Preview: Boston College Men’s Basketball vs Stonehill

On Tuesday night, Boston College men’s basketball hosts Stonehill for the Eagles’ 2022-23 out-of-conference finale.

When: 7pm ET on Tuesday December 13th

Where: Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, MA

How to Watch: The game will stream live on ACCNX

Boston College enters the game on a 4-game losing streak and directly off of a blowout loss to Villanova in the Never Forget Classic in Newark, NJ. The Eagles are still missing some key players like Quinten Post and Makai-Ashton Langford, who could return soon but have indefinite timetables. Langford is day-to-day while Post is expected to miss a few more weeks. Nonetheless, injuries don’t totally explain the rough start for BC. They’ve dropped games against Maine and UNH, something that shouldn’t happen even with multiple starters out.

These struggles can largely be attributed to their offense. The team has some of the worst metrics in the P6 conferences, and even in all of college basketball, when it comes to offensive efficiency. There’s no one on the team who has been hitting three-pointers at a decent clip outside of CJ Penha, who is only making about one per game anyway. Jaeden Zackery is playing over 35 minutes per game and only shoots 37% from the floor. And off-ball movement is almost nowhere to be found, as they don’t even achieve 10 assists per game as a team. There needs to be a strategic overhaul on offense if BC wants to be competitive in conference play.

Some good news is that Prince Aligbe has returned from injury and looked to be playing well in the time he’s seen. He logged 8 points against Villanova and 10 against UNH in just under 20 minutes in each contest. Nothing jaw-dropping, but his development will be something to watch for the remainder of the season.

Stonehill is in their very first season of Division 1 basketball. This is the ultimate low bar to clear for BC. They’ve struggled against some lowly teams already this season, but dropping a game to Stonehill would be on a completely different level. The Skyhawks are 4-7 so far their first season, with wins coming against Army, Holy Cross, Eastern Nazarene (DIII), and Binghamton.