Earl Grant called a timeout with about ten minutes remaining in Boston College men’s basketball’s matchup against Louisville.
But what do you say when your team is down 15? How about when that 15-point deficit is the largest of the game, and time is running out to figure out what you can do to stop the bleeding?
“We were overwhelmed in the middle of the second half,” BC head coach Earl Grant said. ”We had a great game plan, we were playing good basketball, we were executing, things were going well. And they threw a punch that we couldn’t recover from.”
BC never did recover.
A disastrous second half during which the Eagles (10–12, 2–9 Atlantic Coast) were outscored 43–27 allowed the Cardinals (17–6, 10–2) to beat BC 84–58 in Conte Forum on Wednesday night.
Going into halftime, Boston College men’s basketball was trailing by 41–31, but it was hard to see exactly how or why. The teams were almost exactly even in most categories.
Louisville sank 50 percent of its first-half 3-point attempts, and the Eagles didn’t shoot a certain free throw. Alone, those stats might have told a story.
But the Eagles only made two fewer 3-pointers, and Louisville only made two more free throws.
Grant stressed the Eagles’ turnovers. Louisville had more—eight compared to BC’s seven.
But by the end of the game, the Cardinals had converted BC’s mishaps into 16 points, and the Eagles had only picked up five points off of Louisville.
“We had some turnovers that were unforced,” Grant said. “You know, stepped out of bounds a couple of times, just kind of some uncharacteristic turnovers that hurt you. Anytime you turn it over, you don’t get a shot at the basket. So other than that, we were even.”
But in the game as a whole, Grant said the difference was simple.
“We just ran out of gas,” he said.
The Eagles got some open looks, but none of them were falling. And when the Cardinals got the rebound, they were fast getting out in transition and taking it to BC on the other end.
“They got a few layups in transition, and it went right back to 12,” Grant said. “That’s the story of the game. I mean, I thought we allowed maybe one big run that took the game from maybe, from a three-possession game to 18 points. And it was hard to overcome that.”
J’Vonne Hadley, who came into the game averaging about 12 points per game, got to the basket at will. Once in the paint, he was elbowing, spinning, and faking shots until he got the look he wanted.
It almost always worked out in his favor, as he dropped in an efficient 22 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the floor and 2-of-2 shooting from three.
“We had a two-minute spell where, again, whether it was fatigue or lack of maturity, whatever you want to call it, we took two or three shots, and we allowed Hadley to get out and run,” Grant said.
Elijah Strong, who was out for four weeks with an injury, did little to help the Eagles’ offense. He was two of six from the field and scored just six points.
“Elijah Strong hadn’t played in four weeks,” Grant said. “He was gassed. Hadn’t been in the game, so I appreciate his efforts.”
It also didn’t help BC that starting center Chad Venning was out with a foot injury, leaving redshirt freshman Jayden Hastings to pick up the slack. Hastings did well, picking up two blocks, a steal, nine rebounds, and eight points.
But the Eagles’ offense wasn’t enough at the end of the day. Donald Hand Jr., who led the team with 19 points, was also the only Eagle that put up double-digits.
“Our guys fought hard, played great basketball, showed good character,” Grant said. “But again, got to a point in the game where we ran out of gas, you know, and they kind of pulled away from us.”
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