SAME FEDORA-NEW CROWN? (DDSCB22)

[PointGuard 70]

Emerald Coast Classic

Articles from The Boston Herald Sports Section:

Eagles in Emerald Coast Classic

The Boston College Eagles are the 4^th seed in the Emerald Coast Classic tournament that begins tomorrow in Niceville, Florida.  The Eagles are matched against the #5 seed Northwestern University Wildcats in the opening round.

Other teams in the tournament include: #1 seed West Virginia, #2 seed Mississippi State, #3 seed Temple, #6 seed New Mexico, #7 seed DePaul, and #8 seed Texas-El Paso.

The Eagles have surprised some this season by winning 5 of their first 6 games.  But both BC and Northwestern, their opening game opponent, have played and lost to Kansas State this season.  Boston College’s new head coach Frederick Aura said, “There’s some good teams in this tournament. Northwestern has been up and down this season so it’s difficult to predict what they’ll do against us.  We just have to play our best and see how things turn out.”

Emerald Coast Classic Quarterfinals:

#1 seed West Virginia Mountaineers  (4-3) vs #8 seed Texas-El Paso Miners (2-5): West Virginia scored an easy 76-54 victory in a game in which the Mountaineers began pulling away after 5 minutes of play and never looked back.

#2 seed Mississippi State Bulldogs (4-1) vs #7 seed DePaul Blue Demons (3-3): Mississippi State beat DePaul 89-81 in a game that was close all the way with 19 lead changes and 12 ties.

#3 seed Temple Owls (4-0) vs #6 seed New Mexico Lobos (1-4): Temple won 85-83 but had to come back in the 2^nd half and never led by more than 4 points.

#5 seed Northwestern Wildcats (3-3) vs #4 seed Boston College Eagles (5-1) at Raider Arena in Niceville, FL

The Eagles came out firing on all cylinders.  Midway through the first half they had hit 10 of their 13 field goal attempts and led 28-19.  Northwestern cut the lead to 4 but then BC went on a late run that gave them a 49-35 halftime advantage.  The Eagles knocked down 68% of their shots and were led by SG James Lilly’s 12 points.

BC scored the first 6 points in the 2^nd half to increase their lead to 20 points. 

Boston College’s shooting cooled in the 2^nd half, but their defense tightened up so that Northwestern was unable to seriously challenge.  The Eagles came away with a  resounding 79-62 win to get them into the semifinals to take on #1 seed West Virginia.

SG James Lilly scored 24 and had 5 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals.  C Jason Caldwell scored 15 points and SF/PF Marvin Reese added 11 points for the Eagles.

After the game Coach Aura said, “We played our best offensively of the season in the first half.  That put the Wildcats on their heels and they were never able to recover.  James Lilly played his usual outstanding game, but Jason Caldwell came on strong in the 2^nd half which was instrumental in our holding onto a big lead.

Emerald Coast Classic Semifinals:

#2 seed Mississippi Bulldogs (5-1) vs #3 seed Temple Owls (5-0):  After trailing by 2 points at the half, Mississippi State’s defense shut down Temple in the 2^nd half to achieve a 71-64 win.

#1 seed West Virginia Mountaineers (5-3) vs #4 seed Boston College Eagles (6-1):

Even though their win-loss record wouldn’t indicate it, West Virginia was a huge favorite in this game, primarily due to the Mountaineers stingy 1-3-1 zone defense that has allowed just 62.4 ppg and the offensive output of SG John Redden who has scored over 25 points in 4 of West Virginia’s 8 games.  BC’s coach Fred Aura said, “We’ll need to play our A game to have a chance against West Virginia.  The Mountaineers have some really talented players.  This will be our first game against a team that uses the 1-3-1 zone so we will need to figure that out quick.”

West Virginia hit 7 of their first 9 three-pointers enroute to a 25-5 lead at the 12:13 mark of the first half.  Even though the Eagles then began to start hitting some shots, the Mountaineers continued to score also and finished the half leading BC 46-24.  SG James Lilly scored 9 but no other player on the Eagles had more than 4 points.

BC scored 9 of the first 11 points in the 2^nd half to get within 15 points of the Mountaineers.  But West Virginia would let them get no closer even though the Eagles shut down their hot shooting.  But the overall strength of the Mountaineers was just too much and Boston College bot thumped 80-57, knocking them out of the tournament.

