SAME FEDORA-NEW CROWN?

[PointGuard]

Jan. 16, 2027: Boston College Eagles (11-4, 3-3) vs #6-ranked Clemson Tigers (14-3, 3-3) at Littlejohn Coliseum in Clemson, SC

1st Assistant Coach David Woodruff

Losing at home to North Carolina State last week was a real downer. Both games this week are on the road starting with tonight’s game against the 6th ranked Clemson. The Tigers ACC record is just 3-3, but all 3 losses were close games. They’re led by freshman C Williams Yeaton. Yeaton is living up to the hype (he was the 6th ranked recruit nationally last year). He’s averaging 25.9 ppg, 10.6 rpg, 4.3 apg, 2.7 bpg, and 3.9 spg. He’s scored 20+ points in 12 ga mes and over 30 points in 6 of those 12 games. Fellow freshman SG Lou Robinson is averaging 15.1 ppg. Clemson is averaging 87.1 ppg. The Tigers are going to score…so we need our offense to catch fire and not fizzle out.

One thing about the ACC is that there are several teams that have a great player, like Clemson does with Williams Yeaton, who can carry a team. You’re not going to stop them, you just have to try to limit the amount of damage they inflict upon you. Williams is an intimidator offensively, defensively and on the boards. We will try to deny the ball to him, but in doing so I have the feeling we’re going to pick up a lot of fouls. Since we need Courtland Reese on the court (and not riding the bench due to foul trouble), we’ll have to use our PF’s to do a lot of the guarding of Yeaton in a way we can spread the expected fouls to several of our interior guys.

And so the game began: After 4 minutes we trailed 14-4 and PF Marvin Reese had picked up 2 fouls. Clemson kept pouring in points while we made too many turnovers. At the midpoint of the half we were down by a 27-14 score and Yeaton already had scored 11 points. The Tigers outshot us 62% to 32% and also forced us to turn the ball over 14 times in the half. We were far behind at 51-30 at the end of the half. Yeaton scored 18 points in the half.

Clemson continued to rip the net in the 2nd half and blow by us. Midway through the half we were behind 76-47. We were unable to sustain a challenge and got whomped by the Tigers 84-57. We were simply outclassed by the talented Tigers.

PG Josh McFadgon scored 13, SF Sam Dickens had 11 points, and C Courtland Reese scored 9 while pulling down 10 rebounds. Clemson’s C Williams Yeaton finished with 22 points and 6 rebounds.

[PointGuard]

Jan. 20, 2027: Boston College Eagles (11-5, 3-4) vs Miami (FL) Hurricanes (9-9, 2-5) at Watsco Center in Miami, FL

Jason Braxton, Athletic Director

I’m attending ACC meetings here in Miami so have come over to Watsco Center to watch our team take on Miami. I’m sure hoping we can pull of a road win so I can do some crowing to other AD’s during our meetings.

For the second straight game we’re having to deal with a court phenom. Junior SF Dewayne Jennings is averaging 26.4 ppg for Miami. Jennings was the Norton Award winner as a freshman and is having an even better year this season.

We looked good early with a strong inside game, taking a 10-3 lead after just 2-1/2 minutes with C Courtland Reese scoring 8 of those points and PF Marvin Reese the other 2. But Marvin Reese picked up his 2nd foul 30 seconds later. Miami began picking away at our lead and with 6 minutes remaining in the half, the Hurricanes overtook us at 27-25. The half ended with on the short end of a 42-38 score. Courtland Reese had 12 points for us while SF Dewayne Jennings topped Miami’s scoring with 11 points.

We hung in with the Hurricanes throughout most of the 2nd half, but they held a small lead most of the way. We then simply caved in the final 5 minutes and Miami took advantage to smash us 82-65.

For the 2nd straight game we were burned by a superstar. SF Dewayne Jennings poured in 26 points and grabbed 10 boards for the Hurricanes. Our leading scorer was C Courtland Reese with 20 points. None of our other players scored in double figures. The loss dropped us into a tie for 11th place in the ACC.

