Takeaways from BC's Regular Season Finale Defeat at Georgia Tech
Andy Backstrom (@andybackstrom)Publisher
Boston College men's basketball had three chances to win its regular season finale at Georgia Tech Saturday afternoon. And another to force double overtime.
All four shots were off the mark, and the Eagles dropped their third consecutive game.
It was a tough pill to swallow for a BC team that erased a 15-point, second-half deficit on the road during another program's Senior Day.
The Eagles never gave in, but, as has often been the case this year, close was all they got away from Conte Forum.
Once again, first-half turnovers dug BC a hole
BC took care of the ball pretty well most of this season. The Eagles rank ninth in the ACC in giveaways (11.7 per game) and 118th nationally in turnover percentage (17.6%), according to KenPom. Ball handling is one of head coach Earl Grant's three tenets (the others are defense and rebounding). But, of late, turnovers have been a problem for BC. Over the last six games, it has committed 13.3 per game. Turnovers were an issue in Atlanta Saturday, particularly in the first half, which has been a recent trend.First-half turnover count in last four games
-March 5 at GT: 8
-March 2 vs. Miami: 8
-Feb. 26 vs. Clemson: 4
-Feb. 24 at N.C. State: 10
In that span, the Clemson game is the outlier. Luckily for the Eagles, they turned the Wolfpack over nine times in the opening half of that outing, so BC's carelessness with the ball didn't come back to bite. But it did against Miami and GT. Those opponents combined for 27 points off turnovers in the first half.
The Yellow Jackets logged 10 points off turnovers in the initial 20 minutes of action Saturday, and that was the difference at intermission.
BC went with a two-center look again, and Bickerstaff finally returned
For the fifth straight game, Grant rolled with both Quinten Post and James Karnik in the starting five. The duo combined for 22 points but just seven rebounds. They teamed up for a pair of buckets in the opening three minute. First, Post dumped off a pass that set up a Karnik hook. Then, from right to left block, Karnik fed Post for two.Per usual, though, when one big man was scoring, the other wasn't. Post scored all six of his points in the first half. Meanwhile, Karnik recorded 14 of his 16 points in the second period.
Grant has been using the two-center lineup, in part because of TJ Bickerstaff's absence. Bickerstaff missed six consecutive contests after suffering a calf injury in the first half of the Duke game. But the Drexel transfer finally made it back to the court Saturday at GT. He played just four minutes yet etched his name in the scorecard with a reverse layup in transition.
Another note: DeMarr Langford Jr., previously dealing with a bum toe, made his return to the starting rotation. And the sophomore guard returned to double figures with a 17-point performance that saw him shoot 7-of-13 from the floor and register eight boards.
The Eagles had no answer for Jordan Usher
The 6-foot-7 senior paced the Yellow Jackets with a career-high-tying 30 points on Senior Day. He shot 12-of-16 from the field and added eight rebounds, five assists and a steal. Usher had his way with Langford for much of the game, whether that was blowing by him for a layup or dunk or using his size advantage to pull up from mid range. He also had a pair of ridiculous wide receiver-like catches on the break that resulted in scoring plays, including an emphatic, one-handed dunk at the start of the second half.GT was stroking it from deep in the first half
Perimeter defense was initially a strength for Grant's squad. That was before conference play really got underway, though. The Eagles are dead last in the ACC and 326th nationally in opponent 3-point percentage (37.1%). What's more, triples account for 32.6% of BC's opponents' points. To put that in perspective, 3-pointers are responsible for just 25.8% of the Eagles' scoring, per KenPom.Three days removed from Miami's 10-of-21 clinic from deep, GT shot 9-of-21 from distance against BC. The Yellow Jackets were on fire in the first half. In fact, they made 6-of-13 attempts from beyond the arc. Midway through the opening frame, four straight GT 3-pointers—only one of which was answered by the Eagles—broke a 16-16 tie and gave the Yellow Jackets a 28-19 advantage.
Miles Kelly, a freshman who has now has netted a 3-pointer in five straight games, had a pair of triples from the top of the arc in the first half.
Jaeden Zackery continues to shine
The first year of the Grant era has offered a handful of encouraging signs of what could be on the horizon for BC. Zackery is a big one. The JUCO transfer has steadily improved this season and went from being a player Grant originally expected to be a 10-minute backup this year to emerging as the Eagles' best shooter. Not only that, but he's turned into one of the better floor generals in the ACC.
Zackery posted a 2.75 assist-to-turnover ratio over the final nine games of the regular season. Keep in mind, Duke guard Trevor Keels was third in the league this year with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.5.
He's also racked up 53 steals, the fourth most by a BC freshman all-time and the ninth most among all DI freshman this season.
Zackery led the Eagles with 19 points on 6-of-9 shooting Saturday. He hit a trio of 3-pointers, including a go-ahead triple in overtime.
BC had chances to steal a third road win but couldn't do it
BC used a 12-0 run to make up lost ground in the second half. It was a scoring surge that started with the tail end of Karnik's eight straight points and ended with Makai Ashton-Langford drilling a 3-pointer from the GT logo. It was a different game from that point forward, as the teams traded buckets the remainder of regulation.But the Yellow Jackets didn't log a field goal for the final 3:45 of the second half. That gave BC an opportunity to knot things up and even win the game.
With the shot clock winding down and under 30 ticks to go, Ashton-Langford spun past GT guard Kyle Sturdivant and hoisted up an erratic floater. His younger brother was there for the putback attempt. But that, too, misfired.
The scrappy Ashton-Langford came up with the offensive rebound, however, resetting the shot clock. That allowed BC to take the final shot of regulation. Zackery tried to attack the hole, but the budding star was suffocated by the Yellow Jackets' interior and lost the rock before he could get a shot up.
Aided by GT's poor free throw shooting in overtime (4-of-8), the Eagles had one last chance to keep their hopes alive. BC, down 81-78, needed a 3-pointer to force a second overtime. Ashton-Langford launched a decent look from the top of the arc. But a back iron miss resulted in a GT rebound and, in effect, victory. The Eagles dropped to 1-7 in their last eight overtime games. They've now lost four in a row to GT.
