BC sophomore Jaeden Zackery may not be the best player on the Eagles’ roster, but he’s quickly becoming one of the most valuable as the Eagles try to build momentum heading into conference tournament time in about a month or so.

Zackery poured in 15 points on Wednesday night to help BC beat a terrible Louisville team 75-65. It wasn’t necessarily the points that were the most important part of Zackery’s performance - he also had seven assists and three rebounds - but it’s WHEN he’s scoring.

The Eagles offense was ice cold until Zackery began heating up last night. Both Zackery and Makai Ashton-Langford kept BC in it until they could find their stride in the second half. If the Eagles are going to make any kind of noise in the ACC tournament and hopefully find a way to get into the big dance, then they’re going to need guys like Zackery to continue what he’s doing, especially when he sees 38 minutes as he did against the Cardinals.

“He’s a big time player,” head coach Earl Grant said postgame on Wednesday. “As a sophomore, he’s gotten a lot of minutes under his belt. I think he’s really starting to find his rhythm. It’s been hard for him this year because he’s went from the No. 1 option the first 12 games to the third or fourth option with the way our roster is set up. He was the first or second option, now he’s like the fourth, so he can kind of just settle in and take the shots that find him.

“Tonight was more…not only the points, but he had the seven assists as well. I thought he had a really good game.”

As for Zackery’s thought process, he isn’t too worried about what number option he might be offensively these days, but he does take pride in being the guy that can spark the offense when necessary. Or, if it’s defense the Eagles need, Zackery can do that too.

“Yeah, I definitely do,” he said. “Whether it’s offensively, if my game’s up, or I know I can come out defensively and just bring that aggression and help get everyone in the game. Me coming out aggressive on defense, I know that gets everybody kind of feeling they need to do it too, so I try to provide that impact for us when I’m out there.”