NC State 76, BC 62: Eagles Throttled by Wolfpack

Brief win streak over.

On Thursday night in Raleigh, the Boston College Eagles men’s basketball team went on the road and came back with a big loss, 76-62, to NC State. The Eagles have fallen to 7-11 (2-2) and they have been defeated soundly in both conference road games so far.

The game started poorly for the Eagles and, after a brief surge where they tied the game, the wheels flew off. Boston College had tied the game, 21-21, on a three-pointer by Dennis Clifford, but thereafter, NC State went on a 24-7 run to close out the half.

In the second half, things did not go much better, as BC continued their lethargic play with extended periods of poor shooting and poor ballhandling, as well as an entire game’s worth of non-existent transition defense. The game was never close again after the Wolfpack made their huge run late in the first. It is not that the Eagles quit, but from the beginning and throughout the game, it never really appeared as though BC was “there.” The tempo was highly favorable to NC State and it was clear that the Eagles were not going to be able to keep up.

BC’s stats were terrible across the board. The Eagles were outrebounded 40-23, they turned it over 17 times, gave up 13 offensive rebounds, and had the ball stolen away an astounding 16 times. Further, the Eagles were just 3-7 from the free throw line and just barely shot 40% while NC State shot 51.6% from the floor.

What is very concerning now is that Patrick Heckmann, who began the season looking like a leader on this team, has been useless offensively over a stretch of several games. There may still be lingering injury issues, but he is not the same player we saw that had a few big games early. Heckmann’s stat line showed him with seven points, but virtually all of them came in the last few minutes; he was invisible the rest of the time and committing turnovers. Here’s to hoping that he finds a much more consistent game, fast.

It would be unfair to single Heckmann out, however, as very few players on BC had even a decent night. For example, “Bad Humphrey” returned, going 2-8 (0-5 three), and BC’s starting lineup did not do enough in general. Kyle (“KC”) Caudill and Danny Rubin looked okay off the bench.

There are no two ways about it: Boston College played a poor game on Thursday night. There will be another quick turnaround for the Eagles as they attempt to rebound, as their next game is Saturday afternoon at home against Wake Forest.