Boston College Basketball Wilts in 82-64 Blowout at NC State

Rob Kinnan-USA TODAY Sports

Wednesday night brought more road disappointment for the visiting Boston College Eagles. The North Carolina State Wolfpack defeated the Eagles, 82-64, in their ACC conference game in Raleigh. With the loss, BC falls to 12-16 (4-11) on the season and has now lost seven away games in a row.

The story for the Eagles was quite familiar, at least in ACC play. Boston College was entirely ineffective on offense for approximately the first twelve minutes of game time at NC State, falling behind 22-6 with close to eight minutes to go in the first half. About the only positive for BC came towards the end of the first, when the Eagles rolled off an 11-0 run and were able to eventually close to within three points.

Another familiar story, however, was NC State forward Scott Wood’s systematic destruction of BC basketball. Near the expiration of time before the half, Wood made a tough three-pointer to push the Wolfpack lead back up to six; Wood ended up scoring 17 points in what may be his final game against the maroon and gold team he has dominated over the years.

Give BC credit for not having folded down 16 points in the first half, but the problem was that they eventually did fold in the second. Certainly, there were some questionable calls by the officials, but in all honesty, the Eagles were going to lose this game badly regardless of some of the ticky-tack nonsense. North Carolina State came out and did what they had to do, but aside from about ten minutes of inspired play, BC put forth a poor effort.

Calling it a poor effort is just and accurate, but that is the sort of thing to which Eagles fans are accustomed on the road this season. We are getting to the stage now where the “young and inexperienced” classification of the BC basketball team does not carry much weight anymore. As it stands, they have played almost two full seasons. Most teams are good for a stinker here and there, and there is no shame in losing to NC State, but this was another highly inconsistent, flat, and disappointing effort by the Eagles. The offense was extremely streaky, with BC either being very hot or comatose, and the defense was ineffective all night. In short, NC State completely outplayed the Eagles, and it’s days like these where we might not be so sure what the future might bring.

Unless the Eagles win their last three plus at least two games in the ACC Tournament, which almost certainly is not going to happen, they’re sure to have a losing record once again this year. BC will look to get back on track on Sunday afternoon at Conte Forum against the Virginia Cavaliers.