Bickerstaff Is 'Day-to-Day' After Calf Sprain
Andy Backstrom (@andybackstrom)Publisher
Boston College men’s basketball could have used TJ Bickerstaff down the stretch of its thrilling yet gut-wrenching loss to Notre Dame Wednesday night. The Eagles were outrebounded, 24-14, in the second half and overtime. Bickerstaff, meanwhile, leads the team with 7.8 boards per game and has piled up 15-plus rebounds on four separate occasions this season.
He was sidelined with a calf sprain, according to head coach Earl Grant.
“He felt better today than he felt yesterday,” Grant said of Bickerstaff after Wednesday’s game. “So I think he’s making progress. I don’t think they have to go in and do anything to it. But just rest—I think it’s day-to-day, game-to-game.”
Bickerstaff suffered the injury in the first half of last Saturday’s game against Duke and didn’t return. BC was already without center Quinten Post, who has now missed two games because of COVID-19 protocol. The absence of two major frontcourt contributors was the catalyst for the Eagles to pivot to a four-guard lineup.
BC had gone to a four-guard lineup before but not for stretches like it has against Duke and Notre Dame over the last week. What was initially seen as a formational necessity has actually become a viable option for the Eagles, who even went to a five-out motion offense when centers James Karnik and Justin Vander Baan had fouled out Wednesday in South Bend.
BC has shot 48.4% from the field the last two games and converted 10 triples in a game for the first time all year against Notre Dame, despite entering the contest as the worst 3-point shooting team in the ACC.
The Eagles have struggled much more on the defensive end, however. Granted, they’ve played the top two teams in the league table, but they’ve allowed both to shoot north of 46% and have been outrebounded by at least nine each time.
And BC ranks in the top half of the country in rebounding margin (plus-1.8). So getting Bickerstaff, and Post, back will help the Eagles on the glass and in rim protection.
