CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – Steve Donahue understandably doesn’t want to get caught up in just wins and losses. Given the youth of his team and the growth still to come, wins are great but are not the be-all, end-all. Still, after going 0-3 in the Charleston Classic last weekend, a win like Wednesday’s 50-49 outcome against Auburn is quite welcome, especially with some of how it came about.
Wednesday’s game won’t go down as a thing of beauty. Auburn played a physical game and the Eagles did all they could to match it, making it a big test for them. The Tigers want to make games a grind, and on Wednesday they did that. The Eagles were up to the task, among other things out-rebounding the Tigers 35-28
Not helping is that Ryan Anderson was not 100 percent, still nursing an injury that kept him out of Sunday’s game. It showed with the foul trouble he had, eventually fouling out with 4:43 left, but he also gave Boston College seven rebounds in 19 minutes, something no one was underestimating when it was over.
“I think Ryan had a lot to do with us winning,” said Donahue. “It could have been easy for him not to play. He competed, got seven rebounds. We just don’t have the depth to do that and win the game. Seven rebounds in limited minutes is huge in a game like this.”
The players, for their part, had a team meeting a day earlier to talk about how the weekend went and what they have to do. They knew that until Anderson is at least close to 100 percent, everyone needs to do more. It turns out, being students of the game helped, as they watched another game and drew a little inspiration from it.
“We talked about everything that winning teams do, making tough plays and giving it all for 40 minutes,” said freshman guard Joe Rahon, who contributed 15 points. “Then we all went home last night and watched Butler give it to North Carolina. They played hard, they did all the little things, battled on the boards, and they were able to beat a team that was more talented than them. Then we started texting around to each other, saying ‘that’s how we’ve got to play’. We came out with a bulldog mentality, and hopefully we’ll keep that up the rest of the year.”
Rahon and Olivier Hanlan came up big on a day that frontcourt stalwarts Anderson and Dennis Clifford struggled. While the latter two combined to go 2-10 from the field for eight points and 12 rebounds, the freshmen starting guards were a combined 12-22 for 34 points, including 6-11 from long range, and eight rebounds.
“I think they have a really good basketball I.Q., and the thing I asked them to do is manage the game,” said Donahue. “I think they have the ability to do that for us. We still don’t have an identity sometimes on the offensive end. The ball gets moved around and we wonder why that guy takes a shot.”
At the end, they combined to do it on the defensive end when it counted most.
With the Eagles up by one in the final seconds after Hanlan made one of two free throws, the Tigers naturally looked to Frankie Sullivan, their best scorer and a true gamer, to do something. Rahon and Hanlan bottled him up and knocked the ball away, and another Tiger saved it to Sullivan with just enough time to put up a very deep three-pointer that fell short as time expired.
Just a little earlier, Rahon and Eddie Odio tried to close Sullivan out, hit each other and Rahon wound up fouling Sullivan as a three-pointer fell, and the free throw tied the game. That impacted how the very competitive Rahon approached the final seconds.
“I was mad at myself about that,” said Rahon. “I wanted to go down and either make a play for a teammate, make a play for myself or do something for redemption. When (Hanlan) went to the basket and got fouled and made the free throw, I knew the only way to redeem was on defense. I knew they were going to go to (Sullivan) on that last play, and he was my man. I just knew I had to get a stop to make up for that bone-headed play I made.”
Donahue was happy to get the win, as any coach would be, but he’s still taking a long view with this group. He talked about it in Charleston and maintained the consistency of message here.
“Obviously, it’s tough to go anywhere and lose three straight, but I think we made great progress, and we’re going to have failure. This isn’t going to be easy,” said Donahue. “Anytime you get a win, it’s huge, but I just don’t want to get caught up in the results.”
Without question, the long-term outcome matters most. Still, wins help in getting there, and pulling out close wins help because the team more easily realizes that they need to improve because those games could have gone the other way. After a tough weekend trip, grinding out a tough one at home with the top players not having their best day is a welcome development for a team trying to grow.
