Analysis and notes from the Eagles 79-66 loss to Wake Forest...
Play of the game
On the final play of the first half, the Eagles had saw their previous five-point lead dwindle away to a 35 all tie. Boston College led for most of the first half, and had stood in a timeout huddle around their head coach Jim Christian with the chance to take a lead into the locker room if they could execute an offensive possession to finish the half. Coach Christian drew up a perfect ball screen from Nik Popovic at the top of the key for Jerome Robinson to come off and hit his signature pull-up jumper uncontested. If the two defenders over committed to him, Popovic was there rolling to the rim for a wide-open slam if needed. But, just like so many other times throughout his career, Robinson pulled up with great balance and grace and sank a beautiful shot just a couple of feet beyond the free throw line.
The Eagles took a two point, 37-35 lead into the break thanks to the perfect exaction by Coach Christian’s young stars.
Highlight of the game
A play we’ve seen repeatedly ran for Robinson this season. He comes from the right corner towards the middle of the floor where Bowman is dribbling the ball. Robinson fakes like he’s going to catch the ball off a toss from Bowman and begins a dead sprint to get around Bowman, that he uses as a screen. Once around Bowman and free from his defender, he plants his foot and bolts towards the rim to catch an alley-oop pass from Bowman.
The perfect dime from Bowman resulted in an awesome highlight reel dunk as the 6-foot-5 Robinson caught the lob and flushed it over the 6-foot-10 Wake Forest big man, John Collins.
Player(s) of the game
Eagles starting guard and the ACC's second leading scorer, Jerome Robinson played well for BC in the loss. For long stretches of the night, Robinson was the Eagles only source of offense. To go along with his highlight reel alley-oop jam and his midrange jumper that helped BC take a two-point lead into halftime, he also led both teams in scoring.
The Raleigh, N.C. native scored 20 points, had 6 rebounds, two assists, and one steal. Robinson got the free throw line nine times on Tuesday night, which was the most by any player on either team. He went 7-for-9 from the line.
Shooting Struggles
This was really the only thing you can be disappointed about in the Eagles play from the road loss to Wake Forest on Tuesday night. The Eagles led for over 20 minutes, only turned the ball over a season-low eight times, and shot better at the free throw line than their opponents. After setting a new program record for 3-pointers made in a single game in the 15-point win over Syracuse on Sunday with 16 made trey's. BC made only five 3-pointers versus Wake Forest, they shot 30 of them. They made three in the first half and only two in the second, shooting 16.7-percent from deep in the game. BC’s offense was running fluidly all evening long, creating several open looks over and over, but the Eagles just couldn’t get them to fall.
Good Start on the Road
Tuesday's game at Wake Forest was the Eagles first true road game of the season. A roster filled with mostly young players coming off a big conference opening win just two days earlier could've came out flat, BC didn't. They jumped out to an instant lead and led 13-9 at the first media timeout. The Eagles went into halftime leading and held the lead in the game for 20:07. Boston College continues to show signs of maturity and evolving into a tough basketball team that loves to compete. It's disappointing for the players, coaches, and fans to lose a game where you led for most the game to go along with getting the exact looks you want on offense, but they just couldn't find the bottom of the net.
Popovic's Technical Foul
The young BC big man Nik Popovic continues to impress on both ends of the floor for the Eagles, especially on offense. At one point in the first half on Tuesday he scored six straight points for Boston College. In the second half, when Wake Forest starting hitting some shots and the momentum was finally starting to tilt their way, Popovic was tagged with a technical foul for slamming the ball down after a foul was called on him while establishing position in the paint for a post feed. This was right after Popovic set-up for a charge call on the defensive end but the referee didn’t see it that way, and the 6-foot-11 Serbian got hit with a blocking foul. Because of the technical on Popovic the Demon Deacons pushed their lead from ten points out to 13 as they hit one of the two free throws and their center John Collins got a dunk down low. Coach Christian talked after the game about how they’ve been working with Popovic since the summer on reigning in his emotions while on the floor, something he and many young guys struggle with on the pressure filled big stage. It was a bad time to lose your temper and it cost the team, but for the team and his sake you hope that was the learning lesson he needed to finally get those emotions under control. Coach Christian said in his postgame press conference that Popovic wanted to, and did already apologize to the team in the locker room as soon as the game was over.
Bright Spots
Even in a tough conference loss there were plenty of positives to take from the game. Number one was the Eagles much improved performance from the free-throw line. BC has struggled from the charity stripe this season, especially lately. This roster filled with young guys in their first road game of the year stepped up to the line and went 19-of-24 (79.2%). They outshot the Demon Deacons from there as Wake Forest shot 76-percent from the free-throw line.
Another bright spot in the loss was the offense taking care of the ball. The Eagles had a season-low eight turnovers in the game, after turning it over just 13 times the game before against Syracuse. If BC can continue this recent trend of not turning the ball over, keep improving at the free throw line, and then start knocking down some of their open 3-pointers, then there is no reason why they can’t be competitive the rest of the year.
