A quick look at last night's box score and you probably think it was more of the same from the young Eagles against a ranked Virginia squad on the road. Another double digit conference loss in a game where the Eagles offense tallied their third lowest point total of the season.
But I was encouraged by last night's performance, probably more so than any other game in ACC play this season.
The Eagles jumped out to a 7-2 lead and battled the no. 19 ranked Virginia Cavaliers all night, tying the game at 44 before the Cavs pulled away for a 66-49 victory. The Cavaliers used a 22-5 run over the remaining 9:36 to put the game away behind some hot shooting from guard Sammy Zeglinski, who I swear has been at Virginia for six years now. Zeglinski hit back-to-back threes to put the game away for the Cavs.
Coach Donahue was pleased with the effort.
"I thought we played very well for a long stretch," BC coach Steve Donahue said. "It didn't feel like a 17-point game."
BC's Ryan Anderson and Dennis Clifford continue to separate themselves from the rest of the freshman class as both turned in solid performances last night. Anderson finished with 12 points, 10 boards and a block on 4-11 shooting from the floor, while Clifford went for 8 and 4 on 4-8 shooting. Anderson controlled the game early, scoring nine of the Eagles first 11 points.
I thought the Eagles also did a great job on the defensive end of the floor, holding the Cavaliers offense in check despite UVa's Mike Scott going for 18 points on 7-11 shooting.
Matt Humphrey continued his run of streaky shooting finishing just 2-8 from the floor and 0-4 from inside the arc. But it was BC freshman Patrick Heckmann who turned in the worst performance of the night, finishing with no points, 0-2 from the charity stripe and 3 turnovers in 11 minutes of work.
The game quickly unraveled in the final minutes of the game as the Eagles got rattled and began chucking up ill-advised shots. This will hopefully come with experience, but as BC went into panic mode, the game quickly got out of hand. As Donahue mentioned, this was very much a case where the final score was representative of the entire game or the way the Eagles played.
BC is now just 7-13 overall and 2-4 in ACC play. The Eagles next host the Miami Hurricanes at Conte Forum on Sunday. Miami, coached by first year coach Jim Larranaga, are 11-7 overall and 2-3 in conference play, and are coming off a solid defensive performance in a 64-49 victory over Georgia Tech.
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