Under pressure in the paint, Chad Venning looked to the point to kick the ball out. Kicking it out could have led to a good look at a three, or maybe given Boston College men’s basketball a chance to reset its offense.
Neither of those things happened, as Venning’s errant pass flew untouched into the backcourt and BC was called for an over-and-back, giving Stanford possession.
“We needed to be better, right?” BC head coach Earl Grant said. “We needed to be better as a team, early. Thought we turned the ball over, made mistakes.”
Venning had collected four turnovers by halftime and the Eagles headed into their locker room trailing 37–19, with Dion Brown leading all BC scorers with just five points.
“We had 12 turnovers in the first half, five early, and only had two in the second half,” Grant said. “So that’s it. Take good shots and take care of the ball.”
Things looked bleak on both ends of the ball for BC—a fact that remained true for the entire second half, too.
Roger McFarlane scored 11 points in the second half, but BC’s offense was altogether too weak to cut into Stanford’s large lead as the Cardinal (18–10, 10–7 Atlantic Coast) ran away with the game, ultimately beating the Eagles (12–16, 4–13) 78–60 in Maples Pavilion on Wednesday night.
Last week, the Eagles won back-to-back conference games for the first time this season with victories over Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech, both of which came from dominant defensive performances.
That lockdown defense was nowhere to be found on Wednesday, though.
It didn’t help that BC leading scorer and reigning ACC Player of the Week Donald Hand Jr. struggled extensively, sinking just one of his first six attempts through 22 minutes. He ended the game with six points on 2-for-10 shooting.
Venning didn’t make a bucket until about four minutes into the second half. He eventually turned it on offensively, tallying 13 points.
“He was just a lot more energetic in the second half,” Grant said. “Played a lot harder, he was able to score, we got the ball to him more in positions where he could have a chance to score.”
But the player battling against Venning in the paint—and frequently taking his game out to the 3-point line—was the best player on the court.
Maxime Raynaud was hot from the start.
“Reminds me a lot of Quinten Post, who we had last year, who starts for the Warriors,” Grant said. “When you’re seven-foot, and can shoot it and pass it at that ability, you just change the trajectory of the game.”
Raynaud, who leads the ACC in scoring this season, sank eight of his first 11 attempts, which included going four of six from behind the arc. He led all scorers with 23 points on the night, picking up a double-double on 10 rebounds to add to his performance.
Oziyah Stallers dumped in 18 points of his own for Stanford. With about 10 minutes left, he missed a three, got a pass off a Stanford offensive rebound, and put up another jumper. He sank that, stretching the Cardinal’s lead to 22.
BC managed to cut the lead to 14 near the end of the game, as it trailed 74–60 with three minutes left.
“It was really simple,” Grant said. “Taking care of the basketball and getting good shots, allowed our defense to get set, and that’s it.”
But those efforts came too late as Stanford closed out the win.
BC is now tied with NC State for the second-worst conference record in the ACC.
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