Everything Earl Grant Said After BC’s Loss to the Yellow Jackets
Andy Backstrom (@andybackstrom)
Publisher
Boston College men’s basketball was dealt its fifth straight loss Wednesday night. And it’s second in a row by a team that was previously winless in ACC play.
The Eagles recovered from a pair of scoring droughts and, thanks to a combined 42 bench points from Brevin Galloway and Quinten Post, were actually in the driver’s seat against Georgia Tech with under three minutes to go.
But, as was the case at Pittsburgh last weekend, BC couldn’t finish.
And the Yellow Jackets pulled away for an 81-76 victory in a desolate Conte Forum.
Here’s what first-year Eagles head coach Earl Grant said to the media afterward.
Q: Georgia Tech came out and originally played in that 1-3-1 zone. How unique is that to a team that you see over the course of the year? And how difficult is it to attack?
Grant: “We knew it was a 1-1-3. We knew it was coming. 76 points is the most we’ve scored all year I think. So obviously we did a pretty good job of attacking. We turned it over a little bit too many times. And it took us a while to find our rhythm in it. I think if I go back and look, it might be the most points we’ve had in two months. So I thought we did a pretty good job against it.”
“It was our defense. I mean Tristan Maxwell came in and made seven threes. They got 80 points, that’s too many. So he made seven threes. We gave up too many long rebounds, offensive rebounds. And so, 76 is plenty enough points to win a game. … But it did put us in a situation where we were trying to figure it out. We had some turnovers we didn’t need to have. So I guess I would credit their defense for a few uncharacteristic turnovers.”
Q: I know Jaeden [Zackery] came on there in the second half a bit and still had the five assists. From your perspective, just his continued impact—what has that meant to you?
Grant: “I mean he’s been really good. He’s been solid. Obviously, we didn’t expect that he would have this type of role coming in. But it just happened organically with Brevin Galloway missing most of the season. So it’s been a pleasant surprise to see him be more of a steady hand. He’s been consistent pretty much every night. You kind of know what you’re going to get out of him. He’s shot it well. He’s got us into our offense. He’s been tough on defense. This might have been the highest turnover number he’s had. He doesn’t necessarily turn it over like he did tonight. So that would be the only flaw he had in his game tonight. The six turnovers.”
“But I thought he played hard: 38 minutes, and he’s been a steady hand.”
Q: Brevin Galloway was big for you guys tonight. 18 points off the bench. And, particularly at the end of the first half, hit a trio of 3-pointers. What did you see from his performance?
Grant: “I mean I just kind of saw a guy I’ve been seeing for four years. Obviously, he’s not back to his athleticism where he can move and jump and run the way he has typically in the past. He’s making strides toward it. … He was critical tonight with some of the shots he made. Got us back in the game in the first half. Made a couple big threes in the second half. He just did a really good job. It’s good to see him perform.”
“We just gotta keep building. Keep trying to figure out how to win. Because that was a very winnable game. We had our chances. We had our opportunities right there at the end. We had some opportunities right at the rim. We were up three or four, and we were right at the rim. Maybe it was a foul, maybe it wasn’t. But we didn’t get the call. So it’s disappointing, but you’ve gotta continue to keep working toward it. We’re trying to get to a certain place, but right now we have to deal with the fact that where we are ain’t really where we want to be. … Our character is going to be revealed in the next 45 days.”
Q: That’s two pretty close losses back to back. How do you improve on that heading into Louisville?
Grant: “I mean just really keep continuing to understand that there’s certain things you have to do to finish a game. And I’ll go back and watch the film. Because the players did a great job of getting us back to a position where we could win. Up four with maybe two minutes to go. So me and my staff, we’ve gotta be able to help them in that situation. But we’ve had these situations in these last two games, and we’ve made a critical turnover. It’s deja vu. Both games, got the ball tied or up two and had to have a couple good possessions. And we just didn’t do it. Guys want to do it. They’re trying to do it. But things haven’t bounced our way yet.”
Q: You guys in that second half started out a little sluggish. You guys got down 12. How did you like their fight just to climb back into things?
Grant: “Yeah, I like the fight. … We came out of the locker room, and three out of five possessions we had turnovers that led to eight transition points for them. It was a big key for us to take care of the ball and be ball tough. So I didn’t like that. But we get down 12. I told the guys, ‘Hey, look. We down 12. They got eight points off turnovers. So we just have to clean that up. If we don’t turn the ball over, they’ll have a hard time scoring.’ And then we had a patch there the next five minutes where we took care of the ball, and it went right back from 12 to six.”
“Teams are going to make runs. And they were playing with four really good guards out there. They played a little bit of small ball so I knew that would be a challenge. But our guys responded. They showed good character and got right back in the game. And, again, had a chance to win it. … We gotta learn how to close these games out.”
Q: Two of your last three games, you guys have given up 80 or more points. I know at the beginning of the season, you said 70 was the threshold you wanted to hold teams under. I know the UNC game you said you guys were playing out of your pace. Did you feel today you guys were playing your pace and kind of game?
Grant: “I don’t count the UNC one as much. That game was kind of an anomaly because we practiced two days in 20 days and played it. So I knew that game would be a little bit wacky. … But you can count on your hand three or four things, or two things, you could have done better and take away 10 points. And that’s just the growth and maturity of our team. We’ve gotta grow.”“We’ve got a team that’s been together for five months. Never played a game together before that. A couple of young guys we’re counting on. And right now we’re making mistakes. So we’ve gotta continue to help them mature and understand how to play in these situations and figure out how to be tough enough and smart enough and wise enough and mature enough to win the game.”
Q: Earlier on, you talked about how you guys are still in the pursuit of being a great team. And one of the things you talked about was learning how to win. And it seems like they’re still in the process of that. Can you just gauge their understanding of how to close out these types of games?
Grant: “I mean, it’s a 40-minute game. We can’t have those patches when we lose our spirit and we lose our camaraderie and our togetherness. There’s patches when things don’t go our way where we just lose some of that. We have to fight to get back on track. We gotta get to the point where we’re not fazed. Where we’re not overly fazed if something gets up six or eight. If we’re dealing with adversity, we’ve gotta be able to just keep chopping wood and keep working toward it and trying to win the next possession. And not let one bad possession affect the next two minutes.”
“We’ve been fighting a couple patches in some of these games where, as a group, we’re trying to stay connected. And we’re trying to stay poised. And we get back on track most times. But when you have two patches of three minutes like that, that can be the game. … But we’ve gotta be able to get through the storms together and stay connected. We’re working toward it. That’s a hard thing to do. When you’re trying to be a good team. And you’re trying to win."
