BC Returns to Action With Embarrassing Defeat to UNC
Andy Backstrom (@andybackstrom)
Publisher
A masked TJ Bickerstaff went up for a reverse layup, and the ball clanked off the rim. Boston College got a second chance at the basket, but Makai Ashton-Langford’s 3-pointer bounced off the backboard without grazing iron.
After a 19-day COVID-19 pause, the Eagles, who hadn’t played since their “buy game” loss to Albany, were anemic on offense Sunday against North Carolina. In the first half, they were on track to set new single-game program lows for fewest points scored and fewest field goals made in Conte Forum.
BC shook off some rust in the second period. It was far too little, far too late, though.
UNC, which led, 49-20, at intermission, coasted to the finish line with four 17-plus-point scorers and left Chestnut Hill with a dominant 91-65 victory.
A handful of BC (6-6, 1-1 ACC) players were masked up, including DeMarr Langford Jr., Brevin Galloway—back after left knee surgery—and Bickerstaff. Keep in mind, under new CDC guidelines, those who test positive for COVID-19 have to wear masks from days six through 10 following exposure.
First-year Eagles head coach Earl Grant said postgame that every single player and coach within the program, except one undisclosed member, tested positive for the virus during the team’s three-week pause.
Bickerstaff and Galloway practiced once in the last two weeks. That’s largely why Bickerstaff came off the bench for the first time all season and freshman Gianni Thompson checked in so early, Grant said.
BC’s rotations were off, and so was everything else for much of the day.
“Really not an excuse,” Grant said of the COVID-19 pause. “I’m sure that had something to do with our timing. I’m sure it had something to do with our wind.
“But still, mentally, we needed to execute a little bit better.”
UNC (10-3, 2-0) started the game 0-of-7 from the field and 0-of-4 from 3-point land. BC was suffocating the paint on the defensive end of the court with centers James Karnik and Quinten Post both on the floor at the same time. Offensively, however, the Eagles didn’t enjoy the same success inside.
Karnik missed three shots close to the cup in the opening 10 minutes of play, and he wasn’t the only one struggling to buy a basket. BC shot 6-of-36, or 16.7%, in the first half. An early 4-0 lead was nothing more than a flash in the pan as the Tar Heels strung together a 16-2 run that saw bench players like guards Anthony Harris and Kerwin Walton get on the board.
Following its sluggish start from deep, UNC connected on four of its next six 3-point attempts. Brady Manek knocked down two in a row to stake the Tar Heels to a 27-11 advantage. The Oklahoma grad transfer led UNC with 12 points in the first half. Frontcourt partner Armando Bacot added 11 more in the period, and the duo combined for 13 rebounds before intermission.
BC, which came in allowing fewer than 62 points per game, gave up 49 in the opening 20 minutes.
“Our decision-making at the rim wasn’t as good,” Grant said. “We need to execute a little bit better, and, because of that, they got out in transition. They got some open threes, some good guys got loose, and they found a tempo of the game they wanted to play at, which was faster than we wanted.”
Even when BC shot a much-improved 48.4% in the second half, it didn’t matter since the Eagles couldn’t get a stop on the other end. And every time Grant’s squad did put together somewhat of a run, UNC fired back.
BC opened the back half of play with a 9-3 stretch, boosted by a Jaeden Zackery 3-pointer and a pair of Ashton-Langford layups. But the Tar Heels answered with a 15-3 spurt that featured a trio of Caleb Love 3-pointers.
UNC, which is now the seventh-best 3-point shooting team in the country according to KenPom, finished 11-of-23 from downtown. BC, meanwhile, was 8-of-28. That clip could have looked much uglier had Thompson, Karnik and Bickerstaff not added to the total.
Ashton-Langford (12 points) and Zackery (13 points) were the only Eagles to reach double figures. Love piloted the Tar Heels’ ship, and his backcourt mate, RJ Davis, notably was a perfect 5-of-5 from the field and from the free throw line.
Manek and Bacot teamed up for a combined 35 points and 18 rebounds. They outclassed Karnik and Post, who, collectively, were 3-of-17 from the floor.
Much of the second half was garbage time, and Grant used it to mix in players such as Kanye Jones, Andrew Kenny and sophomore center Justin Vander Baan.
UNC’s scoring never stopped, though. Before Sunday, no Eagles opponent had scored more than 79 points this season. The Tar Heels leapfrogged that mark.
When describing BC’s ACC trajectory in the first year of his rebuild, Grant has used climbing analogies, often noting that the Eagles will experience peaks and valleys. He pulled out another Sunday.
“A mountain climber will tell you, ‘The mountain don’t care. He ain’t going to talk to you, he ain’t going to say nothing to you, he ain’t going to sympathize with you,’” Grant said.
“So for us, we’ve gotta understand that nobody cares that we’ve been laid off. And nobody cares that we’ve been off for the last couple weeks.”
After all, even though the odds were stacked against BC this weekend, that’s the way it’s been all year.