[PointGuard]

Jan. 23, 2027: #12-ranked Duke Blue Devils (13-4, 5-2) vs Boston College Eagles (11-6, 3-5) at Silvio O. Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, MA

Baldwin the Eagle

Duke has come to visit. That normally means a loss for the Eagles. But we’re counteracting that history by bringing out the “Red Devils” who are intent on obliterating the Blue Devils. Red Devil signs, posters, costumes, face masks, etc, etc that reveal how our red devils will rampage over the blue devils. I can’t say the BC administration and Catholic fathers have been all that supportive of our red devil days on campus. But we’re intent on stimulating our team any way we can to upset favored Duke. During halftime a costumed red devil and I will beat the hell out of a stuffed blue devil on mid court.

The two teams played pretty evenly all the way through the first half. Duke hit a couple late shots that gave them a 33-23 halftime advantage. The Eagles need to shoot better in the 2nd half (they only hit 37% of their FG’s in the first half) and also figure out how to contain the interior duo of Tarkanian and McCoy who accounted for 15 of Dukes 33 points.

Our halftime “beat the stuffins outta the Blue Devils” didn’t help. Duke gradually extended their lead. By halftime they had a double digit lead that they held onto since our shooting didn’t improve in the 2nd half. We ended up losing 67-56. The refs did our team no favors by sending the Blue Devils to the line 15 more times that us allowing the Dukies to score 13 more points on free throws, more than the difference in the final score.

C Courtland Reese had 14 points and 9 rebounds, SG James Lilly hit for 11 points, and SF Sam Dickens scored 9 plus pulled down 8 boards. PF Robert Tarkanian poured in 18 points to lead Duke.

[PointGuard]

JJ Conroy, BeanTownSports Blog

Losing at home to Duke has become a tradition for Boston College, so last night’s loss wasn’t a surprise. But the Eagles have now lost 4 straight that has dropped them to 3-6 in the ACC and close to the bottom of the heap in the standings.

And they not only lost at home to Duke but also lost at home to a team (North Carolina State) that they had beaten the Wolfpacks’ home court by 22 points. What’s up with that?

When Coach Frederick Aura was hired, he was hyped as BC’s deliverance who would lead the team to the upper regions of the ACC standings. In his first season the team lost more games than they won in ACC play and this season they seem to be on a pace that will drop them further down in the standings.

And that’s after recruiting 3 solid players (freshmen Sam Dickens and Courtland Reese and JC transfer Josh McFadgon. Those 3 have played well, especially Reese and Dickens, but the rest of the team has been a real disappointment. SG James Lilly seems to be afraid to take shots and his scoring has dropped precipitously. PF Marvin Reese has been inconsistent, although a 2 month injury may have contributed to that. PG Willis Lofton, who started last season and was generally productive, has been nearly invisible when he’s come off the bench this season. SF’s Michael Millford and Earl Betts haven’t been able to provide much help coming off the bench as have guards Jason Dunn, Samuel King and Jon Ray. The only two reserves that have played well coming in off the bench have been Jason Caldwell and Steve Ross at PF and C.

The Eagles have 5 more road games. I don’t expect them to win any of those. They have 6 home games remaining, but they’re only 2-2 at home in the ACC thus far, so home court advantage doesn’t seem to prevail for them.

All-in-all…a dismal outlook toward improving this season.

[PointGuard]

Jan. 27, 2027: Wake Forest Demon Deacons (9-10, 3-6) vs Boston College Eagles (11-7, 3-6) at Silvio O. Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, MA

Kevin Sizemore, BC Student

I’m a junior at Boston College majoring in history with the aim to eventually become a college professor. I’ve got to almost all the home games in my time here. I enjoy the games although they’d be even better if BC was a top-flight team. Following a good start this season, the Eagles have struggled in ACC play and now are sitting on a 4-game loss streak. So this home game against a so-so team is a must win to get out of the bottom half of the conference standings. I like our chances. The 3 new guys (C Courtland Reese, SF Sam Dickens, and PG Josh McFadgon) have combined to average 35 ppg, 15 rpg, and 7 apg. Most of Wake Forest’s scoring comes from their guards. SG Brian Worrell is averaging 15.1 ppg and hitting 53% of his FGA’s and 46% of his 3PA’s. PG Tom Matthews averages 12.9 ppg. If BC can control Worrell, we should win, particularly since I think we’re a helluva lot stronger inside than are the Demon Deacons.

