Auburn 77, Boston College 67: Eagles Grounded Again

Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports

On Sunday afternoon in the State of Alabama, the Boston College Eagles were defeated by the Auburn Tigers, 77-67.

With the loss, the Eagles have fallen to 4-8 (0-1) on the season with two non-conference games to go. Boston College is guaranteed a losing record outside of ACC play this year.

The Eagles played a competitive first few minutes, but as the game wore on, the Eagles’ competitiveness wore off. Auburn closed the half on a big run to take a 13-point lead into the half. That advantage for the Tigers bounced mostly through double-digits for most of the second, ballooning to as many as 20 points early. The Eagles showed some resiliency in the second half but were never able to make the game legitimately close again.

Of most concern to the Eagles – again – was the lack of three-point defense. Auburn came into the contest as the worst three-point shooting team in the SEC. The Tigers made ten threes on Sunday, many of which were open looks. Turnovers (13), low-percentage three-point shooting (30.4%), and free-throw misses (9) were also a factor in this one.

Olivier Hanlan led all Eagles in the game with 28; Auburn’s KT Harrell led all scorers with 29. Ryan Anderson was the only other Eagle in double-figures with 11.

Boston College is now 4-8 with two eminently losable non-conference games coming against VCU and Harvard, with ACC play to come shortly thereafter. The Eagles’ only win this month was a Division II team that played two games in two states in less than 24 hours, and was within a basket with ten minutes to go. That should tell you all you need to know about this season for the Eagles, which has quickly devolved into a complete embarrassment.

Boston College returns to action on Saturday at the Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn against the VCU Rams.