Boston College Eagles Basketball Walloped By Duke Blue Devils 89-68
By Kyle Egan
Feb 8, 2014; Chestnut Hill, MA, USA; Duke Blue Devils forward Jabari Parker (1) dunks against the Boston College Eagles during the second half at Silvio O. Conte Forum. Mandatory Credit: Mark L. Baer-USA TODAY Sports
Another game against a tough ACC opponent, another loss for Steve Donahue and the Boston College Eagles. The Superfans came in droves to see the disappointing Eagles’ men’s basketball team who came into the game with a 6-16 record (2-7 ACC) go against the Duke Blue Devils (18-4, 7-3 ACC) with remarkable freshman forward Jabari Parker at the helm.
Duke took an early lead in the beginning off a few three balls and just looking much better than the Chestnut Hill competition. However Boston College was able to come back and were tied multiple times with the Blue Devils in the last ten minutes of the first half.
Boston College ended the first half being down by only four points. But Duke led by Jabari Parker with 29 points, 16 rebounds and Quinn Cook contributing 21 points off the bench. Duke turned their four point lead at half into nearly thirty midway through the second half and ended up winning 89-68.
Olivier Hanlan who had 25 points on 8 of 16 shooting led Boston College’s scoring. Ryan Anderson and Joe Rahon donated 12 and 11 points respectively.
Some observations:
1. Boston College still cannot rebound
Boston College was outrebounded by Duke by a measure of 37 to 23. On the offensive side, Duke picked up 12 rebounds compared to only 7 from Boston College. Ryan Anderson, Boston College’s “big man”, was bullied only grabbing 6 balls and was blocked multiple times. Other rebounding support on the team was minimal.
2. The bench had no impact
This is the usual case with Boston College this season as the bench was only to pick up 6 points using Donahue’s seven man “rotation” for most of the game. It seems like Patrick Heckmann is in Donahue’s dog house as the German was only put in the game for four minutes. The team lacks any semblance of depth and this showing continues to put that on full national display.
3. Jabari Parker is one heck of a player
He looks NBA ready. He is so big and his athleticism was put on full display at Conte Forum for the Superfans. Many students sacrificed their early Saturday nights just to see him play in person. He is dominant on the inside and was able to exploit the mismatches Boston College’s undersized team threw at him. Parker has gained comparisons to Carmelo Anthony. However, I feel like Parker can be more athletic than Anthony and might not be as much of a shooter. We shall see as he continues his career at Duke. It seems that he will remain at Duke for at least another season which could be bad news for Boston College(though honestly, that’s the least of their problems).
Nothing will change until a new head coach is put in place. The rotations aren’t working. The fact that there are no more than eight players that could possibly play on the floor during real time in a game is indicative of the recruiting disaster that Steve Donahue has fostered at Chestnut Hill. There are more holes in this team than bathroom cameras at Sochi. Thankfully we will only have to deal with Boston College Men’s Basketball for little more than a month.
Boston College drops to 6-17 (2-8 ACC) while Duke boosts their record to 19-4 (8-3 ACC). The Eagles next play in Atlanta against Georgia Tech on Wednesday, February 12th at 7 PM. The game can be seen on ESPN3.