PREVIEW: Boston College at Notre Dame
By Danny Schantz
Boston College will try to spoil Senior Night for Notre Dame tonight, as the 9-20 Eagles travel to South Bend to take on the 22-7 Fighting Irish. The two teams faced off earlier in the year, which resulted in an 84-76 Notre Dame victory after a weak second half for Boston College. Since then, Notre Dame has jumped up to Number 16 in the AP Polls, and BC has continued their losing streak, which currently stands at 12 losses in a row. With only Notre Dame and Clemson left in the Eagles’ regular season, let’s look at what BC needs to do to finish the season off strong.
CONTAIN BONZIE COLSON
Colson is averaging 16.8 points, 10.6 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 1.4 blocks this season while shooting 52% from the field and 81% from the free throw line. BC fans watched with horror earlier in the season as Colson led the Fighting Irish’s second half comeback, going for 20 points and 6 rebounds. It also doesn’t help that he has been on a tear recently; over the past 5 games, he is averaging 22.6 points and 10.6 rebounds per game while shooting 64% from the field. Most recently, he put up a 20-point, 11-rebound performance against Georgia Tech on Sunday evening…he’s clearly a problem. BC will have to look to a combination of Jeffers, Tava, and Popovic to contain Bonzie Colson.
NEGATE THE SENIOR NIGHT ENERGY WITH AN EARLY START
In their last matchup, Jim Christian’s squad put up 49 points in the first half, and held Mike Brey’s bunch to 39 points. They’ll need another strong, early start to quiet the crowd and defuse the Senior Night adrenaline that Notre Dame will likely be feeding off of. Hopefully, the Eagles will be able to continue the momentum into the second half and fend off any attempt of a comeback.
STRONG BC GUARD PLAY
Ky Bowman and Jerome Robinson will need to score and protect the ball if BC has any chance of winning this game. Ky Bowman is averaging 19.3 points and 6.4 boards and shooting 50.8% from 3-point range over his last 10 games for the Eagles, while Robinson is averaging 19.4 points, 3.9 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game this season. They’ll need to do a better job taking care of the ball though— the team is 308th in turnovers per game at 14.8, and that starts with the backcourt. Bowman and Robinson both need to play at the high level that they’ve proven capable of throughout the season.
Prediction
What fun is it to bet against BC?
BC 82 ND 77