Boston College 89, Washington 78: That's More Like It

This is more like the Boston College team that people expected to see this season ...

The Eagles used a barrage of threes to down the Washington Huskies, 89-78, in the consolation game of the 2K Sports Classic at Madison Square Garden. Coming off an off-night vs. UConn, Joe Rahon paced the Eagles with 22 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal in the victory.

BC shot a blistering 58.6 percent from the floor in the first half (17-of-29 shooting), including 8-of-15 from beyond the arc (53.3%). The Eagles effectively used dribble-drive penetration to open things up on the perimeter and BC rarely missed from range. The team cooled its hot shooting from three a bit in the second half though -- just 2-of-10 from three -- as Washington switched to a zone to slow the Eagles' barrage from beyond the arc.

It's strange how closely this Washington squad mirrors Donahue's Eagles. The Huskies play small, shoot a lot of threes and don't play a lick of defense. Despite shooting better from three (10-of-16, 62.5%) than from the floor (29-of-58, 50%), Washington could never quite overcome the hole they dug themselves in the first half. Boston College benefitted greatly from getting Huskies forward Perris Blackwell in foul trouble early. When he was on the floor, he was a matchup nightmare for BC. A night after registering a double-double vs. Indiana, Blackwell was limited to just 8 points and 3 rebounds this afternoon.

Hanlan added 20 points and a game-high 6 assists despite having a so-so game from the field (7-of-14 from the field, 2-of-7 on threes). Ryan Anderson (18 points, 7 rebounds) and Lonnie Jackson (10 points, 5 rebounds) also had solid performances in the win. Eddie Odio and Patrick Heckmann didn't get many minutes and didn't really have much of an impact on the game. The lack of playing time for Heckmann, in particular, is a head-scratcher. All that we really know about Heckmann's reduced workload comes from CBSSports.com's Jeff Borzello.

Patrick Heckmann, BC's third-leading scorer, didn't play tonight. Steve Donahue said he wasn't hurt. "I'm just trying another guy."

— Jeff Borzello (@jeffborzello) November 22, 2013

Really not sure what is going on here but Donahue can ill-afford to bench a player like Heckmann, particularly with the NCAA's new hand-check rules wreaking havoc on the PF column of box scores this season. BC just doesn't have the depth at guard to bench Heckmann. Giving Rubin additional minutes isn't the answer and in the limited time we've seen him play, I'm not sure playing Dragicevich over Heckmann is the answer, either.

Speaking of those new hand-check rules, the impact on this game was minimal. Boston College finished with just 11 personal fouls to Washington's 15. I guess that's what happens when you have two teams that like to shoot a lot of three balls, can't rebound and don't play any defense.

Boston College (2-4) is back in action on Tuesday night when they host 0-4 Sacred Heart at Conte Forum. 7 PM tip. Leave your thoughts on the game below.