Georgia Tech 51, BC 47: Eagles Drop Sixth in a Row

Even young teams have to take advantage of the opportunities afforded to them.

On Saturday afternoon in Atlanta, Boston College did not. The Eagles were defeated by the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, 51-47, for their sixth-straight defeat. BC has fallen to 7-16 (2-7) on the season.

The first half of the game was very slow, with both teams only combining for 39 points and a low-30% shooting percentage. The Eagles turned the ball over 10 times in that period (but only 14 for the game), though just when it looked like they would take a paltry 16 points into the locker room, Lonnie Jackson scored a three-pointer with less than a second remaining to put BC down just one.

During the first half, Boston College went a touch over ten minutes without scoring a field goal, though the Yellow Jackets did little scoring of their own.

In the second, the Eagles had their moments, taking the lead on occasion but mostly playing catch-up. In the end, however, Boston College was unable to make the shots they needed to win or send the game into overtime and the Jackets held on.

BC’s best player was easily Matt Humphrey, not only scoring 15 points but hustling, blocking shots, and trying to create turnovers. Ryan Anderson hit a critical shot towards the end and gained 11 rebounds, but otherwise was ice-cold offensively for the rest of the game. He had plenty of company, as the Eagles outside of Humphrey shot 11/39 (28%) from the floor.

Games like this are very frustrating to lose. First, it was a bad contest and neither team is decent. The game was boring for long stretches and it was obvious that neither team was good enough to pull away from the other. Georgia Tech made plenty of mistakes and tried handing this game to BC on a silver platter, but the Eagles simply did not play well enough to take it from them. When your opponent has a lousy game and scores 51 points, you do not expect to lose, and yet, that is precisely what the Eagles did.

A better, and perhaps more experienced BC team may have won this game — at least, one would hope. As for now, the level of frustration is compounded by the fact that we know the Eagles will be afforded very few opportunities to win from here on, and they let a winnable game get away. This season may “not be about be about wins and losses,” but wins bring confidence and get peoples’ attention. BC could use some more before this losing streak becomes too long.

Unfortunately, their next game does not look like a good candidate to supply ACC win #3: they are hosting a (currently) ranked Florida State team on Wednesday night.