I went to get some snacks to munch on throughout the game and nearly missed the beginning. I had just sat down when PF Marvin Reese slammed down a dunk off the tip of. And fhen SG James Lilly anticipated a pass by Wake Forest, picked it off and shot it up court to a streaking PG Josh McFadgon for an uncontested layin to make it 4-0 with just 30 seconds played. We knocked down the first 5 shots we took to make it 10-4 with 18 minutes to go in the half. 4 minutes into the game we were up by 10 at 15-5. But then the refs called a second foul on C Courtland Reese a minute-and-a-half later. Our shooting went cold for a spell which allowed the Demon Deacons to cut into our lead a bit. But in the latter part of the half, we put together good offense and defense to draw away to a 34-15 lead with 3-1/2 minutes to go. The Eagles played sloppily the rest of the half and finished the first stanza with a 36-23 lead.

BC had a tough time scoring in the early stages of the 2nd half. Wake Forest got within 8 points. But midway through the half, the Eagles’ offense woke up and with 7 minutes to play, we led 62-39. BC then put it on cruise control and came away with an easy 74-56 whipping of Wake Forest. While the Eagles were better in all aspects of the game, they played very strong defensively.

Leading the Eagles (after having just 2 points in the first half due to being benched with foul trouble) was C Courtland Reese with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Reserves Jason Caldwell and Steve Ross each scored 10 points. BC held a 38-2 advantage in points in the paint.

[PointGuard]

Feb. 1, 2027: Boston College Eagles (12-7, 4-6) vs Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (12-7, 5-5) at Hank McCamish Pavilion in Atlanta, GA

2nd Assistant Coach Chris Evans (recruiting)

We’ve got confirmation that the SAT scores for all 3 of our recruits this season exceeded our minimum qualifications. Hoorah! So my primary responsibility is complete. I feel good that the 3 we recruited are strong players and will help our team improve in the future.

Georgia Tech is a high scoring team but also gives up a lot of points. When we played Georgia Tech on our court we beat them 77-62 in a game in which our defense was stellar. Obviously this road game will be a totally different challenge for us. In their last 6 games, the Yellow Jackets have had a different top scorer each game. But their two centers both are averaging in double figures, so we need some strong interior defense.

Here’s how the game went:

Led by PG Josh McFadgon and C Courtland Reese, we got off to great start offensively to jump out to an early lead. But Georgia Tech shot well also to keep us from opening a large lead. Even though shooting percentages slipped during the midpoint of the half, the offenses of both teams overrode the defenses. The half ended with us on top 53-45. We outshot the Yellow Jackets 61% to 52%. C Courtland Reese scored 17 points and PG Josh McFadgon hit for 14. For Georgia Tech, SF Dan Branch had 16 points and reserve C Ryan Gooden scored 14. We need to put together another strong 20 minutes, with Coach Aura stressing the need to play some strong D in the 2nd half.

We did a better job defensively and held onto an 8-10 point lead for most of the 2nd half. But the Yellow Jackets got it going and closed to within 1 point with 4-1/2 minutes to go. Lilly hit a couple quick baskets with about 3 minutes to go to get us back up by 5. Georgia Tech hit a free throw and then knocked down a 3 pointer to again get within 1 with a minute left. SF Sam Dickens made one of 2 free throws with 34 seconds remaining to make it 85-83. The Yellow Jackets missed a 3 and then had to foul. Josh McFadgon dropped in both foul shots putting us ahead by 4 with 15 seconds on the clock. Georgia Tech brought it up court quickly and sank a 3 to cut our lead to 1. They fouled on the inbounds play. This time McFadgon only made one free throw. With just 4 seconds to go we pressed and it worked. Georgia Tech was unable to get it out of the back court or even get off a desperation full court toss at the basket. We escaped with a thrilling 88-86 road win. We won by outshooting the Yellow Jackets 56% to 47%, outrebounding them 29-22, and outscoring them 42-38 in points in the paint. The victory moved us into a tie for 9th place in the ACC.