PF Marius Witt and SF/PF Marvin Reese each scored 14 and SG James Lilly had 11 points and 10 rebounds.  But West Virginia had 5 players scoring in double figures.

“West Virginia took us out of the game early.  Then they were just too powerful for us to make a prolonged run against them,” said Coach Fred Aura.  “West Virginia was seeded #1 for a reason.  Obviously we have a lot of work to do before we can compete with the top teams.  But our guys fought hard to play the Mountaineers even up in the 2^nd half and will work hard to improve throughout the season.”

Emerald Coast Classic Championship:

#2 seed Mississippi State Bulldogs (6-1) vs #1 seed West Virginia Mountaineers (6-3):  West Virginia controlled the game in the first half but only led by a 39-33 score at the half.  Mississippi State rode their dominance of the boards to even the score at 75-75 at the end of regulation.  In the overtime, West Virginia forced the Bulldogs to make numerous turnovers which limited Mississippi State to just 2 points and the Mountaineers won the championship by a score of 84-77.

Edited May 1, 2021 by PointGuard

[PointGuard 70]

Dec. 13, 2025: Cornell Big Red (6-3) vs Boston College Eagles (6-2) at Silvio O. Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, MA

Kinsey Ramsey, Boston College Chronicle reporter

Persistence pays off.  I finally was able to be selected as the primary sports reporter for the school newspaper.  It’s 2025 and still tough for a female in sports media.  Since the basketball team is doing much better this season than it has in recent times, I’ve been interviewing players and coaches to develop a major article highlighting the team.  When I spoke with James Lilly, the team’s star player, he said that he almost didn’t come to BC.  He had a scholarship offer to Indiana, but at the last moment decided he preferred to play nearer where his family is in Springfield, Mass so they could come to his games.  Lilly, who is in his sophomore year here, is presently averaging 19.3 ppg and 6.9 rpg.  Marius Witt, who is in his final year at BC indicated he hadn’t expected much change when Frederick Aura was named head coach.  He’d already had 2 other head coaches during his career here and the team had poor records no matter who was the coach.  But he said he was surprised by the changes Coach Aura has brought and he’s enjoying winning. 

The refs worked over the Eagles in the first half, keeping Cornell in the game.  Coach Aura picked up an early technical foul.  The two teams traded baskets for most of the first half, but the refs’ whistles finally took their toll.  The Big Red went to the line 24 times in the half but more significantly, 3 starters and a sub on the Eagles were benched due to getting into foul trouble.  Cornell took advantage of this late in the half to pull away to a 50-42 halftime advantage.

The Eagles came out fighting both the Big Red and the refs in the 2^nd half…and gradually trimmed the lead and then took a 63-62 lead with 13-1/2 minutes remaining in the game.  The two teams exchanged the lead for several minutes but then again with the help of the refs Cornell opened a 10 point lead with 4 minutes left.  BC made a fast and furious effort that cut the lead to just 2.  But both starting guards had fouled out and both starting interior players had 4 fouls apiece.  The Eagles had to foul in the last minute and ended up losing 96-92.   Cornell won by getting to the line 18 more times and scoring 13 more points than BC.

Leading the scoring for Boston College was C Jason Caldwell with 17 points, followed by SF/PF Marvin Reese with 13 and SG James Lilly with 12.  For Cornell, C Philipp Ray scored 27 points, scoring 13 of those points on 17 trips to the line.

Coach Aura said, “We played a good game but when the other team gets to the foul line 48 times, it’s tough to win.  We outscored Cornell by 9 from the field.  The game was just taken out of our hands.”  Asked about the technical against him, Aura responded, “I deserved it, but the refs deserved what I said.  I thought I had reasons to voice my wrath more later in the game but didn’t want to get tossed out of the game.”

[PointGuard 70]

Dec. 21, 2025: Rutgers Scarlet Knights (6-2) vs Boston College Eagles (6-3) at Silvio O. Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, MA

Jason Braxton, Athletic Director

This is the team’s final game before ACC play begins.  The team needs to come back from a disappointing loss to Cornell in our previous game and finish pre-conference play on an upbeat. 

