Coming into last night’s matchup, Boston College was dead last in three point percentage, shooting below 29% for the season. This game was a different story, as the Eagles shot a blistering 50% on 12-24 from behind the arc. Boston College’s marksmanship from deep powered them to blow through Tech’s defense for most of the night.
“We tried to offer as much help as we could through the post but could never get the matchup we wanted,” Mike Young told reporters postgame. “Back out to the perimeter it comes and they made some shots that they haven’t made over the course of the year.”
Boston College snakebit Young and the bunch from Blacksburg once again, defeating the Hokies 82-76 inside Cassell Coliseum Wednesday night. It’s now five in a row for BC over Tech as the Eagles officially sweep the season series en route to their sixth ACC victory.
“Thankful that our players were able to experience that,” Boston College head coach Earl Grant said to the media. “Ton of respect for their program, they have great players and they are doing great stuff. Fortunately, we were able to play well enough to win.”
Believe it or not, Tech led for the better part of the first 10 minutes. The dynamic duo in the frontcourt of Grant Basile and Justyn Mutts shouldered a heavy load to provide Tech with enough offensive support.
However, once the Eagles broke through the Hokies' defensive lines, they soon went on a game-changing run. What was once a 20-18 Tech lead became 37-24 favoring Boston College.
“Can’t say I’ll be excited, but I’ll be interested to go back and see it all on film to see exactly what transpired,” Young said. “I hate that we had to lose that ball game to learn those lessons that we harped on for a long time.”
The Eagles dominated the Hokies in several key areas. BC’s big margin in outside shooting, ball movement, and rebounding proved to overwhelm Tech at every stage of the second half.
First, the difference in three-point shooting was staggering. While the Eagles hit a season-high 12 threes, the Hokies couldn’t open the lid to the rim, shooting 31% from downtown at 10-32.
“Those kids took great shots, didn’t seem to have the same pop but that’s rare for our teams,” Young said. “It affected our defense too which can’t happen. You’re going to have nights where you don’t shoot it well but you have to continue to do the right things.”
Boston College also feasted on Tech in the rebounding department. The Eagles beat up the Cassell boards to the tune of a 40-30 rebounding advantage. At one point, Tech was down 15 to BC on the glass before turning it on just a bit at the end.
“Our team has been pretty good in that regard against some really good teams,” Young said. “We’re just behind some plays because of what we’re trying to do defensively, and had some missed box outs as well.”
The Hokies put on an entertaining show in the last few minutes to cut the deficit to single digits and down to two possessions several times. Sean Pedulla and Grant Basile knocked down timely shots to pull within striking distance. Ultimately, Tech still fell short as the Eagles weathered each storm with timely shots of their own.
“We came out with a passion against these guys when we saw the spread,” Quinten Post said postgame. “13.5 their way didn’t sit right with me and we beat them at home earlier this year so we were really fired up and wanted to play physical.”
Post was the main man for the Eagles as he totaled 24 points on 9-14 shooting to go along with 10 rebounds. On the other side, Tech’s big man Basile had his best game in maroon and orange and maybe even as a college basketball player. Basile scored a career-high 33 points on 12-21 shooting and four made three pointers.
“We did a good job sharing the ball and playing out of the post a lot, had good looks offensively and played really hard down the stretch.” Grant Basile said postgame.
Justyn Mutts was one of two other Hokies to crack double figures in points, scoring 16 of them and grabbing six rebounds as well as dishing out four assists. Pedulla poured in 12 points but had a disappointing 4-13 efficiency and fouled out in the last minute of the game.
Tech’s other trusty guard Hunter Cattoor struggled to find the ocean from three, shooting 2-10 for the game. Altogether, the Hokies guard shot 6-24 from the field, good for an ugly 25% overall. It’s safe to say that this Tech offense lives or dies by the efficiency of their backcourt.
“We had guys shooting the ball in places we wanted them to shoot it at, we're 25 games into this thing now and we are not reinventing the wheel,” Young said. “We got good players and guys that can really shoot the basketball just have to do it better moving forward.”
Virginia Tech falls to 4-9 in ACC play and 14-10 overall. The loss puts a significant dent into the Hokies' NCAA Tournament at-large bid hopes despite Tech’s previous major victories. The Hokies will move to a two-game road slate which starts out in South Bend, Indiana where Tech faces Notre Dame this Saturday.
