CHESTNUT HILL - Well, they're technically not dead yet.

BC probably won't make much noise if they are able to reach the ACC tournament, but they kept their slim hopes alive of just getting in there with a rather surprising 69-54 win over Georgia Tech on Saturday afternoon in the penultimate home game of the season at Conte.

If nothing else, guys haven't quit on head coach Earl Grant, which is obviously a good thing.

BC is now 12-15 and 4-12 in the ACC. Syracuse and Cal are directly in front of the Eagles with five ACC wins each. BC has four games remaining, including a West Coast trip this week for games against Stanford and Cal.

Donald Hand led the way with 20 points and seven rebounds. Chad Venning had 13 points and seven rebounds.

Here's everything Grant said postgame:

On holding on to a second half lead and closing the game out despite a GT run

"Yeah, sometimes it's hard to play with a lead, The team, the opponent gets pretty free, puts their head down and just starts driving it. We fouled them in that cluster two or three times and that was a big part of (G-Tech) making that run. Their point guard hit two crucial threes. We wanted to go under some handoffs, did a good job with our coverage all night. They just made a couple threes. We weathered the storm. Guys were poised enough to execute and get the stops we needed at the end."

On Chad Venning being active around the rim

"Typically, him and Jayden Hastings are great rim protectors. They're bullies. They're big, they're long, got a pretty good wingspan, they're both athletic. I thought Chad in particular tonight, he was a junkyard dog. He cleaned up a lot of mistakes from our guards...he had some crucial blocks at the rim."

More on Venning

"They were driving it from the wing towards the basket. We work on that every day, our weak side help. It could be a different guy rotating, could be a guard, could be a wing. They had their big man underneath the basket opposite short corner, so (Venning) was always the help guy. He was free to go attempt the blocks and then his teammates were helping him by sinking in and we were forcing a skip. I thought together as a team we just did a great job. We were very connected and just got to try and build on it."

On limiting turnovers (six vs. GT)

"Well, it's been an emphasis all year. We try to defend, rebound and take care of the ball. That's really the formula for us to have success...you mention the NC State game. We had three in the first four minutes and the game was over. So, that was very uncharacteristic. But, in the second half we held them to 25 points. We've been building on that ever since then. The guys just keep showing up every day and working. We've got to try and do it again and figure out how we can continue to improve."

On if improved defense lately is more about change in strategy or execution

"You know, combination. Little bit of strategy, little bit more belief from the guys. Our team was fragile in the beginning of the year because a lot of these guys hadn't been together. They wanted to believe, but they didn't have anything to draw from. So, now, that belief is growing. They've been through everything. They've been in triple overtime, double overtime, single overtime, down 10...they've been through everything now. So, it's like if they haven't been together, now this year has sped up their growth. Now we starting to believe, but it's late in the year. Still some season left, but they just started to believe. They're buying into the scheme and system, they're talking more, listening to each other's voice. Schematically, we did change up a bit. I think as a staff we've learned a lot over the last three weeks about our team as well."

On what the team identity is now

"From day one, my message was we wanted to be gritty, not pretty. I thought Boston College - and I still believe it - is a hard worker's place. It's a fighter's place. It's a blue collar mentality. People like to win. People like to be tough. So, we've been pursuing that since day one. Over a thousand days we've been pursuing that. We've shown it, but this year it's been fleeting from us, we've been fighting for it. So, now, recently, we've started to see the fruit of our labor. The guys got to stay humble. We can't put the carriage in front of the horse like we've figured it out because it takes a lot of hard work to do what we're doing, to hold opponents down and to rebound the first miss. I'm proud of their efforts, but from day one it's been about being gritty and tough, matching the identity of the place we actually working at."

On senior day

"it's the shortest tenured senior I've ever seen in my life. Usually, it's four years and everybody crying and stuff. Those guys did a good job for us. They really high character people. So, the thing I've enjoyed the most about those two - not only they play hard for us on the court - but, you know, like Roger McFarlane's professor invited him to Thanksgiving to her house with the family. Chad Venning has a 3.4 GPA getting his Masters. They show up every day, they got a good attitude, they haven't changed since they've been here. I think we hit it right on the character and they good players, but they're actually bette people than they are players. That's been the joy I've found working with them every day. They have helped us trying to stabilize our program in a year where we have a lot of new guys. I think we hit it right having that character. We've been able to overcome some adversity with their character and their leadership."

(Inaudible question)

"You've got to embrace it and try to find a way to make it work, That's where we are. There's been a climate change in college basketball, college athletics. That's where we are. We've got to embrace it and buy into it and find joy in it. I'll be a part of their life because they've come through our program and we have a relationship. I just think that's the new normal. I think you have to expect to have four of five new players. Those two are major impacts to our program."

On Donald Hand Jr.

"He's a third-year player in our program, so his belief is really high. He's got a lot of equity built up. He's made a lot of investments into the program. So, he can draw from that. He's got the green light - sometimes it's too green - and I've got to get him to try to get it back to yellow. But, he's a third year guy. He's a second-year player and if you think about how he's developed...all of the games I scout from last year, he wasn't in the game. It's been an accelerated growth for him. I think the opportunity and the minutes is something that's helped him, but I think his belief in what we trying to do...he's the first recruit we signed here. We signed him to come here and be gritty and tough and work hard and be a good person. So, he know all of that. I just think he's starting to see the fruit of his labor."

On Elijah Strong could see more playing time

"Yeah, I think so. He was out with mono, so that's a lot of games...he missed like six or seven games. So, the team had formed a new rhythm. So, he came back and it took him a few games to adjust, conditioning, his rhythm of the game. He had a great game tonight, 10 points in 14 minutes. But, we're going to need him coming down the stretch. I think him and Roger McFarlane will have a chance to share those minutes at the four position."

On 18 three point attempts in the first half

"I wanted to touch the paint first, so we didn't really come out saying 'hey let's launch up threes.' But, analytically, eight times three is 24, so 24 points on 18 possessions is like a really high point per possession. That was the shot that was available after driving it in the paint and they were doubling our big guy. So, we knew if they doubled get it out, swing it to the weak side, so when they were trying to recover on the weak side, the threes were finding us and we had to take them. We have five guys shooting over 37% from three. So, we gotta embrace that."

On the challenge of playing two bigs vs. G-Tech

"It's a challenge. They beat us up in the first game with the two bigs. So, obviously, Roger is really a small forward. But, when Elijah was out, he was the only power forward we had, so we had to play four guards. We found a new identity and we've been ganging up on the defensive glass, making sure we all work together as a committee. A lot of teams are bigger than us at the four, so Elijah being back, he gives us some more legitimate power forward in terms of size. It's a challenge but the guys fight hard and figure it out."