BC Drops Close Game to Texas Tech, 75-64
By Ben Neuwirth
The Boston College Eagles (3-1) traveled to Uncasville, Connecticut to face their first real test of the season against the Texas Tech Red Raiders (3-0), ultimately dropping the contest 75-64.
BC was riding high, coming off wins against Maine, South Carolina State and Sacred Heart, but Texas Tech is in a whole other stratosphere from those teams and it showed. Their athleticism overwhelmed the Eagles at times as Red Raider forward Zach Smith had 3 thunderous blocks to go with his 11 points and 9 boards. His teammate, senior guard Keenan Evans was also dynamic, getting to the rim at will and finishing with 29 points on 9-16 shooting.
Both teams played sloppy throughout the 1st half, BC had 8 turnovers, TTech had 9, as they adjusted to the superior competition. Jerome Robinson once again had a slow game as foul trouble had him play only 26 minutes, scoring 10 points. Deontae Hawkins continued his recent play as well, putting up an efficient 10 points along with some solid defense.
BC went into the half down by just 5, a relieving result given that their two backcourt stars, Robinson and Bowman, combined for just 11. In the later period Ky stopped settling for jumpshots and started driving to the hoop, converting his usual ridiculously acrobatic layups and ending with 15 points, 5 boards and 4 dimes.
However, the Eagles were still not able to stop Evans and the rest of the Red Raider offense, 14-31 from the floor in the latter half. The perimeter defense was lacking and Zach Smith’s athleticism seemed to bother Nik Popovic, though a couple of nice passes from Bowman got him a nice stat line at the end of the day, 12 points 7 rebounds.
BC was down by just 5 with the ball at the 1:00 mark in the 2nd half. Alas, a great adjustment by Red Raider Coach Chris Beard, coming out in a zone BC hadn’t seen all game, disrupted the crucial possession. A touchdown pass to Zach Smith for a layup all but ended it as the Eagles played the foul game the rest of the way.
It was a disappointing loss as they seemed to have a good Texas Tech squad within their sights the entire contest. But they didn’t bring their A game today as turnovers and a subpar performance from one of their stars ultimately doomed them. A silver lining is that they played tough and kept the game close, even midst a number of mental errors. If they can cut down on the mistakes, the talent is there for this team to hang with just about anyone.