Men’s Basketball Recap: Boston College vs Georgia Tech

A frustrating loss for BC. After such a big win Tuesday, there was always the concern that there would be a let down but tonight’s loss to Georgia Tech cannot be chalked up to lack of focus or effort. Coach Christian summed it up pretty effectively in his post-game press conference. “We got the ball in the spots we needed to get it and we couldn’t make a shot.” BC were 29.8% from the field and 16.7% from 3-point land. The Eagles only held the lead once and it was just a one point lead and it lasted just 13 seconds at the 11:16 mark in the first period. When asked about the Eagles shooting Coach Christian added, “Tough wouldn’t be the word I would use, I would say we shot poorly.”

As Coach Christian alluded to the BC performance was not due to bad shot selection. BC was consistently able to penetrate insides and get good looks from medium range or from in the paint itself. The Eagles only took 18 three point shots and most of them were not bad looks. Good look, bad look, it just didn’t seem to make a difference. Meanwhile, Georgia Tech was hitting 50.0% of their shots in the first half and 50.9% for the game itself.

Despite the poor shooting BC held Georgia Tech in check for most of the first half never letting the lead get to double digits and at one point cutting the lead down to three. Both teams were fairly even in terms of rebounds (GT with 40 BC with 34) and turnovers (GT had 15 and BC had 12). However, as the game wore on the Eagles offensive struggles seemed to wear the team down. From their first score of the second half the Yellow Jackets’ lead just kept growing and growing, at one point leading by as much as 21 points. “It was one of the few times in the last six games that disappointment on offense led to bad defense,” commented Coach Christian, “I thought our defensive effort in the first half was really good. Second half when shots didn’t go in, it affected us.”

Steffon Mitchell and CJ Felder were the Eagles’ top performers. Mitchell had a double-double with 11 rebounds and 10 points, while CJ Felder had 13 points and his two consecutive baskets with 4:25 left in the half brought BC to within 3; the closest BC would get for the rest of the game. Felder and Mitchell were the only players with double digits while the Yellow Jackets had three. Georgia Tech’s big performer was Moses Wright who notched a double-double of his own scoring 18 points and grabbing 10 rebounds.

It is hard to sum up this game because in so many ways BC did not play that poorly...they just struggled with the most important part of the game. What made things worse was that the team’s poor shooting affected everything else. The shooting frustration wore the team down. The game was very reminiscent of some of BC’s losses earlier this season. The Northwestern game in particular comes to mind.

BC will now have to get set for a two game road trip that starts with a visit to Syracuse Wednesday night. With the loss tonight BC falls back into a three way tie for third in the ACC. It’s hard to imagine that BC will have many more games this season when they shoot this poorly. Going forward what will be important is that if they do, they do not let poor shooting shake their confidence.