ATLANTA – Don’t think for a second that Boston College is fretting about the loss to Duke on Friday night. Sure, to a degree the Eagles would love to have that game back since they had their chances, but this is far from a devastating loss.
There was a stretch late in the first half when the Eagles took over the game, as they slowly rallied while slowing down Duke. Then they had all the momentum before the end of the half in going up 29-22 at the break. Once Duke scored nine straight points early in the second half to take a 35-34 lead, the Eagles didn’t help their cause at times.
The game went back and forth for a couple of minutes, but then Duke built up an eight-point lead. The Eagles couldn’t make a dent because at times, they tried to do too much on a possession instead of patiently operating the offense. They tried to get it all back at once, and all it did was help Duke maintain the lead.
Eventually, they went back to what worked, being more patient in the offense and taking care of the ball, the latter of which can’t be emphasized enough when playing Duke. That was a big key to winning a few weeks earlier in Chestnut Hill for this team. When they took care of the ball and made it a halfcourt game, they defended them well and were able to get points at the offensive end as well.
At the end of the day, though, the Eagles are concerned about more important things, like the NCAA Tournament. With a 9-7 ACC mark that includes wins over North Carolina, Duke and Florida State, they should be in. As much as they would have liked to win the ACC Tournament, head coach Al Skinner talked a few times about this being a “dry run” for the NCAA Tournament. As is often the case, his players got the message as well.
“We had our chances, but we just have to let this one go and start thinking about the NCAA Tournament,” said sophomore forward Joe Trapani.
“The thing about this tournament is that when you’re playing at this level with this intensity, that’s what you’re going to get in the NCAA,” said Skinner.
As the season went along, Boston College got better. They played a light non-conference schedule, so they were a bit of an unknown heading into ACC play. The early win at North Carolina might have boosted them, but losing to Harvard in the next game set off a four-game losing streak. The turning point came on the road in an overtime win at Georgia Tech, which began a five-game winning streak. Three of those wins came on the road.
There are also signs that the support cast for Tyrese Rice is better. Josh Southern was playing well in Atlanta before getting hurt, while Biko Paris has made a major improvement as he has become more aggressive. The latter was certainly evident on Friday, when Paris scored 15 points on 5-5 shooting, including all three of his shots from long range. Several, like Trapani, Corey Raji and ever-improving Jackson, were guys who were pretty well established as solid supporters.
All told, the Eagles will enter the NCAA Tournament in good shape. That’s a lot more than anyone might have figured over four months ago.
