Eagles Finally Get First ACC Win
CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – Boston College can exhale, for now anyway.
After starting their inaugural season 0-3 in ACC play, the Eagles finally got their first win in their new conference on Saturday as they held on for a 90-87 win over Florida State. Like everything else, this one didn’t come easily.
The Eagles knew that this was a game they had to win. Not only was it a home game, in a conference where road wins come at a premium (Miami’s win at North Carolina earlier in the day, as well as Duke’s at Clemson later, aside), but the last time the Eagles started a season 0-4 in conference play was the 6-21 season in 1998-99, when they lost their first nine games of Big East play. Starting 0-4 was not what they had in mind.
“It was bothering me,” senior forward Craig Smith said of the 0-3 start. “We got one today, so I’m a little better.”
Smith, who led the way with 28 points and 14 rebounds, said he saw the Eagles practice harder after Tuesday’s embarrassing loss to North Carolina State. They got a little time off between games, after playing at Georgia Tech on Sunday night before Tuesday night’s loss to the Wolfpack. That might have been a potential factor, but it didn’t look like it early on.
At times in the first half, the Eagle faithful had to be thinking, “here we go again,” as the Seminoles controlled most of the first half. Al Thornton was scoring at will (17 points on 7-10 shooting en route to a career-high 37 on 15-18 shooting), the Seminoles shot 50 percent from the floor, and the only thing keeping the Eagles in the game was cashing in on second-chance opportunities as they had 17 second-chance points with nine offensive rebounds. At times, the boo birds came out, including when the Seminoles established a 29-19 lead.
The Eagles got going early in the second half, scoring eight straight points to take a 42-40 lead. Later, they scored six straight as part of an 11-3 run, capped by a three-pointer by Jared Dudley (25 points, six rebounds), to take an 80-66 lead with 5:42 left.
In true Eagle fashion, they didn’t put the Seminoles away and let it become a nail-biter. The Seminoles came right back, as a 12-2 run helped them get within 83-81, and they would get within two on tow other occasions in the final minute. The Eagles didn’t wrap it up until right at the end, when Louis Hinnant intercepted a long inbounds pass as time expired.
“That’s a lot of stress off our backs, a lot of pressure gone, getting that first home win,” said Dudley, who thinks it can be the start of something. “Now that the students are back, I think home games will be a lot more exciting.”
The Eagles are still far from being home-free, even with the pressure of having to get their first win off their backs and a potentially better homecourt advantage in their future. They didn’t get much production from players outside of Smith, Dudley, Hinnant (12 points, six assists) and Sean Marshall (12 points). Sean Williams remains a relative non-factor, as he played 15 minutes and had four fouls and no blocked shots.
Not surprisingly, head coach Al Skinner took the long view after the game and looked beyond getting the win.
“In all honesty, the win is important, and I’m not going to deny that, but the most important thing was the way we played,” said Skinner. “This is what Boston College basketball is all about. We’ve got to get better at it, and we will get better – and the win signifies that. This was our style of game, and we’ve got to make sure that we establish that every time we step on the floor.”
The questions about the Eagles will remain until they start winning consistently. That may not happen right away, given that this team remains a slow starter, and their next three games (one of which is Tuesday night’s date with Holy Cross) are on the road. They also acknowledge that they’re still making the adjustments to playing in a new conference, and although Dudley said he thinks the ACC is “definitely a tougher league so far,” the biggest adjustments aren’t in the level of play.
“The little nuances in the game are the difference,” Skinner said. “We’re just trying to get familiar with those involved. Everyone else has to get familiar with just one team; we’ve got to get familiar with eleven. It’s a challenge.”
The challenge starts with the aforementioned road games. Not only are wins on the road in ACC play hard to come by, but the last time the Eagles played Holy Cross in Worcester (three seasons ago), they lost. The Crusaders aren’t as good as they were that season, but they won’t be an easy opponent by a long shot.
“Now we have the next three games on the road, and we have to get all of them,” said Dudley. “There’s no taking two out of three.”