We’ve got a big crowd here…a good mix of students, alumni, and local fans.  It’s “Fedora Night” so most of the students are wearing fedoras and there will be a “toss a card into a fedora” contest at midcourt during halftime plus “pass the fedora” amongst the crowd for contributions to combat childhood hunger in the Boston area.  Coach Fred Aura sported a brand new fedora on the top of his head.  I often wonder how many fedoras he has.

The Scarlet Knights came out firing bullets.  On the other hand, the Eagles had a hard time getting the ball in the hoop early in the first half.  With 8 minutes remaining, the Eagles had fallen into a 39-19 hole and our crowd was nearly silent.  During the media timeout, Coach Fed must have read the riot act to the team.  Because they came out playing lock-down defense and totally dominating the boards.  And they put points on the scoreboard.  By the end of the half, they had reduced the Rutgers’ lead to 47-41 and our crowd was back in the game with the students coming up with a sustained fedora “wave”. 

Rutgers held onto a small lead in the 2^nd half.  But we finally went on a 10 point run that gave us a 64-61 lead with 6 minutes remaining.  Rutgers struck back to recapture a 3 point lead, but with 3 minutes to go SF Earl Betts buried a 3 from the left corner that put us back on top 71-70.  C Jason Caldwell then stripped the ball away and we brought it upcourt where PF Marius Witt launched a 3 that went cleanly thru the silks to put us up by 4.  Rutgers came back to score on a tightly contested inside jumper on which there was a highly controversial foul.  They converted the 3 point play.  With the Eagles trying to run don the clock, Rutgers was forced to foul.    Caldwell sunk 2 free throws.  The Scarlet Knights rushed off a shot that failed to go down.  We rebounded and PG Willis Lofton converted one of two free throws to ice the game.  We came away with a thrilling 77-73 victory to send our home crowd home happy.

SG James Lilly led our scoring with 19 points plus had 8 rebounds.  SF/PF Marvin Reese scored 12 and PF Marius Witt had 8 points and 10 rebounds.   BC held Rutgers highest scoring player, SG Ty Layne to just 9 points, but their SF Robbie Dollar finished with 21 points.

So a tip of my fedora to Coach Fed and our team!

[PointGuard 70]

Boston College Chronicle

Kinsey Ramsey, Sports Reporter

BC ALSO STANDS FOR “BIG CHANGES”

Our Boston College men’s basketball team finished their pre-conference schedule with a record of 7-3.  The team won 6 of their first 7 games this season giving support to Athletic Director Jason Braxton’s comments before the season began that new head coach Frederick Aura was going to create a new era of basketball strength to BC. “We hired Fred Aura because he had a proven record of turning basketball programs around.  Instantaneous success was never anticipated or expected, but we felt his ability to recruit and develop players will ultimately result in the Eagles again becoming a basketball power.” 

But there still are plenty of doubters, including prolific Boston sports blogger JJ Conroy who has said, “As long as Boston College remains in the Atlantic Coast Conference, at best they will be a middle of the pack team that’s unable to contend with the real powers in the conference.  So don’t be bamboozled by the hype of the BC athletic department.  I can’t see them ever being much more than a .500 team.”

The recruiting of two four-star, top-100 recruits already this fall has given hope to long-suffering BC fans, though.  Ronda Vegara, who said she’s been coming to games at BC for over 20 years said, “I like the way Coach Aura has infused a new attitude within his players.  They are coming onto the court thinking they can win rather than looking like zombies.  And they are playing with an intensity that has been missing here for a lot of years.  I can still recall the thrill of our teams being good and being part of March Madness.  I want to experience that again.”

It’s not only fans, but players who are noticing differences.  “When I was recruited, I was sold on coming to Boston College to be part of a revitalization of the program.  Unfortunately what I experienced the first 3 seasons here was the opposite.  There just wasn’t a real effort to recruit the players needed to improve the program.  So I suffered through 3 years of energy-draining losses,” said Marius Witt, the team’s starting power forward.  “I have to admit I doubted that there would be any change when the third head coach I have had here was hired several months ago.  Each time there was a coaching change, the same song was played…a seeming rendition of ‘Better Days Are Coming’ by Justin Timberlake.  But then nothing ever changed.”  When asked why he thought things were different now, Witt replied, “Coach Fed has challenged each of us to improve and play our absolute best every time we go out on the court.  And I think the entire team has bought into that.  Just look at how our bench is performing. Often they come in and play as well, or better than we starters do.”

