That was a little close for comfort, wasn’t it?
Thanks largely to some clutch free throws late in the game, the Boston College Eagles men’s basketball team staved off the pesky Virginia Cavaliers at Conte Forum by a score of 70-67. With the win, the Eagles improve to 14-5 (4-1), which is still tied for first in the conference with Duke. Reggie Jackson scored 16 points, the fifteenth of which got him to 1,000 points for his Boston College career. He gave the Eagles effective minutes tonight, especially considering that this is a guy who just rolled his ankle a few days ago. Joe Trapani led the Eagles with 18, and I want to give special props to walkon John Cahill who earned some hustle points tonight with his late effort.
Boston College looked sluggish early but were about to take a 9-point lead into the half, though yet again, they got burned by a three near the buzzer. This one by Virginia wasn’t quite a buzzer-beater, but like all of the others, it was caused by a defensive lapse and narrowed the game to a 6-point margin. From there, the game would tighten up even further, as BC was unable to get more than a few points in front of the Wahoos for the rest of the game. The game was often tied, as BC would fail to make the most of some of their key opportunities and their defense hurt them. The stat line says that BC and UVA were roughly tied in total and offensive rebounds, though it seemed worse at times. The Eagles and Cavaliers both ended up with 11 second-chance points, but a key factor tonight in BC’s win was their capitalizing on UVA turnovers better: the Eagles had 13 points off of turnovers, while Virginia managed only one. An encouraging sign for BC is that they only turned the ball over five times tonight, whereas in previous games they were starting to have serious trouble controlling the ball.
What remains discouraging is BC’s defense. Certainly, they got the stops when needed the most, but for much of the game, there were too many guys undefended and too little pressure on Virginia’s shots. If not for that, I think the Eagles would have ended up with a much more comfortable win, though it is a win nevertheless. As we all saw tonight, though — and I think we all knew this to be true already — when BC’s 3-ball isn’t falling, they will have trouble. Boston College only made 6 out of 21 (28.6%) from behind the arc, and for a team so reliant on the three, that shot needs to go in the net with way more consistency than it did tonight. In the Miami loss, BC only shot 32% from three, so this could be a bit of a slump they’re entering offensively.
The upcoming schedule for BC looks very difficult, particularly the next two games. The Eagles are heading to Tallahassee and Durham to face FSU and Duke on Saturday and Thursday, respectively. With the effort BC put forth tonight, they would not realistically beat either one. BC will have to raise their game substantially to hang with both of those very good teams. After that, the Eagles get UNC and Virginia Tech at home, two more tough games, followed by a trip to Clemson, the place where BC never wins. That is why tonight’s game was so crucial. Considering how the Eagles will likely lose a majority of their next five games, they could not absorb a loss to Virginia. Thankfully, they responded with a gut-it-out win.
