Boston College Men’s Basketball @ Louisville: Recap

The Eagles travelled to the Blue Grass State to take on the Cardinals of Louisville but the game didn’t get off to a great start...literally. A leak in the roof of the KFC Yum! Center postponed the start of the game by a full hour and eighteen minutes.

BC won the opening tip and despite grabbing 3 straight offensive rebounds in their first possession but they couldn’t sink any of their chances. Louisville took it down and scored the first bucket of the game. The Eagles did not shoot the ball well to start the game, going 2 for their first 11, but their defense limited the Cardinals offense to 2 points in the first 4 minutes. Eagles were aided by early Louisville turnovers as well as a solid advantage in rebounds. Brendan Galloway and James Karnik both picked up 2 fouls and were limited in the first half. Both teams struggled from the free throw line early on in the game, only shooting 33.3% from the free throw line in the first 9:30 minutes. The Eagles did not hit their first three pointer till 5:24 left in the half, instead doing the vast majority of their damage inside the paint. While they struggled to shoot the ball BC did a good job protecting the ball, only committing 3 turnovers in the first half. Jaden Zackery was called for a flagrant foul after an official review which led to a 3 point possession for the Cardinals to give Louisville a 15-11 lead with 9:21 left in the half. Quinten Post ended Louisville’s 7-1 run with a layup which was followed up by a DeMarr Langford Jr. layup, to bring BC to within 2, 15-17, but DeMarr couldn’t convert on his “and one” opportunity. Through the half their were 5 ties and 6 lead changes. Makai Ashton-Langford lead the way for BC with 9 points but Quinten Post was active inside the paint along with TJ Bickerstaff. Post saw a lot of action in the first half as Karnik was held out due to foul trouble. Despite only shooting 30% from the floor, 18.2% from three, and 50% from the free throw line, the Eagles hung in their and kept it close, going into halftime trailing 28 to 30.

DeMarr Langford Jr. got the scoring going in the second half with a tough layup but couldn’t convert on the and-1 opportunity. After that bucket though, BC went on a scoreless streak that lasted over 5 minutes. However, the Cardinals, and in particular, Noah Locke, came out of the half hot and built up an 8 point lead with fifteen and a half to go in the half. The Eagles shooting woes continued but their defense faltered. Makai Ashton-Langford tried to jump start BC by scoring 6 strait points, thanks to a 3 pointer and an “and-one,” cutting the lead to 36-38. But two key BC turnovers lead to Louisville once again extending their lead to 41-37. The Cardinals did not look back after that. BC’s poor free-throw shooting continued making harder to cut into the Cardinals lead. A three point play turned that lead into 7 points as Louisville responded to the BC run with an offensive run of their own. A block from Quinten Post lead to a Ashton-Langford bucket to bring it to within 5 but Louisville hit a three to stretch the lead back out to 8 (BC 39, Louisville 47). Louisville extended their lead up to 9 with 8:25 to go in the half. Louisville’s bench came up big as they nearly doubled the production of the BC bench. A big three by Mason Faulkner extended Louisville’s lead to 60 to 49. Louisville followed up that three with another from El Ellis and that was the preverbal dagger as Louisville took a 63 to 49 lead. The final score saw BC fall 54 to 67.

Makai Ashton-Langford was one of the few consistent aspects of the BC offense as he lead the team with 22 points. While the Eagles defense was able to keep the game close at the beginning of the game they were never able to figure it out at the offensive and their struggles at the fowl line hindered their comeback chances.

BC comes home this Saturday to take on Virginia Tech at 12 pm in Conte Forum.