After a tough road loss to Rhode Island on Friday, Joe Trapani and the Boston College Eagles rebounded nicely and claimed their 11th win of the season by knocking off South Carolina 85-70 in Columbia last night. Trapani led the way with a season high 23 points for BC which beat the Gamecocks for the 2nd consecutive season to wrap up a 2 game series that saw BC lead by at least 25 points in both games. Biko Paris returned to the lineup after leaving the Rhode Island game with a mild ankle sprain. He continued his hot shooting by knocking home 3 of 4 attempts from behind the arc on the way to an efficient 18 points. Corey Raji rebounded from a tough outing against URI by contributing a double-double (16 pts/12 reb) off the bench.
The win moves BC to 11-3 on the season, 2 games ahead of last years pace, as they prepare to close their non-conference schedule on Wednesday with pesky Harvard. South Carolina drops to 8-4 on the year and has lost 3 of its past 4 games.
What To Like:
Efficiency
The Eagles shot the lights out (51%) from the field, made a respectable percentage from 3 (40%), and didn't turn the ball over at a terrifying rate for the first time in several games, despite the constant pressure from South Carolina. When you combine those three factors together in one game, you're going to be awfully tough to beat. This wasn't a lack of effort on the part of the Gamecocks, BC simply out executed them on the offensive end of the floor and didn't provide many opportunities for South Carolina to use it's athleticism and speed to it's advantage in transition.
Rebounding
For the first (and probably last) time this season, the Eagles found themselves matched up with a team almost as small as them, and they took advantage. You have to imagine that playing as rugged a schedule as they have, it's had some impact on how hard they have to work for rebounds, because in this game BC out worked the Gamecocks for long stretches on the glass. They would up a season high +14 including 10 offensive rebounds that were converted into 15 points. What was the final margin of victory in the game? Exactly...
Defense
As was mentioned above, the efficiency of the BC offense had a great to do with the success BC had defensively in this game. Clearly, South Carolina came out with a mind set of using their explosive point guard Bruce Ellington as a trigger for the fast break to create easy baskets. The trouble is, BC never turned the ball over, and didn't miss open shots. As a result, South Carolina spent a great deal of time taking the ball out of the hoop and walking it up the court. BC is no defensive juggernaut in the half court, but they forced the Gamecocks to play straight up against the defense and didn't allow easy hoops to boost their percentage. When you can't generate easy baskets, all you need to do is at least contest shots and you should be fine. BC did that and the results were clear.
What Not To Like:
Front Court Play
The rebounding advantage and the final margin of victory will mask this, but a developing problem is that Josh Southern and Courtney Dunn (otherwise known as the only centers on the roster) have struggled mightily the last few games. In this game, the two combined to score just 2 points and grab 3 rebounds in 15 minutes. Southern's play in particular is a little puzzling given his emergence as something of a Vlade Divac-type player out of the high post for this team in recent weeks. They'll need him to get it going again when ACC play starts up next weekend.
Free Throws?
There wasn't much the Eagles did poorly, so I'm really grasping at straws here. Ummm...make a better percentage than 6/10? For the season, they're shooting above 75%, so yesterday is nothing to really be concerned with.
What's Next?:
The Eagles close out non-conference play on Wednesday night with Harvard (9-3). The Crimson have been an absolute menace to Boston College the past 2 seasons, winning both games by a combined 19 points. The key component in both of those soul crushing losses is fortunately playing 3,000 miles away (Jeremy Lin) in the NBA and shouldn't be able to haunt them any further, but Tommy Amaker has his charges playing well again and should provide a test, if only because they'll know they can win at Conte Forum. Hopefully Steve Donahue can provide some insight...
