BC Crushes Pitt for First ACC Tournament Victory in Four Years
Andy Backstrom (@andybackstrom)
Publisher
Before the season started, first-year Boston College men’s basketball head coach Earl Grant acknowledged that there would be ups and downs this—and perhaps more of the latter. What he cared about most, however, was that his team would be playing its best basketball in March.
In Brooklyn.
The Eagles, who have bought into Grant’s system plus endured two five-game losing streaks and a 19-day COVID-19 pause, delivered. Five BC players logged nine or more points during Tuesday afternoon’s first-round ACC Tournament game against Pittsburgh. The Eagles shot 53.5% from the floor, including 7-of-15 from deep, and they limited Panthers star forward John Hugley to 15 points en route to a 66-46 win—BC’s first conference tourney victory since the 2017-18 season when it made a run to the quarterfinals.
“The good Lord gave us a lot of strength today to come out and compete at a high level after a long year—to come out with great energy,” Grant said. “And I saw that energy yesterday in our workout. Guys had good spirits.”
The 13th-seeded Eagles (12-19, 6-14 ACC) got out to a 9-4 lead, in large part thanks to Makai Ashton-Langford, who came in averaging 22 points in his two previous games against 12th-seeded Pitt (11-21, 6-14) this season. Ashton-Langford pitched in a quick five points, including a silk-smooth 3-pointer. He and his younger brother, DeMarr Langford Jr., accounted for 12 of BC’s first 16 points.
The Panthers, meanwhile, tried to work the ball inside to Hugley. To the surprise of no one. After all, Hugley was used on 30.3% of Pitt’s possessions in 2021-22—the 49th-highest clip among all Division I players this season, according to KenPom. He also put together a monster 32-and-13 double-double against BC while forcing the Eagles’ frontcourt into extreme foul trouble back in early January.
“We knew he was the motor to their team,” Langford said. “And we knew that the bigs were gonna need help with him from the first game. Our game plan was just to kind of double him in the post and make somebody else make a play.”
Initially, though, Hugley navigated the trap beautifully. In fact, on back-to-back possessions, Hugley passed out of a double team, setting up Jamarius Burton for a pair of buckets. Then Hugley drilled a jumper over 7-foot center Quinten Post.
Pitt started 7-of-10 from the field. The problem was, Jeff Capel’s team, which ranks 250th and 308th in adjusted offensive tempo and effective field goal percentage, couldn’t sustain that success. The Panthers missed seven of their next eight shots. Luckily for them, BC experienced a two-plus minute scoring drought of its own before Burton and Brevin Galloway swapped 3-pointers to make it 21-18, BC.
The turning point came in the final 4:52 of the first half. That’s when the Eagles kicked off a 12-0 run that allowed them to carry a 33-22 lead into intermission. Everything changed when Hugley picked up his second foul. Without the 6-foot-9, 240-pound forward on the floor, the Eagles’ frontcourt took over. James Karnik piled up seven of his team-high 13 points, slipping past the Panthers’ zone for easy buckets inside and even banking in a 3-pointer. And TJ Bickerstaff added a pair of free throws.
Pitt ended up going over nine minutes without a field goal, stretching well into the second half. Naturally, Hugley was the one to end the pitiful Panthers drought with 13:48 remaining. By that point, though, Pitt was down, 46-27.
BC opened the final frame with a 13-2 run that was fueled by Post. The Netherlands native stacked 10 points, including two 3-pointers. He also was involved in a scuffle with Pitt guard Femi Odukale at the beginning of the period. After jousting for a rebound, Post and Odukale got tangled up. While Post was off-balance, Odukale yanked on the center’s foot, causing him to hit the deck. Then Post appeared to inadvertently trip Odukale, and Odukale stepped over Post.
Odukale, the Panthers’ second-leading scorer, was assessed a flagrant one for the yank and a technical for the stepover, resulting in four BC free throws and another Eagles possession.
“I think that also kind of rattled their spirits,” Post said. “ I think we, as a team, did a really good job of just staying together and staying the course.”
BC maintained a sizable advantage from that point forward, twice building a 24-point lead: first when Langford knocked down a jumper to put the Eagles up, 57-33, and then when Zackery made two free throws with 3:23 left to bump the score to 66-42.
Galloway registered six of his nine points down the stretch with both an old-fashioned 3-point play and a field goal from beyond the arc.
It was a balanced scoring attack from the Eagles, especially when juxtaposed with Pitt’s Hugley-centric offense that didn’t have nearly enough firepower to make up for lost ground.
The Eagles, who will now play fifth-seeded Wake Forest Wednesday at 2:30 p.m., controlled their opening-round game in the Barclays Center.
“It really was an accumulation of what we worked on all year,” Grant said.
“It just showed up today.”
