in preseason scrimmages. BU has a set-shot artist in captain Joe Sheehan, and guard Ken Rickson is also accurate from the outside.

Four of BU's starting quintet played against Bill Barclay's hapless varsity in the Arena last year. The Terriers took that game 62 to 55. Coach Cronin has added a fast sophomore to this year's squad, a shifty forward named Charlie Carson.

Probable varsity lineups: HARVARD    BU Rockwell (13)  F  (23) Lynch Hickey (12)  F  (24) Carson Smith (32)  C  (12) Finnegan Gabler (14)  G  (10) Rickson Murphy (33)  G  (22) Sheehan