BOSTON COLLEGE MEN’S BASKETBALL FINAL SCORE: Eagles Get Bullied by John Collins, Lose Another Close One, 85-80 to Wake Forest

CHESTNUT HILL, MA. – THE Boston College Men’s basketball team lost 85-80 to the Wake Forest Demon Deacons on Tuesday night in Conte Forum. The loss was their 6^th straight and the Eagles now fall to 9-14 (2-8 ACC).

The Wake Forest gameplan was clear right from the beginning: feed the ball to star forward John Collins and let him work down low. Collins was the star of the game, finishing with 26 points on 9-14 shooting (as well as 8-10 from the charity stripe) and 16 boards. Mo Jeffers fouling out late in the game hurt Boston College, as he was the only guy who had even a little success stopping Collins at times.

Boston College’s gameplan? Continue to ride the hot hand of Jordan Chatman, as he got his first start of the season (over AJ Turner), then see what Ky Bowman and Jerome Robinson can do to help out. Chatman had a team-high 22 points, which he did on 4-6 3-point shooting and 6-10 overall. Bowman had 18 and Robinson had 17. Jerome continued to struggle from behind the arc, going 1-7.

Much like the previous game against Virginia Tech, the 3-headed monster of Chatman, Bowman, and Robinson was certainly exciting to watch but just wasn’t enough to come out on top.

After the game, the legendary Danny Manning said this about Jordan Chatman: “He’s shooting the ball at a very high clip.” You can say that again, Coach Manning.

At the beginning of the game, both teams started slow as they tried to establish their offensive gameplans. Wake led 36-33 at the half. In the second half, the scoring picked up considerably, but Wake Forest still came out on the right side, outscoring BC 49-47 after the intermission.

Boston College actually led 64-62 with 7 minutes left, but it was all John Collins after that.

The story of the game has to be the lack of an inside presence for Boston College. Jeffers, Tava, and Popovic shined at moments, but only combined for 20 points total and also got manhandled by Collins on the other end of the court. If they can improve their play, especially Jeffers and Tava on the offensive end, BC can certainly come out on top of these close games.

Until the big men step up, though, the guards will have to continue to carry Boston College just to keep them in games.

In its last 4 games, the Boston College Men’s Basketball team has lost by a combined 20 points to North Carolina, Miami, Virginia Tech, and Wake Forest. But despite keeping it close during this ACC losing streak, BC always seems to be playing catch-up and just hasn’t been able to come out on top.

6 straight losses isn’t fun to watch, but BC certainly has some positives to look at in Chatman’s hot shooting and Bowman impressive athleticism. We’ll see if those positives outweigh the negatives as BC looks to turn around this snide in the ACC.

The Eagles have a few days to prepare for #6 Louisville, who come to Conte Forum for a 3:00 game on Saturday afternoon.