SAME FEDORA-NEW CROWN?

[PointGuard]

JJ Conroy

BeanTownSports Blog

It’s been a while since I’ve talked about Boston College basketball. As you may recall, I have said this is a program, that while it may improve, will NEVER contest for the top spots in the ACC. They simply can NOT compete with the likes of Duke, Syracuse, Florida State, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, and Louisville. I would include North Carolina in this list, but they’re having an uncharacteristically disastrous season…but in the long-term they will consistently top the Eagles. Hell, you could even add Virginia and Georgia Tech to that list. And there will be years where the rest (NC State, Virginia Tech, Clemson, Miami, and Wake Forest) outdo BC. So like I said before the best they can be in the ACC is middle of the pack. If they want to be conference champs they need to drop down to a lower-tier conference. Maybe the Big East…or better yet, the Atlantic 10 where they could finish up towards the top.

So that brings us to this season, the first in the reign of their new coach Fred Aura. To be honest, they have definitely improved over where they’ve been for a number of years so I’ll toss a bone to Aura for that. BUT…they’re still in the middle of the ACC standings…tied tor 7th to be exact. And that’s even after surprising wins over top-25 ranked Notre Dame and Syracuse. Of course, those wins were home games for the Eagles.

But before you say “JJ, they’re 5-4 in the ACC and have won 3 of their last 4”, let me tell you something. This team has got its hands full for the rest of their schedule. The next 3 games are against non-worldbeaters to be sure…BUT…the first of those is against Virginia Tech who’s been playing way over the heads all season and has been in either 1st or 2nd place in the ACC every week. And all 3 of those games are road games for BC meaning they’re likely to go 0-3. Then they end the season by playing 5 of their final 8 conference games against top-25 ranked teams and they play one of the other 3 teams that aren’t in the top-25 on the road. So the best they’re likely to do is go 2-6 in those last 8 games. That means they’ll end the season with a 7-13 ACC record which will likely place them in the bottom third in the standings. Kind of BC’s lot in life in the ACC.

So Eagles fans, enjoy what you’ve had thus far. The Eagles are about to have their tail feather picked clean and plummet to the earth with a real hard landing like NASA’s first space launch in the early 1960s…a big crash and burn. So don’t book a flight south to watch them get roasted in their game at Virginia Tech later this week.

Got a beef with this? Tough! You obviously just can't handle the truth. Quit being a fanboy.

[PointGuard]

Jan. 26, 2026: Boston College Eagles (12-7, 5-4) vs Virginia Tech Hokies (13-5, 7-2) at Cassell Coliseum in Blacksburg, Virginia

1st Assistant Coach Kevin Abney

Virginia Tech was picked to finish near the bottom of the ACC standings. But the Hokies have surprised the entire conference after winning their first 5 conference games and residing in 1st or 2nd place in the ACC throughout conference play. Nationally, they get no respect. They’ve yet to be ranked in the polls. Meanwhile they’ve landed two highly rated recruits. What’s worked so well for Virginia Tech? Their two starting guards have combined to average 27 ppg and their two starting forecourt players have combined to score 18.6 ppg and pull down 13.5 rpg. As a team they’ve been extremely effective on the boards. Their only weakness has been at SF. I felt we had a chance but that we’d need to play an exceptionally strong game to win against the Hokies in Blacksburg.

Even though we play 2 halves, if this game were divided into quarters, Virginia Tech won the 1st 10 minutes (building a 13 point lead), we won the 2nd 10 minutes (cutting our deficit at the half to just a single point at 33-32, we won the 3rd 10 minutes (moving out to a 16 point lead), and Viginia Tech won the 4th 10 minutes by steadily eating into our lead. Fortunately we had just enough of a lead to hold on for a slim 76-72 victory. Rebounding (we out-rebounded the Hokies 34-27), turnovers (we turned the ball over 14 times, but forced Virginia Tech into 21 turnovers), and fast break points (14-2 in our favor) were the real differences in this game.

