Boston College men’s basketball may have suffered a disappointing loss to Syracuse on Saturday afternoon in Conte Forum, but head coach Earl Grant did not appear to be too worried over it.
“If I was a fan, I probably really enjoyed the game,” Grant said. “I kind of enjoyed coaching it, but I probably would enjoy it more as a fan. It was entertaining.”
Despite owning a 54–46 second half lead with less than nine minutes remaining, the Eagles coughed up that eight point lead in just minutes.
Syracuse (8–8, 2–3 Atlantic Coast) sprinted to a 13–2 run, spearheaded by JJ Starling’s 26 total points, and BC (9–7, 1–4) walked away with a 79–71 loss in its home arena that had been overtaken by its annual Orange fans.
Grant acknowledged BC needs to improve.
“It just got tight in one moment in our margin,” Grant said. “We have to take care of the ball. We have to execute. We have to defend and rebound. That’s where we are, so we gotta embrace that and understand.”
BC displayed a unique lineup during Syracuse’s extended second-half run, using a twin-towers combination of centers Chad Venning and Jayden Hastings, along with struggling guard Chas Kelley. Venning and Hastings have hardly seen the court at the same time at all this season, with Hastings typically subbing in to replace Venning. And Kelley is averaging 4.3 points per game on 36 percent shooting.
Kyle Cuffe Jr. took advantage of the Eagles’ helplessness defensively, as the backup guard notched seven points in about four minutes that put Syracuse ahead 59–46 with 4:51 remaining.
“I don’t know exactly what it was,” Grant said regarding BC’s struggles defensively down the stretch. I don’t know if it was fatigue. I don’t know what it was.”
Donald Hand Jr., BC’s leading scorer this season, was subbed out in the midst of Syracuse’s 13–2 run. He was put back into the game at the 3:33 mark with BC down four points, but it was too late for him to make a difference.
“We actually never really used that lineup we got in the game,” Hand, who finished with a team-high 20 points, said. “So it was a hard adjustment, which resulted in this loss.”
Kelley, who was running the Eagles’ offense when Syracuse took control of the game amidst “Let’s Go Orange” chants, finished with three points on 1-of-4 shooting and two turnovers.
“He’s a veteran,” Grant said. “Typically, you try to play veterans to the best of your ability…The reality of it is, you know, we got a lot of guys fighting for the same amount of minutes.”
Grant says he changes his rotations based on what he sees in practice, not on a game-by-game basis.
“You guys see the games,” Grant said. “I see who’s winning practice. I see who comes early to practice. I see who stays late. So I see everything.”
Joshua Beadle added 17 points for the Eagles, and Venning was very active down low, notching 17 points of his own. BC’s offense even got into a nice rhythm by the time halftime rolled around, with the teams tied at 3 as Beadle’s corner 3-pointer beat the halftime buzzer to tie up the halftime score.
Despite the collapse, Hand remains confident in Grant and the rest of the coaching staff moving forward.
“I feel like the coaching staff is doing a great job,” Hand said. They can’t play the game for us. So once we get on the court, we have to execute. They tell us the right stuff. We practice right every day. Just comes down to us.”
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