Three Up, Three Down: Boston College

The Ups

Frontcourt Dominance. John Collins had 17 points (6-11 shooting, 5-7 from the line), and 7 boards. Konstantinos Mitoglou had 15 points (6-8 shooting, 3-4 from the line) and 7 rebounds. Austin Arians had 12 points (4-5 shooting, 1-2 from deep, 3-4 from the line) and 5 rebounds. Our guards struggled something fierce shooting, but the bigs picked up the slack, and boy am I glad they did.

Unconventional Guard Contributions. Despite shooting woes, Bryant Crawford had 11 points, 7 assists, and 5 rebounds with only one turnover. Keyshawn Woods was 1-7 shooting, but he added 8 boards and 3 assists. I was glad to see our starting guards find other ways to help the team despite cold shooting nights. Well done, gentlemen. That’s the way to do it.

Sharing The Sugar. 19 assists on 27 made baskets? Yes sir. That’s some Spurs-esque assist percentage, right there. I like that a lot.

The Downs

Backcourt Shooting. Crawford, Woods,and Wilbekin combined for 6-27 shooting, That is brutal. Shouts out to Brandon Chilldress, though, who had the best shooting night he has so far, with 3-4 shooting and 2-2 from deep. I fully expect the others to return to form, and I hope Chill can ride the wave and get better shooting the rock.

A Lot Of Open Looks For BC. The Eagles went a brutal 5-30 from deep but it very easily could have been better for them. We need to continue to work on closeouts and rotations, because if we don’t, it could end very badly indeed on other outings.

Not As Active Hands On D. The Deacs had only two blocks and two steals as a team, and I would have liked to see some more effective fast breaks. In contrast, Boston College had 5 steals. BC also only had an impressive 8 turnovers to our 12. While 12 turnovers isn’t terrible, it’s not optimal, and our defense-to-offense didn’t do the best job of offsetting that.

The Bottom Line

That first half, I was ready for somebody’s head.. The teaam got it together at the right time though, and came away with a solid victory that neither hurts nor really helps their prospects. That’s about as good as I could hope for, at least in terms of the end result. This team is not, per se, /prime time, but they are significantly better than last season, as is Boston College if their recent games tell us anything.

On to the next. Go Deacs.

—SF