The opposition continues to double team James Lilly but he still was our leading scorer with 14 points (and he also had 7 rebounds). C Jason Caldwell with 12 points was our only other player to score in double figures. SF’s Marvin Reese and Michael Millford each scored 9 points. And PF Marius Witt had a tremendous game, scoring 9 points, pulling down 10 rebounds, getting 4 steals, and most importantly, holding the Hokies’ PF Kurt Tucker scoreless.

Injury: Samuel King strained his hamstring. He’s likely not to be 100% for 7-10 days.

[PointGuard]

Athletic Director Jason Braxton

We’re proud to announce that SG James Lilly today was named a quarterfinalist for the Norton Award. Even though teams are now defensively keying on him, James to cut into his scoring, he’s still averaging 15.8 ppg. He’s also our 2nd best rebounder with 6.1 rpg and 2nd best in assists (2.3 apg), and tops in steals (1.4 spg). He’s also tops in PER, Stop %, and Turnovers Forced on our team.

What excites me further is that he’s just a sophomore!

[PointGuard]

Jan. 30, 2026: Boston College Eagles (13-7, 6-4) vs Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (14-7, 6-4) at Hank McCamish Pavilion in Atlanta, Georgia

C Damon Smith, Walk-on

This is the 2nd of our 3 straight road games. We’re tied with Georgia Tech in the standings and both teams are riding 3 game win streaks. We got whipped by the Yellow Jackets 92-76 about a month ago when we hosted them. So our team wants to return the favor and beat Georgia Tech on their court. I assume I’ll likely be a spectator from the bench the entire game, as usual.

Things began OK for us, but we had a series of turnovers that allowed Georgia Tech to take a 17-11 lead with 13-1/2 minutes to go in the first half. The only player on our team doing much scoring was Marvin Reese. He finished the half with 12 points. We were down 42-34 at the half. Coach Aura was on us to clean up our play in the 2nd half…fewer turnovers and better crashing of the boards.

The lead pretty much stayed intact until midway through the half when the Yellow Jackets went on a tear and opened a 73-51 lead with about 9 minutes to play. Coach tore into us all during a time out, but things didn’t improve. With a minute-and-a-half left we were behind by so much that Coach Fed put me and Chris Nelson, our other walk-on into the game. Chris got an assist. Both Chris and I put up a shot apiece but neither of scored. Final score was an embarrassing 87-62. The loss slipped us down from 6th place to 8th place in the conference so 7 teams above us and 7 below us.

SF/PF Marvin Reese scored 14 and SG James Lilly had 13 for us. C Brandon Elloie tossed in 20 to lead Georgia Tech.

[PointGuard]

Feb. 3, 2026: Boston College Eagles (13-8, 6-5) vs Miami (FL) Hurricanes (10-11, 3-8) at Watsco Arena in Miami, Florida

2nd Assistant Coach Chris Evans

Our southern road trip has moved from Virginia to Georgia and now to Florida. Sure would be nice to end it with a “W”.

Miami: Their primary defense: 2-3 zone; I wish we were ranked…Miami’s played 6 ranked teams and lost all 6 games by 13 to 31 points each…but that makes them 13-2 against unranked opponents. Hurricanes’ opponents have scored over 30 points in 6 of their 8 losses, but when they’ve won, their opponents have not scored over 73 points…moral of the story is to get our offense in gear.

Miami’s Top player: SF Dewayne Jennings who averages 23.2 ppg and 9.0 rpg and is in strong contention to win the Norton Award. He’s scored 20+ points in 16 of their 21 games and has scored in the high 30’s in two of those games…need to keep him from breaking out. In addition he’s a great defensive player and he averages making just 0.6 fouls a game. Marvin Reese is good at drawing fouls for us, but it looks like it’s nearly impossible to get Jennings into foul trouble and onto the bench…he’s averaged 34.3 mpg on the court.

Miami's SG Marcel Allaway is averaging 11.8 ppg while hitting 50% of his FGA’s and 42% of his 3’s.

