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BROOKLYN, N.Y.– For much of the first half, while the margin might have been a little larger than BC coach Jim Christian would have liked it to be, the Boston College Eagles looked to be, at the very least, competitive with the No. 10 seeded Wake Forest Demon Deacons.
Then every Boston College fan’s worst nightmare came to life.
It started with an innocent play where Ky Bowman tried to make a block. It ended up with Bowman on the ground, in pain.
He left the court holding onto AJ Turner for support. He did not return.
From there, the writing was on the wall for the Eagles, as, without their second leading scorer, the Eagles couldn’t keep pace with the Deacs, and the Eagles’ season ended in the opening round of the ACC Tournament.
“Obviously, when Ky went down, that really hurt us,” Christian said. “He's such a great player, it hurt us from that standpoint because he's such a great player. Also from a minutes standpoint, we're not very deep on the perimeter. We really had no subs at that point to guard. They kind of wore us out as the game went on.”
From there, the Eagles struggled to make up for his scoring. Jerome Robinson, the Eagles’ leading scorer, had to shift out of position to compensate. The sophomore played 37 minutes in the game.
“It was a tough role for him,” Christian said. “He was dying out there. He plays a lot of minutes anyway. They picked him up full, tried to wear him out. It was hard for him. There's no other point guard for us. He got worn out.”
From there, the Eagles did, eventually end up drawing even with the Deacons in the second half, but were unable to keep up with Wake Forest, and the Eagles lost, ending the season.
“If you were in our locker room now, they're broken up because they wanted to keep playing,” Christian said. “I'm proud of them.”
Notes:
No Diagnosis on Bowman: Jim Christian said following the game that there was no update on Bowman’s condition.
“The doctors are here,” Christian said. “They came on the trip with us. It's a knee injury. To what extent, nobody knows. We have to go back and get it MRIed.”
Bowman reappeared on the bench with a full leg brace, but Christian noted that it’s “precautionary.”
Christian Optimistic for Future: Despite a difficult season, Christian is hopeful that the current group of players the Eagles have can help right the ship for a Boston College program that has struggled over the past couple of years.
“We have a good foundation,” he said. “We have some good, young players who are talented. They have to get hungry, better, keep adding pieces. That's the bottom line. This is a process. It's one step at a time.”
Christian echoed thoughts on the rebuilding process, in that it takes time and patience.
“There are no miracles out here,” Christian said. “You have to stay with your process, believe in what you're doing. I do. Our kids grew and got better as the year went on, individually and collectively.”