Boston College Men’s Basketball Preview: BC takes on High Point

Yeah, don’t look now but your own Boston College Eagles (2-0) are ranked #6 in the country according to RPI heading into a matchup with the High Point Panthers (0-2). Derryck Thornton and co have just smothered the last two teams they played, holding opponents to 43.5% EFG, averaging 9.0 steals and 19.0 forced turnovers per game. With any luck and normalcy, I’d expect BC to cruise in this one and then drop in RPI because HPU is honestly just that bad at basketball.

Previewing High Point

They’ve been beaten handily so far by basketball powerhouses Wofford and William & Mary and haven’t been great doing so far. They’ve given up big games to opposing guards (two career highs in points were set last week against them thanks to potent three point shooting) and haven’t been able to match the scoring output after losing Jahaad Procter to a grad transfer.

Player(s) to Watch Out For

John-Michael Wright, a freshman out of Fayetville, has put up two double digit nights to start his career and is shooting better from deep than he is from the field. He gets a lot of usage and those types of guys have had historically good games against BC under Jim Christian (although that looks to be changing this year in an extremely limited sample size).

How Does BC Win?

They smother High Point and never let them sniff an upset. The games BC has lost against “buy games” are ones where they let the opposition stick around at halftime and then claw out a victory. If BC doesn’t let the opposing guards build any offense ad they’re looking at less than 30 points at halftime, then I think the Eagles win without their fans sweating too much. If it’s close and BC can’t put it away via pure athleticism (which seems more likely since Jairus Hamilton status remains a mystery), the little momentum the program has built could slide away.

Predictions

Toppin: BC 74- HPU 54

Peter: BC 79 - HPU 61

Arthur: BC 80 - HPU 60

Will: BC 76 - HPU 48