A New Era in Chestnut Hill, BC Set to Open Season vs. Wagner as Luke Murray Makes Debut
By: Luke Ballard
CHESTNUT HILL, MA – The dawn of a new era is upon us in Conte Forum, as BC Men’s Basketball kicks off their season against Wagner tonight at 7 pm.
Per Maddie Townsend, WZBC Sports Radio
With Boston College’s newest head coaching hire, Luke Murray, set to take the helm, BC looks to turn the page on what was a less-than-satisfactory five years under the Earl Grant administration. Murray, by way of UConn, is a two-time national champion and a highly experienced coach, credited with running the Huskies’ offense in the 2023 and 2024 national championship runs.
With no NCAA Tournament berth since 2009, the second-longest active streak in NCAA DI, only behind DePaul, Murray has his sights set on soaring the Eagles back to their former heights.
“I’ve said it repeatedly–I don’t plan on sort of shying away from it–the NCAA tournament,” Murray stated when speaking about this season’s goals, “that’s certainly like our north star.”
Murray has arrived in Chestnut Hill with large ambitions of returning to glory. Consequently, BC’s roster and coaching staff have for the most part been entirely overturned. Only Will Eggemeier, a senior walk-on, and redshirt freshman Jack Bailey were retained by Murray.
As a result, nine of Murray’s 13 transfer portal additions are upperclassmen, with the remaining four being two freshmen and two sophomores. Murray’s roster construction lives up to his statement pertaining to the March Madness push.
Highlighting Murray’s portal class is star guard Money Williams, a senior transfer from Montana who averaged 20.6 points per game on 49.3 percent from the field. Williams chose Murray and Boston College over schools like Missouri, UNLV, and Saint Mary’s.
Flanking Williams tonight will be Merrimack transfer Ernest Shelton and Ball State transfer Armoni Zeigler, who was featured on SportsCenter’s Top 10 plays last week after going up and over an MIT defender to land what may be the greatest collegiate poster of all time.
WATCH IT HERE: Zeigler’s Top 10 Dunk, via @overtime on X.
The front court tonight for Boston College will likely feature Brandon Benjamin, the sophomore power forward from Fairfield who averaged 14.2 points per game and 10.4 rebounds. Benjamin, standing at 6-8, will be a monstrous presence on the glass for BC all season. At Center, Murray will likely either start Aly Tounkara, a 7-0 junior from Arkansas State, or Luke Hunger, the 6-10 graduate transfer who most recently had stints at George Washington and Northwestern.
With tip-off set for 7 pm, Murray gets ready to take on the school that gave him his first full-time job. The Eagles will enter the contest as 19.5-point favorites, as ESPN’s matchup predictor gives them a 94.4 percent probability of winning the season opener.