Every team builds habits—maybe because it’s sometimes easier to fall into a routine than to constantly reevaluate.
Some habits, like hustling for loose balls, make teams better.
But unfortunately, for Boston College men’s basketball, the habits it has built this season have left the Eagles with a real chance of missing the ACC Tournament as a bottom-three team in the conference.
Through wins and losses, the Eagles have made a routine out of inconsistency. Their habit of falling behind, making surges, and giving up leads has handed them several losses. The most recent came on Saturday, when BC (10–15, 2–12 Atlantic Coast) fell to NC State (10–15, 3–11) 70–62.
The game was not as close as the score suggests.
The Eagles hovered around a 10 to 15-point deficit for the majority of the game. But they were able to match the Wolfpack in the second half, even outscoring their opponents 33–26.
“Look at the final score, and it’s a three-possession game, as bad as we started,” BC head coach Earl Grant said. “So there was some frustration.”
But BC’s first-half struggles put it in such a deep hole that even a solid second half couldn’t save it. Bad in the first half, good in the second. Inconsistency.
“We played a great second half,” Grant said. “They scored 25 points. We only had two turnovers. But we need to do that for two halves.”
The Eagles fell behind early. It took them 3:16 to score their first bucket of the game, which came from a pull-up jumper from BC’s leading scorer Donald Hand Jr.
While BC stayed stagnant offensively, the Wolfpack surged ahead, taking advantage of 14 first-half turnovers from the Eagles. NC State scored 15 points off BC turnovers and gathered 12 steals.
“In the first four minutes, think they went on an 8–2 run, maybe a 10–2 run,” Grant said. “They didn’t earn the baskets, you know, it was all off turnovers. So we dug ourselves a hole in the first part of the game, was hard to recover, you know. You got to take care of the ball, and we didn’t do it early.”
Joshua Beadle committed four of those turnovers quickly in the first half. He was sent to the bench about four minutes into the game and never checked back in.
Chas Kelley III went in for Beadle and finished the game with 10 points in 29 minutes. Although he was efficient, Kelley only put up six shots. The rest of BC’s offense looked hesitant to shoot, too. NC State’s smothering defense didn’t help, as the looks BC got were highly contested and often turned into bad passes or forced takes.
Only Chad Venning and Hand shot more than six shots. They led the team with 22 and 14 points, respectively. Hand was also the only Eagle to make multiple 3-pointers.
The Eagles headed into halftime down 44–29 but were much more composed in the second half. Regardless, they failed to execute on both sides of the floor in crucial moments.
With about 10 minutes left, Jayden Hastings flew through the air and slammed the ball into the backboard with an athletic block. He ended the game with three blocks but only took one shot from the field, which he missed.
“He was athletic for us, blocked a lot of shots, rebounded the ball,” Grant said. “As he continues to grow and develop, he’ll be able to play good offense and defense. For right now, he just gave us great defensive energy.”
Any momentum Hastings’ defense had generated for the Eagles was quickly erased when, moments later, the Wolfpack took off in transition. Trey Parker put up a lob, and Dennis Parker Jr. threw down the alley-oop to put NC State up 62–47.
A three from Hand put BC down single digits, as he cut the lead to 67–58 with three minutes left to play.
But NC State ultimately pulled away, relying on the comfortable cushion it had built in the first half to break the Wolfpack’s nine-game losing streak.
The Eagles, meanwhile, stretched their losing streak to four games with the conference loss.
“Adversity does suck,” Grant said. “But it does develop something great in you if you don’t allow it to break you down.”
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