We stunk the first 6 minutes…falling behind 18-2 due to 5 turnovers leading to multiple easy layins, 6 fouls (2 on Lilly and 2 on Caldwell) on us and none on the Hurricanes, and we hit just 1 for 8 from the field. With Coach Aura screaming at the refs and our players, we finally picked up our game a little, but not enough and found ourselves in a 39-27 hole at the half. If Miami had been able to hit more than 39% of their shots, we would have been even further behind.
We hit just 30% of our shots and made 10 turnovers. James Lilly had 3 fouls and no points. Our top scorer was SG James Ray with 9 points. The only thing we’d done well was hold Dewayne Jennings to just 3 points on 1 for 6 shooting.

We started the 2nd half almost as badly as we did the first half and fell behind by 21 points with 13 minutes to go. We just didn’t have it and went down to an ignominious 83-58 beating.

SG Jon Ray hit for 18 and SF/PF Marvin Reese scored 15. No one else on our team scored more than 6 points. All 5 starters for Miami scored in double figures. Jennings finished with 13 points and 5 rebounds so well below his average…just a pyrrhic victory since we let everyone else on the Hurricanes do so well.

[PointGuard]

Feb. 6, 2026: Pittsburgh Panthers (16-7, 6-6) vs Boston College Eagles (13-9, 6-6) at Silvio O. Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, MA

Boston College Chronicle

Kinsey Ramsey, Sports Reporter

After three straight away games, the Eagles finally returned home for a game. Pittsburgh, their opponent, had been ranked throughout the season but fell out of the top 25 recently. They began the season by winning 10 of their first 11 games including an 8-game win streak and winning the Las Vegas Invitational championship. But their play in the ACC has been inconsistent, although they entered the fray against BC after winning their last two games. Defense has been their forte. Their opponents averaged 69.8 ppg and they’d given up more than 80 points to only two opponents. Offensively they’re led by SF Kevin Woni’s 17.9 ppg, SG Rudy Kerlin’s 14.9 ppg, and PG Marcus Williams’ 10.5 ppg. Woni also was averag 9.3 rpg. So even though the game was at home for BC, they were up against a formidable opponent.

It took more than 7 minutes for the Eagles to hit their first field goal. BC struggled to close the gap throughout most of the half, but as the half drew to a close the Eagles captured a one point lead. The half concluded with Pittsburgh on top by just 2 points at 38-36 even though BC hit just 39% of their shots and had 11 turnovers. Kevin Woni carried the Panthers with 16 points in the half

BC scored the first 8 points in the 2nd half giving them a 6 point lead. Pittsburgh turned the tables by then going on an 8-0 run. The score remained close but in the last 8 minutes the Eagles had a tough time getting the ball in the hoop and Pittsburgh opened a double digit lead. BC tried to make a late run. But it was too little, too late. The Panthers won by a score of 82-74.

Leading the scoring for the Eagles was SG James Lilly with 25 points followed by SF/PF Marvin Reese with 11.

Coach Frederick Aura said, “Our poor start put us in a deep hole. Even though we were able to make comebacks, Pittsburgh never let us gain confidence in our shooting and that did us in.”
T
he loss dropped BC into 10th place in the ACC standings with a 6-7 conference record.

[PointGuard]

Feb. 10, 2026: North Carolina State Wolfpack (10-12, 2-11) vs Boston College Eagles (13-10, 6-7) at Silvio O. Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, MA

Coach Fred Aura:

We’re playing a team with a worse record than us and playing them on our court…and we’re underdogs. Sort of hard to believe, but that’s the respect we get. Following 3 straight losses, we really need to win this one.

The Wolfpack took and held a small lead through much of the first half. It was a defensive battle but we overtook them late in the half and came away with a slim 29-28 halftime advantage. During the break we outlined a strategy designed to break their 1-2-2 zone defense. It worked and we began pulling away in the 2nd half. Midway through the half we led by as much as 12 points. NC State rallied to get close as time wound down. But we stopped them in the final 2 minutes and came away with a 74-67 victory.

