N.C. State 82, Boston College 64: Another Blowout Loss in North Carolina

Early in the game it was all Wolfpack and 8:27 into the game Boston College had only two points. Those two points came from a Dennis Clifford dunk on BC's first possession when Patrick Heckmann found him cutting to the rim. NC State's largest lead of the first half was 16 which BC then responded to with a 11-0 run to get them back in the game. The BC run was started by another Dennis Clifford dunk, this time assisted by Joe Rahon. Clifford was looking healthier than he did in the Duke game, but he did not see as much time in the second half so he is clearly still far from healthy.

As halftime approached, it seemed BC had the momentum but Scott Wood was able to steal that back for the Wolfpack as time expired. With five seconds left in the first half, Eddie Odio blocked Wood's 3-point attempt but the ball came right back to Wood and he was able to use a low post step through move on Odio and hit a floating 3 pointer as the clock ticked away on the first half. In typical Scott Wood fashion he did not make a single field goal inside the arc. Wood finished the game with five 3's and 2 free throws for 17 points. Wood's two free throws came from a technical foul called on Ryan Anderson for yelling "THAT'S A FOUL" after driving to the basket and seemingly getting hacked. However the refs thought differently so the Wolfpack were awarded two points rather than Anderson going to the line.

In the second half, BC did not look quite as over-matched as they did for the first eight minutes of the game. However, with 6 minutes to play, BC had one possession that featured a Lonnie Jackson airball three, Eddie Odio being blocked, and Olivier Hanlan shooting an airball mid range jumper from the baseline.

Once the Wolfpack got the lead back to 14 which happened with 12 minutes left to play in the game, it felt like the only thing left in doubt was the final score. Donahue needs to find some ways to spark some runs when they are much needed. I don't know what that spark would be but it seems right now I'm as close to knowing as Donahue is.

The leading scorers for both teams came off the bench. Lonnie Jackson lead BC with 16 points and Ryan Purvis lead the Wolfpack with 21 points. I would imagine that since Donahue has not been afraid to shake up the starting lineup so far this year, we will see Jackson replacing Heckmann this weekend. If Clifford is unable to go it is safe to assume Odio would take his place in the starting lineup.

The Eagles have UVA at home Sunday so there is not much time to regroup from this road trip disaster. UVA is 9-5 in conference but will be coming off of a Thursday night home game against Duke. It seems BC will need some help like being overlooked by the 'Hoos in order to come up with the home upset. It is safe to assume that on Sunday afternoon the crowd with be sparse given how the Eagles performed their last two times out.