Star shooting guard James Lilly echoed Witt’s comments, adding, “I’m so much more motivated for our games this season that I was last season as a freshman.  I give the credit for that to Coach Fed.  He’s brought a positivity to the team that was missing in the past.  I seriously considered transferring after last season, but sure am glad I didn’t now.”

Thus far the Eagles are averaging 77.5 points per game while holding their opponents to 69.6 points per game.  Coach Aura said, “While we’ve played some good teams thus far, we definitely will be moving up to a much higher level of opposition during conference play.  But the team knows they need to pick up their level of play to go up against the powerhouses we’ll be matched up against in the next couple months.”

The team’s top scorers are: SG James Lilly (18.5 ppg), SF/PF Marvin Reese (10.6 ppg), and C Jason Caldwell (10.0 ppg).  Lilly is also the team’s best rebounder, averaging 6.9 rpg with PF Marius Witt right behind with 6.5 rpg and Caldwell averaging 5.7 rpg.  PG Willis Lofton has dished out 4.7 apg.

The Eagles begin ACC play this Friday when the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (8-3) come to Silvio O. Conte Forum. 

[PointGuard 70]

Dec. 28, 2025: Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (8-3) vs Boston College Eagles (7-3) at Silvio O. Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, MA

WCNN The Fan (680 AM, 93.7 FM), Atlanta, GA (excerpts from game coverage)

·       We’re coming to you tonight from Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts to bring you Georgia Tech’s opening ACC game against the Boston College Eagles.  Both teams had 3 losses during pre-conference play, but Tech had the more challenging schedule.  The Eagles are led by their high scoring SG James Lilly, who averaged 18.5 ppg.  But BC has to handle a Tech team that has 5 players averaging in double figures. There’s a lot of Eagles fans at Conte Forum tonight, so the Yellow Jackets need to sting early and hard to quiet the crowd.

·       The tip is controlled by the Eagles.  Lofton passes to Lilly in the forecourt.  Lilly dribbles to his right around the head of the key.  He fires a pass inside to Caldwell who drives to the basket and sneaks up a finger roll that floats through the hoop. BC draws first blood.

·       Robertson gets the ball over the line and dribbles to the top of the key.  He feeds the ball to Carroll on the the right side.  Carroll shoots a quick pass to Elloie who hits a nice 14 foot jumper to tie it at 2-2.

·       The pass goes inside to Carroll on the right side of the key.  He turns and forced up a shot that’s no good, but he was fouled by the Eagles’ Jason Caldwell.  That’s 2 on Caldwell who goes to the bench with 15 minutes left in the first half.  Carroll makes the first and now the 2^nd shot making it 12-9 in favor of the Yellow Jackets.

·       The refs are calling them close tonight.  That’s two on Carroll and he will join Mann on the Tech bench.  Witt’s shot went in and out.  He’ll goes to the line for 2 shots.  He sinks both free throws.  The Eagles now trail 17-14 at the 12:48 mark.

·       Gooden’s shot if off the mark, but Lofton picks up the foul...that’s 2 on him.  Aura replaces him with Ray at the point.  With 6:49 before the half ends, Gooden calmly drops both thots in making it 28-24 in favor of Tech.

·       Mann called for the charge.  That’s 3 on him and the Tech bench is yowling.

·       Now it’s BC that has a player with 3 fouls.  Caldwell will return to the Eagles’ bench.  Byrd’s 2 free throws making it 30-24 with 5-1/2 minutes to go in the first half.

·       Yet another foul called against Boston College. Coach Aura is really working the refs now.  The Yellow Jackets drop two more foul shots in giving them a 41-30 lead with 44 seconds on the clock.  They’ve been making most of their points on free throws in the last several minutes.

·       The buzzer sounds ending the first half with Georgia Tech on top 41-32.  Reserve C Ryan Gooden leads the scoring for the Yellow Jackets with 10 points.  And as expected, the top scorer for BC is SG James Lilly with 9 points.

·       The possession arrow gives the ball to Tech to start the 2^nd half.  They work the ball around outside but throw it away.  They argue that the Eagles touched the ball last but the refs aren’t buying it.