C Courtland Reese poured in 22 points, PG Josh McFadgon scored 15, SG James Lilly added 13, and PF Jason Caldwell came off the bench to drop in 12 points. The Yellow Jackets were led by C Ryan Gooden and SF Dan Branch who both scored 24 points.

[PointGuard]

Feb. 6, 2027: Miami Hurricanes (13-10, 6-6) vs Boston College Eagles (13-7, 5-6) at Silvio O. Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, MA

Janeka Aura

This is the first game I’ve been able to attend in a long time. It looked like my mother was responding well to chemo, but then she had a set back and so I’ve been spending a lot more time at my parents’ house. That plus work and the kids have kept me away from Conte Forum until tonight. Frederick is going through his typical mid-season hyper-focus on his team. So his home time has been limited. He tries to get to as many of our boys’ high school games as he can. Both Omari and Malik are doing great. Omari, who is now a senior, is the team captain and top rebounder and defender at PF. Malik, who is a sophomore, is starting at SG and is the team’s leading scorer. Omari has been hounded by a lot of colleges. He said he was not going to any ACC school. We thought he was going to pick Temple, but he decided to wait until this spring to make a final decision. He’s got a friend from Towson who wants Omari to join him at the University of Maryland. The head coach there who is a good friend of Frederick is making some strong pitches as is the head coach at Bradley. We’ll just have to wait to see who he goes with. Malik wants him to choose Providence so we can go to his home games. Devany is now a 4th grader and a soccer natural, but I’m hoping the focuses more on her ballet and piano.

Fred says his team needs to keep Miami’s Dewayne Jennings who is averaging 25.5 ppg from breaking loose. He dropped in 26 points to lead the Hurricanes to a win over BC when our team travelled to Miami a couple weeks ago.

I was really happy when BC came away with an 81-66 victory. Fred is always in a better mood after a win.

The lead went back-and-forth throughout the first half and ended with BC holding a slim 35-33 edge. Both teams’ defenses kept the other from breaking away. The first 10 minutes of the 2nd half were pretty much a replay of the 1st half, although the Eagles maintained a small lead throughout. While BC’s defense held firm, they were able to steadily pull away from Miami in the final 10 minutes. The big accomplishment by the Eagles was holding Dewayne Jennings to just 7 points. They just never let him get free. It was the first time this entire season that Jennings failed to score in double figures (in fact he had scored 20+ points in 19 of their previous 23 games).

PG Josh McFadgon led the Eagles’ scoring with 15 points. C Courtland Reese had 13 points and 9 rebounds. PF Marvin Reese scored 12 points and had 7 rebounds.

The win moved Fred’s team into a tie for 7th place in the ACC standings.

[PointGuard]

Feb. 8, 2027: Boston College Eagles (14-7, 6-6) vs Pittsburgh Panthers (15-6, 7-5) at Peterson Events Center in Pittsburgh, PA

Ty Richerson, Head Coach of Pittsburgh

This is our 4th straight home game, but we only won 1 of the 3 previous home games. I’ve been riding the guys about that. There’s no excuse to lose home games. Boston College has a strong interior game. Our big guys haven’t done that well this season, but we need to try to throttle the Eagles’ C Courtland Reese. Offensively, we’re strongest on the perimeter with our two starting guards combining to average 28 ppg.

Boston College came out and totally disrupted our offense in the first half. We shot poorly and had a bunch of turnovers. The Eagles’ SG James Lilly completely shut down our star SG Rudy Kerlin. None of my adjustments cured our problems and we left the court at the half trailing badly, 39-24.

