The story of the 2024 BC men's basketball team can be summed up very easily.

Two steps forward, three steps back.

After seemingly building momentum with back-to-back wins and the idea of avoiding Tuesday at the ACC tournament still very much in play, BC beat itself in a 84-76 loss against Florida State on Tuesday night.

BC finished with 16 turnovers, went 11-16 from the free throw line while FSU shot 29 free throws (making 21). Most alarmingly, the Eagles simply didn't have the effort it needed on defense to beat the Seminoles. BC also finished 9-22 from beyond the arc. Jaeden Zackery led the team with 19 points, surpassing 1,000 in his career.

Now at 15-11 overall and 6-9 in the league with six games left, it'll take quite a bit of things happening for the Eagles to avoid that Tuesday. This was also the second loss to Florida State in two weeks, having dropped a 63-62 decision at Conte Forum with a rough final possession that didn't result in a shot.

"They made some timely threes, shot a good percentage from three. I thought they did a good job of driving the ball...give them credit. We knew we needed to defend to win this game and we didn't defend at the level we needed to defend at," said Earl Grant.

"We're usually great with ball care (BC came in with the 5th-fewest turnover average in the ACC). They did a good job of turning us over some. Gotta give them some credit, I don't want to take that away from them."

BC found itself in a 43-43 slugfest coming out of halftime after both teams opened with some incredibly hot shooting before cooling off and settling in defensively.

The first five minutes of the second half were similar to the start of the game with both teams shooting well. Three pointers by Devin McGlockton and a near logo three from Claudell Harris tied the game at 50.

BC went up 53-51 with 14:50 left on a Zackery corner three. Harris and Zackery each picked up their third foul right around the same point, adding another obstacle for the Eagles. After several minutes of more back-and-forth bucket making, a bunch of unforced errors by BC led to a 10-0 run and 70-61 FSU lead as the clock ticked under 10 minutes.

"10 minutes to go, there was a cluster of three turnovers and it just...really, that cluster changed the game," added Grant. "We lost by eight, it was tied, e had the turnovers and it went to eight quick. Maybe it went to 10 and that cluster changed the game, simple as that."

Down 74-65, Quinten Post (15 points, 7 rebounds, 2 turnovers) missed one of two free throws with five minutes left, but the Eagles kept sending the Seminoles to the free throw line and struggled to get back on defense after missed shots, allowing FSU to quickly made it a 12-point game (80-68) with four minutes left.

More turnovers and downright ugly possessions down the stretch with Madsen and McGlockton sitting on the bench only made things worse as BC went out with a whimper.

"Well, we went down 10. So, I was searching," Grant said when asked about two of his best players not being on the floor in crunch time. "We weren't getting stops and we were turning the ball over."

This sudden trend of fast starts for BC continued as the Eagles opened up 5-5 from the field and 3-3 from three in the first five minutes - including two for Madsen who continued his red hot shooting - before Harris finally missed a three that was halfway down. Unfortunately, Florida State was 5-7 early, leaving the Eagles with just a one-point lead (13-12) at the first media timeout.

Both teams had some sloppy possessions over the next few minutes with BC turning it over three times. Post had a few tough possessions himself as FSU amped up the pressure, but a three-point-play from the big man with just over 10 minutes left in the half gave the Eagles a 23-21 lead.

Zackery buried his second three of the game o put BC up by five, but four straight horrendous trips on the offensive end for the Eagles quickly allowed the Seminoles to go up 30-26 with a 9-0 run.

With Harris on the bench with two fouls, BC answered with a three-point-play from McGlockton and a runner in the lane from Madsen to tie things back up at 31-31. FSU went back up 34-31, but playing with two fouls, Zackery earned two free throws and knocked them both down to cut it to one with under five to play.

Down 37-34 with 3:00 to play, McGlockton, Donald Hand Jr. and a late Madsen three led to a 41-40 Eagles lead as the clock wound under 40 seconds. In a quick glimpse of the entire season, a BC foul on a made layup handed the Seminoles a 43-41 lead, but Harris knocked down a deep two in the corner with two seconds left to knot things up heading to halftime

BC ended the half at 58% shooting from the field and 6-11 from three, but also committed six turnovers leading to nine FSU points.

Now, BC gets ready for a game at NC State on Saturday, but it's hard to envision much changing the next few weeks. The roller coaster ride will continue, it simply is who the 2024 team is at this point.