Syracuse gets Revenge, Smashes BC 76-53
By Ben Neuwirth
Coming off a dominating win over Syracuse in the ACC opener, Boston College traveled to the Carrier Dome looking to sweep the season series. Alas it was not meant to be, as turnovers poor shooting and an Orange team hell bent on revenge were too much for the Eagles as they fell 76-53.
Coach Jim Boeheim lamented his team’s defensive effort after their last contest and they responded today, swarming BC into 15 first half turnovers and holding them to 39% from the field.
Connor Tava was able to punish the 2-3 zone on New Year’s Day with quick hitting passes from the foul line to open cutters and shooters, finishing with 7 assists. Today the ‘Cuse Defense was just a little faster as seemingly every open lane was filled simultaneously by a throng of arms, forcing Tava into 5 turnovers and allowing the Eagles only 11 dimes on the day, compared to 28 in their previous meeting.
BC started the game off strong, jumping out to a 13-12 lead at the 12:55 mark. However over the next 9 and a half minutes they were held without a field goal and the home team jumped out to a 26-15 lead.
Coming out of the half, the Eagles were still unable to crack the zone or crackdown on the Orange’s fast break play as their 11 steals lead to easy buckets. BC was able to cut it down to a 14 point game with 11:12 remaining, but a Tyus Battle three alongside a couple of Tyler Lydon baskets ballooned the lead to 20, where it remained the rest of the game.
Freshman phenom Ky Bowman struggled all day long scoring only 3 points on 1-9 shooting along with a game high 6 giveaways. Without his backcourt partner in top form, Jerome Robinson, 9 points, was also unable to get going, scoring in single digits for only the 2nd time this season. Both appeared reluctant to attack and without their penetration, the BC drive-and-kick offense sputtered.
On a more positive note, young Nik Popovic showed once again that he’s the best big man on the team, putting in a team-high 13 points along with 7 boards. Niko showed the craftly finishing we’ve come to expect from him in addition to several impressive zone-slicing passes. The offense looks so much better with him on the floor and his defense has been steadily improving all season, he’s learned to vertically position his 6-11 frame to avoid foul calls. His 27 minutes were a season high, jump on the Bosnian Bandwagon while you still can.
Overall it was an ugly loss, though not an unexpected one. A team this young is always going to have trouble on the road but when you have 20 turnovers and shoot under 40% it’s gonna be tough to win no matter where you play.
Boston Colleges returns to Conte Forum to face the Virginia Cavaliers on Wednesday, January 18th at 8 PM. You can listen to the WZBC Sports broadcast on 90.3 FM.