Our offense got into gear in the 2nd half, but BC’s starting 5 continued to score and we just never could really make a dent in their lead. I was really disappointed in how my team performed. We got clobbered 79-62. Our 19 turnovers has me really fuming.

Rudy Kerlin scored just 9 points for us which is half of what he usually scores. PG Marcus Williams was our only player to score in double figures and he had just 11 points. For Boston College, C Courtland Reese had 18 points and 10 boards, SF Sam Dickens scored 14, SG James Lilly had 13 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 steals and a block, and PG Josh McFadgon hit for 11 points plus dished out 6 assists.

Our loss dropped us into a tie with Boston College and 2 others (Georgia Tech and Louisville) for 5th place in the Atlantic Coast Conference. We’re all trailing the 4 ACC teams ranked in the polls: Duke, Clemson, Syracuse, and Virginia.

[PointGuard]

Feb. 13, 2027: Boston College Eagles (15-7, 7-6) vs Louisville Cardinals (13-9, 7-6) at KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, KY

Boston Herald

EAGLES FLY HIGH IN LOUISVILLE

Boston College won their second straight road game against a tough ACC opponent last night when they decimated the Louisville Cardinals 79-57. The Eagles totally shut down the Cardinals in the first half, holding them to just 17 points while BC scored 35. BC’s defense was nearly impenetrable, making nearly every possession extremely difficult for the Cardinals. By allowing Louisville no easy shots, the Cardinals hit just 21% of their shots.

The tempo picked up in the second half but Boston College continually stymied every effort by Louisville to cut into their lead. The Eagles cruised to an easy win, led by SG James Lilly’s 21 points and 11 rebounds. PG Josh McFadgon hit for 16 points while dishing out 8 assists. C Courtland Reese had 12 points and 8 rebounds. PF Jason Caldwell came off the bench to work the boards for 14 rebounds.

“It was great to see James (Lilly) come up so big offensively, defensively and on the boards. It just shows what a tremendous player he is, said Coach Frederick Aura. Aura added, “In addition this is the fourth straight high-scoring game for Josh McFadgon and he was finding the open player so well I this game also.”

Boston College has now run off five consecutive wins and will host the #13-ranked Virginia Cavaliers tomorrow night at Conte Forum. The Eagles now have an 8-6 conference record and moved into sole possession of 6th place in the ACC standings. Aura stated, “Virginia will be a huge test for us. The Cavaliers are the best scoring team in Division I this year averaging about 91 points per game while hitting 52% of their field goal attempts and 41% of their threes. We need to figure out a way to slow down their offense. Dustin Bryant is a beast inside, averaging 24.2 ppg and 13.1 rpg.”

[PointGuard]

Feb. 15, 2027: #13-ranked Virginia Cavaliers (20-5, 9-5) vs Boston College Eagles (16-7, 8-6) at Silvio O. Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, MA

Jason Braxton, Athletic Director

Comments prior to the game:

Conte Forum is packed tonight. Our recent success plus a great team like Virginia visiting here have filled the place. I’m hoping the fans rock the place and help the Eagles overcome a very talented Cavaliers team.

Just when the Eagles were reeling from 3 straight losses, they turned things around and now have won 5 in a row. The team has really gelled.

Remarks on the game:

Both teams started rather slowly. There were a few lead changes but we began to move out to a small but solid lead five minutes into the game. The crowd’s enthusiasm was certainly a factor in inspiring our players to perform well. Our defense was rock solid. So even though our offense was inconsistent, we still came away with an impressive 32-23 lead at the break.

The second half was completely different. Defense be damned on both ends of the court! The early stages of the half were dominated by the Eagles. We increased our lead to 22 points. But then Virginia began to pour in basket after basket. The gap between the two teams steadily narrowed. With two minutes to go we led by just a single point. Coach Aura called a time out. The team executed the play he designed to perfection, taking the 30-second clock down to the final second and isolating Sam Dickens for a clear 12 footer that he drilled. Trailing by 3, Virginia brought it up court quickly and rushed a shot that went awry. After grabbing the defensive rebound Courtland Reese was immediately fouled. He went to the line and knocked down both free throws. We forced Virginia to work the ball around the perimeter, but they put in a shot from far out that went in. But the refs saw that a toe was on the 3-point arc line and so it was good for only 2 rather than 3 points. The Cavaliers were again forced to foul. Josh McFadgon made the first but missed the second making it Boston College-77, Virginia-73 which turned out to be the final score. Our crowd was delirious. While we made 22 turnovers to the Cavaliers 15, we completely dominated the boards 37-21 which ultimately was the difference in the ballgame as we outpaced Virginia in 2nd chance points 15-2.

