BC a Step Behind Miami All Night in Home Finale Defeat
Andy Backstrom (@andybackstrom)
Publisher
Isaiah Wong came off a dribble hand-off screen from Sam Waardenburg and hit a crossover move at the top of the arc to create more distance from Boston College men’s basketball guard Brevin Galloway. Wong elevated and, despite falling on his way down to the hardwood, watched his third made 3-pointer swish through the Conte Forum net to give Miami a 38-22 lead.
“He was a lot better than I thought,” BC head coach Earl Grant said postgame. “He was a lot faster than I thought. He was a lot bigger than I thought. … He’s a load, one of the top guards in this league.”
And he leads a similarly underappreciated Hurricanes team that has shattered preseason expectations and is NCAA Tournament bound yet hasn’t spent a single week in the AP Poll.
The Hurricanes continued to prove why they belong Wednesday night, shooting a blistering 56.4% from the floor, including 10-of-21 from deep, while making Jim Larrañaga the all-time winningest coach in program history with an 81-70 victory in the Eagles’ home finale.
Miami (21-9, 13-6 ACC) had a step on BC (11-18, 6-13) off the dribble all night. Thanks to an off-balanced James Karnik jumper, the Eagles struck first blood, but the late shot clock field goal was soon followed by a 9-0 Miami run.
BC giveaways fueled the ’Canes’ surge. Back-to-back bad passes from Jaeden Zackery and DeMarr Langford Jr. led to consecutive breakaway buckets from Miami, the second of which featured a give-and-go, alley-oop between Jordan Miller and Charlie Moore.
The Hurricanes scored 17 points off eight first-half BC turnovers, which Grant said was really the story of the game.
“We didn't make decisions we needed to make in the first half with the ball,” he said. “They were denying us, being very aggressive. And we didn't handle the pressure well.”
Not only were the Hurricanes making BC pay for coughing up the rock, but they were also flexing their shot making ability. Kameron McGusty, who had seven first-half points, had the stepback working. And Wong kept going back to a lethal crossover that had Galloway on skates.
The Eagles—led by a combined 15 first-half points from Quinten Post and James Karnik—started to get going offensively as the period wore on, but they were playing catch-up the whole time. And Miami had an answer for every mini run BC strung together.
The Hurricanes stacked four straight field goals, including the aforementioned Wong, top-of-the-arc 3-pointer, to stake themselves to a 16-point advantage.
BC, uncharacteristically, switched to a zone before intermission to stop the bleeding. It helped, but, once the Eagles finally got some stops, their offense went cold.
Then Miami resumed its offensive clinic in the second half, although the Eagles kept pace and actually outscored Larrañaga’s squad, 45-41, in the period.
“Just keep contesting but keep ’em out of transition,” Grant said of BC’s defensive strategy. “And we couldn't do it. Second half, we did. And we won the half. We had a good half. But it's a 40-minute game.”
Makai Ashton-Langford started the final frame with a 3-pointer. It was a sign of things to come for the high-energy graduate guard. Ashton-Langford poured in 19 of his 21 points in the second half while converting 3-of-4 attempts from downtown.
Waardenburg hit a triple, then Ashton-Langford answered with one of his own. Shortly after that, McGusty dialed up a long-range shot. And, right on cue, Galloway responded a few possessions later with a 3-pointer. BC, which ranks 329th nationally in 3-point percentage, went toe-to-toe with Miami in outside shooting during the back half of play after a 1-of-9 first half.
Approaching the midway point of the second period, the Eagles began to make moves. A 9-0 BC run cut the deficit to 11. Back-to-back Ashton-Langford layups—including a coast-to-coast finish off a steal—and a Zackery 3-pointer made it a 60-47 game. Then freshman forward Gianni Thompson redeemed himself for a bad turnover with a putback dunk.
Wong single-handedly restored a 15-point Miami lead. BC pushed back again, but this time Miller regained command for the Hurricanes.
The Eagles’ last-ditch attempt was orchestrated by Zackery, who used a self-made 5-0 run to bring BC within 10 points of Miami, 70-60, with just under five and a half minutes to go.
But a Waardenburg backdoor cut and the first of two late-game, touchdown pass inbounds quickly burst the Eagles’ bubble. And kept Miami off the NCAA Tournament bubble.
Ashton-Langford and Karnik made it look closer than it actually was in the waning minutes with a handful of baskets, but, for the second game in a row, the Eagles looked fatigued.
Grant said that part of that is simply where the Eagles—and most teams—are at this point of the season. Another factor for BC’s recent defensive breakdowns, however, has been the maturity of the opposing offenses the Eagles have faced, Grant explained. Nevertheless, he admitted that 81 points were too much for his defensive-minded team to give up.
“We needed to be better all the way around,” Grant said.
