Boston College 75, Bryant 55: Eagles Big Second Half Downs Bulldogs
by Brian Favat on Dec 19, 2011 9:10 AM EST
in Boston College Basketball
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PrintThe Bryant Bulldogs kept it close for a half, heading into the locker room down just two. But the young, sharpshooting Eagles got hot from three in the second half (7-for-12) and were able to put away the Bulldogs 77-55 on Sunday afternoon at Conte Forum.
Lonnie Jackson sparked a 10-0 Eagles run to start the second half by connecting on a pair of three pointers early in the second half. Jackson finished with a career-high 26 points, including 7-for-11 shooting from beyond the arc. Ryan Anderson had a great all-around game on Sunday, finishing with his second career double-double (12 points, 12 boards). Big man Dennis Clifford finished with 10 and 6, while most importantly, point guard Jordan Daniels dished out nine assists and zero turnovers in the victory.
We all know that Steve Donahue's offense relies on shooters and hopefully the Eagles have found that in Jackson. While he won't get as many looks as he did against a smaller Bryant squad, Jackson was feeling it from beyond the arc and easily put together his best performance of the season.
The Eagles played with a bit more confidence on offense, moving the ball well and finishing with a season-high 21 assists on 28 buckets.
Even with the victory -- the Eagles' first winning streak on the year -- there was room for improvement.
Bryant closed the first half on an 13-5 run (and 11 of the last 13 points) to cut the lead to just two points going into the half. If the Eagles hadn't come out for the second half hot, this game could have turned out much, much differently.
Matt Humphrey continues to struggle from the floor, finishing the game just 1-11 and 1-8 from three. On many possessions, Humphrey will pull up and shoot far too early in the possession. Some of his misses from range early in the possession allowed Bryant to fast-break down the other end of the court for some easy buckets. Humphrey needs to distribute the ball more and wait for the Eagles to get into more of an offensive set before chucking up threes.
Ryan Anderson, Dennis Clifford, Jordan Daniels, Matt Humphrey and Lonnie Jackson were the five Eagles that logged 20+ minutes yesterday as Donahue begins to settle into a more regular rotation. Patrick Heckmann (10 points, 2 boards) had limited PT playing with four fouls.
The Eagles are back in action on Wednesday night as they host another NEC team -- 6-6 Sacred Heart -- at Conte Forum. Tip is 7 PM.
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I know I tweeted this out, but I love love loved Lonnie Jackson’s game yesterday. If you asked me two weeks ago if this team was going to be able to pull one of those underdog upsets off, I would have said no. They had no offensive flow, and no recognizable go-to scorer. They may have found that in Jackson. If he has more games like this, BC will win some games they may be expected to lose.
On the other hand Matt Humphrey shooting the ball scares the crap out of me. Good teams are going to take advantage of his poor decisions and get lots of easy buckets. He needs to have a lot more patience with the ball, and resist the urge to jack up ill advised threes. He was very frustrating to watch yesterday.
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A couple player notes
Anderson – Wasn’t feeling it from outside, so he went into the paint to get his offense going. Like that mentality.
Jackson – He’s got a great stroke and he gets his shot off quickly. Hope he keeps this up.
Daniels – Everyone is waiting to see how he does against bigger/more athletic guards. It sure will be interesting but I think he’s going to surprise us all. Heady player that is very quick.
Heckmann – Something is off. Hope he’s just still coming back from the injury.
Humphrey – He just doesn’t have a good shot. He should not be firing off 11 shots a game.
Clifford/Caudill – Improving and looking a little bit more assertive around the basket. Can’t wait to see them when Clifford gets more muscle and Caudill trims some more weight.
Very encouraged by this performance
Yesterday was the first home game I’ve missed all year (had to go to NY last minute) but it seems from everything I’ve read that this team is really starting to gel (with the exception of Humphrey’s apparent reversion). Lonnie is gonna have trouble doing what he did yesterday against teams with good perimeter defense, as he still hasn’t shown me that he can creates his own shots, and this team doesn’t seem to know what a pick-and-roll is. But still very encouraged by what seems like a good team effort
I agree
Overall nice performance across the board.
I like that we are getting a tighter rotation and am optimistic we can surprise someone with a good shooting night.
Daniels looked really good facilitating. 9 assists to no turnovers is great and I saw at least 4 dishes that resulted in high percentage shots that didn’t go in.
Jackson is a really good shooter. Like Spidey, I think that teams are going to start closing out hard on him aka Rubin last year so it will be interesting if he can show a pump and go to his game in the 2nd half of the season.
Anderson is our best all around player and our only big that really crashes the glass. Really liked his performance yesterday.
Heckmann hasn’t looked great the last few. Whether that’s injury, I’m not sure. He’s someone we need to step up if we play small lineups.
Clifford / Caudill are improving but I still want to see more aggressiveness & effort on rebounds. Also, they look much more comfortable on offense although I’d like them to show off their jumpers a little more often.
Humphrey just looks out of sorts to the point that he just does not seem to know what to do in the offense. I don’t think he actually thinks any of his jumpers are going in with his body language. I think he needs a day off to get his head straight.
Been an interesting schedule for this young team. Excited to see how this team responds to tougher competition after this string of success.
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