After a seven-point loss to No. 17 Virginia at home on Saturday afternoon, Boston College men’s basketball returned to action on Tuesday night against No. 4 Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Eventually, the Eagles fell by a score of 67-49.
Final. pic.twitter.com/vZRRQBIhBO
— BC Men’s Basketball (@BCMBB) February 4, 2026
The game seemed to get away from the Eagles before it even began. With 16:04 left in the opening half, Earl Grant was forced to call a timeout as BC trailed 11-0. At that point, BC had missed its first five shots and given away three turnovers.
“I wasn’t expecting that start,” said BC head coach Earl Grant. “We hadn’t experienced that all year. But they did hit us pretty hard early, got the crowd into it.”
Fred Payne finally gave BC its first bucket of the game with 14:59 left in the first half. Payne added another layup 35 seconds later. The play was reviewed for a Flagrant after Payne’s arm caught Duke’s Nik Khamenia in the face.
Duke star freshman Cam Boozer took over in the early stages of the matchup, scoring nine of the Blue Devils’ opening 16 points. Duke opened by making 10 of its first 11 shots as BC’s defense was sliced apart. There was no real deterrent at the rim as Duke found easy layups and dunks.
Fred Payne continued his hot start with a right-handed jam through two defenders that cut Duke’s lead to 22-13 with 11:28 remaining.
Boden Kapke, who’s been one of BC’s most consistent players all season, picked up his second foul with just 9:13 left in the first half.
The Eagles’ offense recovered after the 11-0 Duke start. The Blue Devils held a 29-18 advantage at the under-eight media timeout, meaning both teams scored 18 points after Duke’s early blitz.
“If you take out the first four minutes of the game, I thought we played pretty good basketball,” Grant said.
Out of the timeout, the Blue Devils splashed back-to-back three-pointers to push their lead to 17 points.
Boozer put the exclamation point on Duke’s opening half with a posterizing jam over Jayden Hastings. The Blue Devils held a 42-27 lead at the break, the most first-half points allowed by the Eagles all year.
Duke opened up a 20-point lead less than five minutes into the second half as BC’s offense went ice cold once again. The Eagles were able to respond with four consecutive points as the Blue Devils took a 51-35 lead into the under-12 media timeout.
Jason Asemota came off the bench to hit his second three-pointer with 5:18 left to cut Duke’s advantage to 13.
The Eagles couldn’t get any closer, though. Duke eventually closed out a 67-49 victory.
Fred Payne was the only Eagle in double digits, as he scored 14 points.
BC will return to Conte Forum on Saturday at 2 p.m. ET to face off against Miami on ACC Network.
