Men’s Basketball Preview: Boston College @ Richmond

It has been a brutal, terrible, no good couple of games for Boston College. After a bright start to the season, the Eagles have dropped two in a row that they had a good shot in. Last week’s loss to SLU in particular will sting for a while, as the Eagles were in that one until they gave up a 21-0 run. Now the Eagles hope to right the ship against a Richmond team that was cruising up until a clash with #18 Auburn.

Where

Robins Center

Richmond, VA

When

November 30^th, 2019

2:30 EST

How to Watch

You can catch this game on NBC Sports Network (NBCSN). Check your cable provider and or go to their website.

How to Listen

WEEI 850 AM

Previewing the Spiders

Richmond is team full of scorers, with four players averaging double digits. Part of that is pace, as the spiders like to play fast. But as a team they also have an 57.6% EFG (14^th in the country) and are lethal from three (40.7% as a team). They don’t even have that impressive a rebounding resume because the ball usually goes on.

It all starts with G Jacob Gilyard. The 5’9” junior leads the team in minutes (35) and assists (5.7) per game. He’s got options inside and outside of the paint; he can feed F Grant Golden inside or Nick Sherod outside. Sherod’s lethal from deep, connecting on 51% of his treys on 7.8 attempts per game. For an Eagles team that has struggled with shooters in the past (this year included), that could be a major factor.

Make no mistake though; Gilyard’s an incredibly effective scorer in addition to being a facilitator. He puts of 16.7 a game on 58% shooting (that’s what I shoot on layups personally), and a meager 51% from deep. He’s struggled a bit against top tier teams (he had 5 and 12 points against Wisconsin and Auburn in the last two weeks), but he’s still been effective.

Player to Watch Out For

To me it’s Gilyard. BC has struggled with two things this year defensively: keeping up with quick guards when on the ball and defending the three. Gilyard does both of those extremely well, and if he gets going early I don’t think BC can stop him.

How Does BC Win?

A game plan that focuses on shutting down shooters and dominance on the boards. This team is going to shoot well, and BC can’t make it easy for them. Run them off the line and into Nik Popovic who’s lurking in the paint, who’s larger than anything Richmond can match. Paint dominance is especially importance with Golden’s health in question (his ankle was reinjured in the game against Auburn, so him not playing would be huge) and the rebounding failures the last few weeks.

Also, don’t get sucked into playing Richmond’s game. They’ll want to play fast and make it a shootout. Slow it down, run JC’s offense, and keep the scoring runs low.

Making shots would also be good. The Eagles are shooting just 37% in their last three games; they will go winless if they keep that up.

Predictions

Toppin: Richmond 82 BC 75

Grant: 45-13 BC