Boston College Basketball: Three Keys To Beating Virginia

There is no use sugarcoating the reality of the Boston College Eagles' next game against the Virginia Cavaliers: the Eagles have their work cut for them taking on the No. 9 team in the country. Here are three things that, if the Eagles are able to execute on, would put them in a position where they could potentially win.

1. No Struggles From The Field: One thing that is constant throughout all three conference games that Virginia has lost this year is strong performances from the field by opponents. Florida State shot 48%, Georgia Tech shot 43.6%, and Virginia Tech shot 47.1%. Against a team that has the seventh best adjusted offense, any scoring outages could be costly. We saw this weekend what could happen if a team has an off half offensively against Virginia. Louisville shot 21% in the first half Saturday, and was never really able to recover. BC has, in the past, had tough halves offensively, they cannot have another tough half against Virginia.
2. Shut Down the Arc: Virginia makes a little less than 40% of their shots from three point range. While Virginia has averaged roughly 31 points per game in the paint, the Cavaliers also attempt 14.5 three pointers per game. That could become problematic for the Eagles.
3. Take The Crowd Out Early: One common factor with all of UVA's ACC losses were that they were all on the road. If BC has a good start, they could take the energy out of the crowd early and not let the crowd become a factor.