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In Year One, Eagles Have Fought for Grant: ‘We Really Love Each Other’

Photo courtesy of BC Men's Basketball
Photo courtesy of BC Men's Basketball

Boston College men’s basketball found itself down by 12 to Clemson Saturday afternoon at the under eight-minute media timeout in the second half.

The Eagles hadn’t logged a field goal in eight minutes and 22 seconds. They were settling for shots early in the shot clock against the Tigers’ matchup zone. Even in transition, they were coming up empty at the rim.

BC, searching for its first three-game ACC win streak since 2014-15, was losing to a Clemson team that was missing leading scorer PJ Hall and had dropped six of its last seven games.

But there was plenty of time left, first-year Eagles head coach Earl Grant said postgame. He told his players, who orchestrated the largest comeback in DI earlier this year—a 23-point, come-from-behind victory against, of all teams, Clemson—that they just had to chip away.

That’s what BC did. The Eagles pulled within six points with a smidge over two minutes remaining. They even forced the necessary turnovers to complete another comeback. Yet, as has often been the case this season, shots simply didn’t fall for BC.

It was a game that the Eagles should have and could have won. Grant, who doesn’t make excuses, acknowledged that Clemson was a step faster to loose balls than his team. That said, he was quick to remind reporters that his guys put in a good effort, too.

Earl Grant coaches during BC's 99-95 overtime loss at Notre Dame on Feb. 16 (Photo: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports).
Earl Grant coaches during BC's 99-95 overtime loss at Notre Dame on Feb. 16 (Photo: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports).
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And while he wasn’t shy about discussing BC’s woes against Clemson’s zone, he did credit his players for hacking away at the second-half deficit. That’s what Grant does.

“If we blow a team out by 30, he’s always looking for things we can work on,” senior center James Karnik said after BC’s win over Florida State on Feb. 21. “And when we lose and have a bad game, he always looks at the positives.

“So he kind of takes the negatives out of the good, and he takes the positives out of the bad.”

Before Saturday’s Senior Day loss to Clemson, there was more good than bad recently for a program that was dead last in the ACC preseason poll and has already exceeded all expectations with six league wins.

The FSU game saw Jaeden Zackery pile up 18 points, eight rebounds, six assists and five steals, while Brevin Galloway pitched in four 3-pointers and Karnik turned in a 16-and-11 double-double.

BC, often plagued by slow starts this year, jumped out to an 11-0 lead and kept its foot on the gas. Both the Seminoles and Eagles were injured and had lost seven of their previous eight games, but BC brought more energy. The Eagles were focused on what Grant calls “winning behaviors” rather than snapping any kind of losing streak.

That means taking charges, rebounding and making good decisions, especially at the rim. It resulted in a 17-assist performance.

After the game, Karnik explained that effort is what Grant cares about more than anything.

BC senior center James Karnik flexes at his bench during a 16-and-11 double-double against Florida State (Photo courtesy of BC Men's Basketball).
BC senior center James Karnik flexes at his bench during a 16-and-11 double-double against Florida State (Photo courtesy of BC Men's Basketball).

“If you just keep swinging and chopping and staying the course, something good is coming,” Grant said after the FSU victory. “If you don’t give in.”

BC followed up its impressive showing against the Seminoles with its second road win of the season—the first of which ended a 707-day drought without a win away from Conte Forum. For the second game in a row, the Eagles threw the first punch and stormed out to a 16-6 lead.

Although North Carolina State, fueled by a two-man game of Dereon Seabron and Terquavion Smith, made things interesting, in part thanks to a 3-2 zone that gave BC fits, the Eagles recovered and maintained a double-digit advantage throughout the back half of the second period.

Grant said afterwards that he feels like his team is getting closer to playing a full 40 minutes. He said the Eagles’ victory in Raleigh—their first there since 2007—was “how it should look in terms of the DNA of this program.”

Quinten Post starred in the win with an efficient 18 points on 9-of-10 shooting, despite playing with a broken nose and wearing a face guard. Both he and Zackery discussed in postgame interviews how the team has really gelled over the course of ACC play, both on and off the court.

“We really love each other,” Post said. “We have loved each other throughout the entire year. But, right now, that’s really showing up because we haven’t given in. We’ve had some tough patches, some losing streaks. But we have not given up. Ever.”

BC freshman point guard Jaeden Zackery has averaged 14 points, four assists, three steals and just 1.1 turnovers in his last seven games (Photo courtesy of BC Men's Basketball).
BC freshman point guard Jaeden Zackery has averaged 14 points, four assists, three steals and just 1.1 turnovers in his last seven games (Photo courtesy of BC Men's Basketball).

To say BC has had some tough patches would be an understatement. The Eagles lost to Albany in non-conference play and then had a 19-day COVID-19 pause that was followed up by an embarrassing 91-65 defeat to North Carolina. It was the heart of the first of two five-game losing skids the Eagles have endured in 2021-22.

Sandwiched in between the two was BC’s worst shooting performance all-time against an ACC opponent: a 25.4% clip in an 87-57 loss at Wake Forest.

BC’s second five-game losing streak saw the Eagles commit a costly 14 turnovers at Virginia and shoot a combined 11-of-56 from deep in a pair of losses to Syracuse.

The Eagles rank second-to-last in ACC play in adjusted offensive efficiency and last in effective field goal percentage, according to KenPom.

It hasn’t been pretty. But Grant never said it would be.

What he promised was effort.

"He kind of just comes into practice every day and just pushes us,” Zackery said. “No matter if it's the day after a game, two days. He'll tell us right when we get off the plane from a road game after a loss, 'We're gonna come in, and we're gonna work tomorrow. That's in the past.”

Soon, this year will be in the past, too, and the Eagles will welcome a 28th-ranked and highly-anticipated 2022 recruiting class. But, first, BC has a bit more time to keep building toward the future of the program.

“We want to be playing our best basketball that we possibly can play when we get to Brooklyn,” Grant said. “And the only way you can do that is you keep getting better. You don't grow weary. You show up every day. You come in and work at it.”

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