SG James Lilly and C Steve Ross both scored 12 while SF/PF Marvin Reese had 11 and C Jason Caldwell finished with 10. PF Marius Witt came up big on the boards with 12 rebounds.

[Wayne23]

Given that BC has kept my alma mater and employer UConn out of the ACC for a couple of decades so this is NOT a team I can root for!

[PointGuard]

Feb. 15, 2026: Boston College Eagles (14-10, 7-7) vs #22 ranked Louisville Cardinals (19-6, 8-6) at KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky

Baldwin the Eagle

I’m the BC mascot. I normally don’t get to travel to away games, but I grew up in Kentucky and an alum who is from Louisville picked up the tab for me.
Tough to play Louisville on their court where they’ve won 12 of 13 games. We’ll have to do most everything right to win. But we really need to play solid defense. We’re 0-9 in games where our opponents have scored 80 or more points and we’re 14-1 in games where they’ve scored 79 or less points. Louisville won their first 11 games this season, but are 8-6 since ACC play started so we’ve got a chance even though we’re big underdogs. The Cardinals’ best scorers are SF Josh Miller with 16.2 ppg and SG Jason Johnson with 11.1 ppg.

Not many Eagles fans to pump up here but I gave the crowd a show with my antics anyway. On the court, our team fell behind early, and Louisville hit 60% of their FG’s to amass a 49-29 advantage at the break.

During halftime Louie the Cardinal and I had a series of competitions to entertain the crowd. I was worried that the albatross around my neck would be Louie’s hometown advantage. But I’m not one to grouse and I’m pretty swift, so I ducked that advantage and terned it around by making this a lark. Louis tried robin me in some of the contests but toucan play that game. I don’t want to crow, but wouldn’t you be a loon to think an Eagle would lose to a Cardinal? So no egrets…um, I mean regrets.

We played even with Louisville in the 2nd half but with both teams playing tough defense, there was no way for us to seriously cut into their lead. We ended up losing 75-55 as Louisville outshot us 48% to 34%.

C Jason Caldwell scored 12 and SF/PF Marvin Reese hit for 11. For Louisville, SF Josh Miller scored 19.

[PointGuard]

Feb. 17, 2026: #9 ranked Virginia Cavaliers (20-5, 11-4) vs Boston College (14-11, 7-8) at Silvio O. Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, MA

Jason Braxton, Athletic Director

Nice for our team to be playing at home. Not so nice to have to play Virginia. They’re the top-scoring team in the country (87.3 ppg) and also #1 in rebounding (38.0 rpg). The Cavaliers are 2nd in assists (21.6 apg), 10th in blocks (6.5 bpg), 25th in FG% (49.4 %), and 3rd in NET Rating (22.3). Virginia has 4 players averaging in double figures: C Dustin Bryant (17.4 ppg plus he’s also averaging 10.2 rpg), SG David Young (16.6 ppg plus averaging 9.0 rpg and 5.2 apg), SF Jamaal Lawson (14.3 ppg), and PG Damion Clagget (12.3 ppg plus 6.3 apg). Even though they’re the visiting team, the Cavaliers are prohibitive favorites in this game. But they have lost 4 on the road in ACC play so I’m not counting the Eagles out. I’m pulling for them to win their 15th game of the season…that would fulfill one of the goals I set for Coach Aura.

Virginia jumped out on top but the Eagles were scrappy and took an 18-17 lead with 11:37 left in the half. But the Cavaliers controlled the game in the final 10 minutes of the half as Coach Aura was forced to protect 3 starters who were in foul trouble. Virginia moved out to a 50-39 halftime lead.

Our guys fought hard in the 2nd half, but the refs tagged us with far too many fouls. Virginia held us at arms length and came away with an 89-78 victory.

C Jason Caldwell topped our scoring with 16 points. Reserves Samuel King and Michael Millford both scored 13. Starters James Lilly only played 13 minutes before fouling out and Marvin Reese was limited to 18 minutes due to 4 fouls. Five Cavaliers scored in double figures.