Boston College men’s basketball has lost its last five games in ACC play, but it hasn’t been for a lack of effort.
Outside of its 18-point loss to Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Tuesday, Feb. 3, BC’s largest margin of defeat during the losing streak was seven points against No. 15 Virginia on Jan. 31.
In the Eagles’ other three losses, they’ve been defeated by four points once and six points twice.
The first setback that began the dry spell came at the hands of Notre Dame on Jan. 24. The Eagles lost the game in South Bend by a score of 68-64, even though they held an 11-point lead at the break. Fred Payne logged a team-high 18 points while Donald Hand Jr. added 17 points of his own.
BC returned to Conte Forum to take on then-No. 17-ranked Virginia and again held a lead at the halftime break. The Eagles couldn’t capitalize on the 32-27 advantage, though, and eventually fell 73-66 to the Cavaliers. Hand Jr. paced the team with 20 points.
Against No. 4 Duke, BC faltered off the bat, going down 13-0 early. The Eagles hung tight with the Blue Devils for the rest of the matchup, losing the second half by just two points and eventually falling 67-49.
In the first two games of a three-game home stand, BC faced off against Miami and Stanford. The Eagles lost 74-68 to the Hurricanes after trailing by one point at the half. Hand Jr. again poured in 20 points, this time using his three-point shot to do damage. He shot 4-6 from three-point range on the night.
In its most recent matchup against Stanford, BC lost again by six points. The Eagles and the Cardinal were knotted at 34 apiece at the break, but BC couldn’t execute down the stretch and eventually fell 70-64. On top of that, Donald Hand Jr. went down with a lower-body injury and played just 10 minutes.
According to BC head coach Earl Grant, the Eagles are right there. He said the following after Wednesday night’s defeat:
“We lost the game. Seems like it’s a broken record, we’re talking about a possession game. You’re talking about two possessions. And it’s like it’s all the time, the same scenario. So we have to be better.”
BC will close out its stretch of home games on Saturday, Feb 14. Against Cal, hoping to snap its winless streak in conference play. The game will be shown on ACC Network.
