Louisville 81, Boston College 72: Eagles Upset Bid (Once Again) Falls Short

The snow made it difficult for a lot of fans to make it to the game tonight and the Eagles could not practice yesterday, but the students did have a rare good showing in the stands to support the basketball team against Louisville. Boston College was competitive with Louisville much of the game but failed to ever take the lead, ultimately losing to Louisville 81-72.

Aaron Brown went for a career high 28 points on 10-22 shooting in the losing effort. Brown had 17 of his 28 in the first half, which kept BC within striking distance of Louisville, trailing by only two at the half. Brown shot 5-12 from beyond the arc as the Eagles shot 33% as a team from 3. Aaron Brown was not the high scorer for the game, though, as Chris Jones of Louisville matched him with 28 points on 10-13 shooting. Jones was also followed closely in scoring on his own team by Terry Rozier, who added 23, and Montrezl Harrell and Wayne Blackshear were also double-digit scorers for the Cardinals.

Olivier Hanlan did not have a great game, shooting only 31% from the field, but he was instrumental in BC having a chance for the upset. Hanlan dished out a career-high 9 assists in a losing effort. Five assists went to Aaron Brown, 2 to Will Magarity, and one each to Patrick Heckmann and Garland Owens. Aside from the career-high in assists for Hanlan, foul trouble was a big story in the game, ultimately putting an end to BC's upset hopes. Hanlan picked up his fourth foul of the game with more than 8 minutes left to play, which landed him a brief seat on the bench.

While he was sitting, though, BC had two possessions where they barely got any shot off and neither shot was good, so Olivier was quickly brought back in. He played about 8 minutes with four fouls but did finally disqualify when he picked up his 5th with 1:12 left to play in the game after Dennis Clifford failed to make a layup and cut Louisville's lead to 5. Once Hanlan fouled out, there was absolutely no hope for a BC comeback, but some fouling by both teams in the final minute extended the action to result in a 9-point Louisville victory.

Aside from Brown and Hanlan, Patrick Heckmann and Will Magarity both provided some bright spots for the Eagles on offense and defense. Heckmann finished with 14 and Magarity with 9 points.

The loss to Louisville should be considered a moral victory for BC fans, as the game was very close throughout.  However, it is still too early to tell if Louisville is really a top 10 team nationally or a top 4 team in the conference. In Louisville's two biggest tests in ACC play so far, the have lost to both UNC and Duke.

Stat of the game: BC and Louisville combined for only 11 bench points.

Next up: at Clemson Saturday