Reserve SG Jason Dunn and C Courtland Reese both scored 18 points, PG Josh McFadgon had 14, and SF Sam Dickens finished with 10. C Dustin Bryant scored 17 for Virginia, but that was over 8 points less than his average this season.

Post-Game Conversation of Jason Braxton, Athletic Director:

Our win moved us into a tie with Virginia and Syracuse for 3rd place in the ACC, a game behind Clemson and 3 games behind Duke. We have 5 games left in the regular season…3 at home and 2 on the road (against Duke and Virginia, so those will take a super effort to win).

Coach Aura has done a tremendous job for us in the less the 2 years he’s been at BC. Taking a so-so team he had been handed last season to over 20 wins and 2nd place in the CIT Tourney. A 17-7 season record, 9-6 ACC record (which puts us in a tie for 3rd place), and the 23rd best NET rating in the country…thus positioning us thus far for a good chance of getting into the NCAA Tournament. And while he’s done a first-rate recruiting job last season and this season, our prestige level and recent history (neither of which are strong) have prevented him from landing a top 10 or top 25 recruit like 10 of the 14 other schools in the ACC have. So our team is strong as a team because Fred has molded them into one, not because we have a high-flying player to lead us to success. Take a look at the type of players most of our competitors in the ACC are relying upon:

Clemson:
Freshman C Williams Yeaton, #6 ranked recruit, 23.6 ppg, 9.9 rpg
Duke:
Freshman PF Robert Tarkanian, #14 ranked recruit, 15.5 ppg, 6.7 rpg
Senior C Maurice McCoy, #16 ranked recruit, 10.4 ppg, 6.0 rpg
Louisville:
Freshman SF Carl Williams, #12 ranked recruit, 1.7 ppg
Sophomore PF Travis Church, #20 ranked recruit, 11.2 ppg, 7.0 rpg
Miami (FL):
Junior PF Dewayne Jennings, #5 ranked recruit, 25.4 ppg, 9.9 rpg
North Carolina:
Freshman SF Brian Howard, #16 ranked recruit, 9.9 ppg, 6.7 rpg
Junior SG Duke Stokes, #14 ranked recruit, 19.8 ppg, 5.1 rpg
Notre Dame:
Freshman SG Freddie Curtis, #20 ranked recruit, 18.3 ppg, 4.3 rpg
Freshman SG Mario Krimmel, #5 ranked recruit, 3.7 ppg
Sophomore SF Rich Thompson, #23 ranked recruit, 12.2 ppg, 5.3 rpg
Pittsburgh:
Senior SG Rudy Kerlin, #13 ranked recruit, 16.4 ppg, 6.1 rpg
Syracuse:
Freshman C Mike Miller, #9 ranked recruit, 11.3 ppg. 7.4 rpg
Senior Adrian Hooks, #11 ranked recruit, 25.8 ppg, 6.2 rpg
Virginia:
Senior C Dustin Bryant, #15 ranked recruit, 23.9 ppg, 13.0 rpg
Junior SF Jamaal Lawson, #18 ranked recruit, 18.6 ppg, 6.4 rpg
Wake Forest:
Sophomore SG Tom Matthews, #24 ranked recruit, 13.1 ppg

Presently Yeaton, Bryant, and Jennings are the top 3 in the running for the Norton Award and Hooks is 6th.

And to Louisville and Notre Dame: if you’re not going to use Williams and Krimmel, send them on over to us (although I hear that Williams may not be the most likeable of people).