Going into the 2024–25 season, not a lot of people would’ve put money on Boston College men’s basketball winning many games, let alone starting the season 6–1 with a championship title under its belt.
Winning the Cayman Islands Classic in dramatic fashion on Tuesday night didn’t prove that the Eagles are going to suddenly rise to the top of the ACC, or even that this team’s roster is strong enough to compete against a lot of conference teams.
But it proved some other things.
If nothing else, the Eagles’ defense and shotmaking in the clutch proved that this team has grit. BC fought out of a 9-point hole in the championship game even after looking completely lifeless, then hit a game-winning three with two seconds to go.
The championship was also the first step in proving to others—and more importantly, themselves—that the Eagles don’t have to be the team that sits at the bottom of the ACC, where they were ranked in most preseason polls.
They don’t have to be the team that blows leads—like they nearly did on Monday. And they don’t have to be the team that gives up.
They can fight. And if they keep fighting, they might keep winning.
Here are two observations from BC’s tournament win.
Clutch in the Cayman Islands
In the semifinal and championship games, BC wasn’t great offensively—except for when the game was on the line.
In the final 1:12 of regulation and through overtime, BC made four straight 3-pointers to down Missouri State in the semifinals.
“In my opinion, that game shouldn’t have been that close,” Elijah Strong said. “But you know, it happened. So, you know, by the grace of God, we got out of there. If we just sit down and stay to our principles, keep our hands off people, it wouldn’t have been that close.”
The Eagles probably shouldn’t have needed to be so clutch against Missouri State—BC led by 11 points with 11:41 remaining in the game. And it’s not exactly promising that BC committed nine fouls in the final 12:02 of regulation after seemingly having the game under control. That could point to a lack of discipline.
But for a team that faced a lot of criticism talent-wise after losing its entire starting lineup over the offseason, it’s hard to say Monday night’s outcome, regardless of how the Eagles got there, wasn’t pretty promising in itself.
This roster was able to pull off two wins simply through clutch play stemming from pure confidence at the end of games.
Strong, who is averaging 10.7 points this season, went off for eight points in overtime against Missouri State. He didn’t hesitate when Chas Kelley III sent him the ball on the left wing. He rose up and hit the game-winner.
The next night, Joshua Beadle did the same thing. With the championship on the line and the Eagles shooting 1 of 11 from three, Beadle sank a stepback corner three. It doesn’t get more clutch than that.
Clutch heroics are what saved the Eagles, even when they struggled to find rhythm on offense and suffered defensive lapses.
At the same time, hitting not one, not two, but three game-saving 3-pointers in one tournament takes a certain type of mindset—something BC proved it might just have.
“Coach, he just wrote down on the board, ‘Gritty not pretty,’” Strong said. “The game was not pretty. It wasn’t. We had to fight every second. We had to fight in every minute of that game.”
Lending a Hand
Donald Hand Jr. swung the ball over to Chad Venning, who dropped it to Fred Payne in the corner. Venning screened away, Hand popped over his man, Payne sent Hand the ball, and he sank a three from behind the arc with four seconds left in regulation.
It was a simple play call, executed well. It almost looked easy. But the reality is, no shot in that high-pressure of a moment is easy.
Against Missouri State, when his team needed it most, Hand went off, scoring 18 points on nearly 50 percent shooting. More importantly, his 3-pointer at the end of the game is what sent the game into overtime and gave the Eagles the chance to win.
Hand leads the Eagles in scoring so far this season. He’s averaging 15.3 points per game, putting him 14th in the ACC. Oddly enough, that wasn’t reason enough for him to shoot more than eight shots in the championship game.
Despite putting up just six points in the Eagles’ win over Boise State, Hand was named the tournament MVP because of the way he played in the Eagles’ first two games of the tournament.
Without the threat of Hand’s aggressive play in the paint and overall production, the Eagles probably don’t capture the Cayman Islands Championship—their first championship under fourth-year BC head coach Earl Grant.
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