The Cards are saying goodbye to three seniors, and potentially a coaching staff.
Photo by Lance King/Getty Images
Louisville Cardinals (8-22, 3-16) vs. Boston College Eagles (16-14, 7-12)
Game Time: 5:30 p.m.
Location: KFC Yum Center: Louisville, Ky.
Television: The CW
Announcers: Evan Lepler (play-by-play) and Brian Oliver (analyst)
Favorite: Boston College by 4.5
Series: Louisville leads, 10-7
Last Meeting: Boston College won 89-77 on Feb. 13 in Chestnut Hill
About Boston College:
After a fairly successful first two years on the job, Earl Grant has found some difficulty in continuing the large task of attempting to build Boston College men’s basketball back into a contender in the ACC.
The Eagles went 9-2 against a very light non-conference schedule (losses to Colorado State and Loyola Chicago) but are just 7-12 in conference play and poised to play on the first day of the ACC tournament next week.
BC does not have a ton of weapons on its 2023-24 roster, but they do still have graduate senior big man Quinten Post, who was the ACC’s Most Improved Player last season. The 7-footer from Amsterdam torched Louisville (22 points) in the regular season meeting between the two teams last season and had 17 in the meeting earlier this year. He leads Boston College in both scoring (16.8 ppg) and rebounding (8.0 rpg), and is the only major conference player in America averaging at least 16.0 points, 8.0 boards, 2.9 assists, and 1.8 blocks per game.
Charleston Southern transfer guard Claudell Harris is the team’s second-leading scorer at 13.1 ppg. He is once again the most likely “guy who we refuse to guard even though he’s already hit five threes” candidate of the night. He hit four in the first meeting and scored a team-high 20 points.
Junior point guard Jaeden Zackery is back running the offense for a third straight season after tormenting Louisville in each of the last two. He scored 15 points in both games against Louisville last season and dished out a combined 15 assists. He ran the show effectively in the first meeting, scoring 10 points, handing out six assists and recording four steals.
BC is a solid offensive team that shoots it well enough from all three levels. It’s going to take an increased level of attention to detail on the defensive end for the Cardinals to pull off a Senior Day victory.
Notable:
—Louisville is 8-4 against Boston College in ACC play, but has lost three straight.
—Louisville will honor three senior players – Aidan McCool, Zan Payne and JJ Traynor – along with one senior manager in a pregame ceremony Saturday starting at 5:15 p.m. on Denny Crum Court.
—The Cardinals are 17-6 in their last 23 Senior Day games, but have lost three in a row.
—Over the last 10 games, Louisville is outscoring teams by 21 points when Zan Payne is on the floor.
—This is the first time Louisville has finished the regular season with at least three straight home games since 1992-93. The Cardinals haven’t had two straight home games to end the regular season since 2014-15.
—BC has connected on 68 3-pointers over its last seven games, including a season-high 15 in the first meeting vs. Miami. The 15 3-pointers made against Miami tied for the fourth-most in a single-game in Boston College men’s basketball history.
—Louisville has lost six straight games, matching its longest losing streak of the season.
—Boston College’s 1.36:1 assist/turnover ratio ranks as the second-best mark in program history. BC’s assist/turnover ratio ranks 71st nationally - and seventh in the ACC - having compiled 431 assists to 318 turnovers.
—Louisville is 5-35 in ACC games under the direction of head coach Kenny Payne, and 0-3 against Boston College.
—On the last day of the regular season, Louisville sits alone in last place in the ACC standings, a full three games behind 14th-place Miami.
—Louisville has lost more than 20 games in a season for just the second time in the 110-year history of the program. The other time was last season.
—Louisville is 224-16 over the last 20 seasons and 21-4 over the last three when scoring 80 points or more. The Cards are 5-2 in such games this season.
—Since 2004, Louisville is 130-0 when leading by more than 10 points at halftime.
—Louisville has won 162 consecutive games when holding an opponent under 50 points.
Ken Pomeroy Prediction: Boston College 79, Louisville 74
