Enhanced Box Score

The Boston College Men’s Basketball team finished off a tumultuous week by falling at home to the Miami Hurricanes 77-71.

After a back and forth 1^st half that saw several different lead changes, BC went into the break trailing 38-33. BC fell behind early in the 2^nd half trailing by as much as 8 points four minutes into the 2nd. The Eagles were able to stay in the game thanks to the clutch shooting of Rakim Sanders who hit 4 three pointers in the game and finished with 18 points. Reggie Jackson continued to impress in conference play by chipping in with 14 points, including 9-10 at the free throw line.

The problem offensively for Boston College was the team shooting. The Eagles shot a pedestrian 36% (20-55) and made only 33% of their three point attempts (9-27). Tyrese Rice had a game high 21 points and 8 rebounds, but was a meager 6-18 shooting from the field, which includes 3-12 from behind the three-point line.

Boston College managed to hold Miami’s leading scorer and 1^st team All-ACC selection Jack McClinton to just 12 points before he fouled out late in the game. However, the team’s perimeter defense struggled, which allowed the Canes to hit 40% of the threes they attempted. Miami used a balanced attack to keep the Eagles on their heels. They had 5 different players in double figures BC was also unable to get big stops defensively, especially late in the game. Sanders provided one of the few defensive highlights of the game with yet another stellar block.

The Eagles had several chances to tie the game in the final minutes of regulation. With the team trailing by 3 points with a minutes left, Miami missed a jumper but grabbed the offensive rebound and Miami was able to score and extend the lead to 5 points. After Rice and Jackson each made a pair of free throws and Miami converted a layup, Tyrese Rice then drove the lane hard with down three points and 30 seconds remaining but was called for a questionable offensive foul, much to the dismay of the Boston College team and fans. Rice described it as a “bang-bang play”, while coach Skinner was a little more critical of the officiating, saying of the offensive foul calls, “I learned it different I teach it differently.” That was the second charge call of the game against Rice. Miami connected on 7 of 8 free throws in the closing seconds to put BC away.

One interesting observation from the game was that Skinner chose to play Tyler Roche down the stretch instead of Joe Trapani. Trapani struggled shooting 2-7 and finishing with just 8 points, well below his season average. Skinner played all 11-scholarship players on the roster in this game, perhaps trying to get some energy off the bench with Southern and Trapani unable to get their offense going in this game.

Corey Raji, perhaps the unsung hero of this team, played only 9 minutes in the game after sustaining what Coach Skinner said was a groin injury. No report on any possible timetable for his return.

This is the team’s second consecutive home loss and almost assuredly will knock them out of the top 25. The Eagles fall to 13-4 on the season and 1-1 in the ACC. Boston College returns to action Wednesday night when the host #4 ranked Wake Forest at 9pm in one of the biggest home match-ups of the year.