Three straight losses – including one to Dartmouth – a way-too-close win vs. Stonehill and now on Saturday, a 103-77 blowout loss to SMU.
Since the Cayman Islands Classic win, things have been pretty ugly for the men’s basketball team.
The Eagles dropped to 7-5 on the year and 0-2 in the ACC with the home loss on Saturday.
The frustrating part for fans isn’t just the fact that BC was actually down by just three (60-57) with a little under 15 minutes remaining, but it’s Grant’s lack of timeout usage during big runs (SMU went on some big second half runs including 14-0 and 17-2) or puzzling lineup decisions.
There’s also a lot of little things BC isn’t doing well. The Eagles were 24-33 from the free throw line, turned the ball over 16 times and only had nine team assists.
Here’s everything Grant had to say after the loss:
On Chad Venning only playing 11 minutes
“He hadn’t practiced the last couple days dealing with a back issue. So, he tried to do the best he could to help us today. He was around yesterday in practice trying to get back to the floor. So, really appreciative of him giving the effort. It was a game time decision. Didn’t know if he’d play or not, but it wasn’t anything disc wise, nothing long term. He sprained it or had some spasms…wasn’t able to do what he’s capable of.”
On the difficulty of defending SMU in transition
“Really hard. It’s a major key. For the most part, we did a good job keeping them out of transition. A major key was keep them in the half court. In terms of our ball care, making sure we get good shots. That was crucial for us. We did it for the majority of the game but it got away from us for a four minute spurt where they showed great explosiveness and we forced some thing staying to get some seven-point or eight-point plays. We didn’t keep chipping away at it and just kept bleeding.”
On the turnovers
“Some of them were unforced. Some of them was just length and athleticism. I’ll have to go back and watch the film. Typically, we’ve been good taking care of the ball. Tonight – or today – we didn’t do it.”
On if BC gets in trouble when the ball stops moving
“You know, they went back from man-to-man and zone. They actually play the same zone we play, so we see it all the time. I thought we got the ball in some good spots and we didn’t…maybe we didn’t make the right decision, but there is length under the rim. They’re long and tall with athleticism, so you’ve got to make quick decisions, make the right decisions. I thought three bad decisions hurt us. They converted on each of them. They hit a couple threes and got a dunk. The game goes from four to 15 with the snap of a finger. Give SMU credit. They played and they made the shots. We didn’t do what we needed to do. We did it for 30 minutes, but it’s a 40 minute game.”
On SMU hitting the boards in the second half after only grabbing 11 in the first
“I thought going into the game transition defense and defensive rebounding was critical. That’s why I said we did a great job of doing that and that’s why the game was a one possession game. But, you get to that segment and you ask the question ‘what happened in that segment?’ I think allowing them to get out and play fast in the open court…there’s a lot more free rebounds. Typically, you got them in the half court, you can account for every man. A few of our turnovers and a few of our shots allowed them to get out and run free, so the rebounds, they had free reign to run in…send three guys to try and tip it out and that’s what happened.”
On if things change having to play Jayden Hastings over Venning
“I thought Jayden did a great job. He had his career high in minutes (29), he had his career high in points (9). He was able to go in there and battle against those guys all night. They were sending three and four guys at him. So, for him to stay out of foul trouble and have a career high in points and play a career high minutes as a freshman in that type of game…you know, I thought he did a great job. They are different. Jayden’s more athletic, more quick twitch. So, the way we play, Chad has been a big part of our offense. We made some adjustments to try and put Jayden in position to be successful and I thought he did a really good job in the minutes that he played.”
On what SMU presented that allowed BC to have front court success early in the game and how it changed
“Obviously, we spend a lot of time talking about post defense and keeping the ball out. So, our bigs and our perimeters did a good job digging the ball out of the post. We didn’t get hurt there. I think where the game changed was Boopie Miller took control of the game. Point guard. That’s a savvy veteran. He just took control of the game. Really started to be aggressive. Really started to push the pace. He and Matt Cross, two really experienced guys…I thought they impacted the game the most. I think Matt might have had a career game today, but Boopie Miller was a big reason for the tempo and the pace of the game change. I thought he did a great job of quarterbacking their team and controlling the game.”
On if there was a reason Fred Payne only had 5 minutes
“Not really. Fred went in, Every night is different. Obviously, Dion Brown had his best game (20 points) for us at BC. Donald Hand had 23 points. So, you know, it’s just a matter of other guys who are playing good basketball. Fred’s a really talented player. He’s helped us. He’s another young guy, a freshman that’s been unbelievable. Tonight just wasn’t his night. But, he’s done a great job for us.”