·       Lilly drives down the key taking Cooper with him.  Lilly’s shot is slapped away but the refs whistle saying Cooper got his arm.  Lilly goes to the line for 2 shots.  The first one is good,  So is the 2^nd cutting Tech’s lead to 44-37.  Lilly has all 5 of BC’s points in this half.

·       Tough luck for the Eagles.  That foul is called on Lilly and he will go to the bench with his 3^rd foul with 18:23 to go.  Aura is pacing back and forth in front of the Eagles’ bench.  His two top scorers, Lilly and Caldwell, have 3 fouls apiece.

·       Carroll dribbles across the key, turns and puts up a fall-away jumper.  It’s good giving the Yellow Jackets a 53-40 lead with 15 minutes remaining.

·       Carroll receives the pass and works his way in toward the hoop and rolls in a layup increasing the lead to 64-46.  The Yellow Jackets defense making it tough for the Eagles to score.

·       Goodens’ 8 foot jumper gives Georgia Tech a 21 point lead with 7 minutes remaining.

·       Kings long 3 with 8 seconds left makes it 92-76.  That’s to be the final score as Tech dribbles out the remaining seconds for the win.

·       The Yellow Jackets had 5 players scoring in double figures led by C Ryan Gooden’s 22 points.  Gooden hit 12 of 12 free throws.  Scoring in double figures for Boston College were SG James Lilly with 27, SF/PF Marvin Reese had 15, and C Jason Caldwell hit for 10.

[PointGuard 70]

Dec. 30, 2025: Boston College Eagles (7-4, 0-1) vs Wake Forest Demon Deacons (6-4, 0-1) at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Winston-Salem, NC

1^st Assistant Coach Kevin Abney

We’ve lost 3 of our last 4 games.  Time to get back on the win-train.  We've both played Cornell and both have lost to the Big Red.  This is a road game, but even though we’re the underdog, I think we’ve got a good chance to prevail.  But the Demon Deacons played well earlier this week when they came close to beating #4 ranked Florida State.  One of the keys for us is to keep high-scoring SG Brian Worrell is check.  He’s scoring 18.0 ppg while hitting a very high percentage of his shots and has scored 20+ points in 3 of their games.  Freshman SF Donald Howard also is a very efficient scorer and is averaging 13.2 ppg.  Wake Forest runs a fast-paced offense.  We’ll try to slow them up a bit.  We also need to stay out of foul trouble...which has been our downfall in a couple of our losses.

We got off to a good start and took a 13-6 lead.  But the Demon Deacons then hit a series of 3’s to go on top 31-25.  We hit 36% of our shots compared to 53% by Wake Forest and were a -8 on the boards. We went to the locker room down 45-36.  SG James Lilly led all scorers with 11 points.  Coach Aura roasted the team about defense and rebounding during the intermission.

We went on a 9-0 run in the first 2 minutes of the 2^nd half to tie the score.  With 14 minutes to go, we wrested the lead at 50-49 when C Steve Ross hit a highly contested short jumper.  After a 17-0 run of the half, we were ahead 62-49 at the 10:21 mark.  Even though Wake Forest’s offense finally woke up, we countered each of their baskets to take an 86-73 decision.

Our team responded to Coach Aura’s focus on defense and rebounding in the 2^nd half.  After being -8 in rebounding in the first half, we were +11 in the 2^nd half.  During our big run, we hld the Demon Deacons scoreless for 5-1/2 minutes.  And we forced Wake Forest to make a total of 21 turnovers in the game while making just 11 ourselves.  And we held Wake Forest’s SG Brian Worrell to just 8 points.

Leading our scoring was SG James Lilly who scored 19 points.  PF Marius Witt had 15 points while both SF/PF Marvin Reese and C Steve Ross scored 11 points.  Again our bench was big, scoring a total of 36 points.

[PointGuard 70]

Jan. 4, 2026: Boston College Eagles (8-4, 1-1) vs North Carolina Tar Heels (8-4, 0-2) at Dean Smith Center in Chapel Hill, NC

Robert Wilson, 3^rd Assistant Coach (Scouting)

The Tarheels are prohibitive favorites against us.  Their starting guards have combined to average over 31 ppg and their center is averaging 13.6 ppg.  Both PG Duke Stokes and SG Chris Craig are 5-star players, but Stokes has been hitting a much higher percentage of his shots, Their primary defense is a 2-3 zone which has held opponents to 65.7 ppg.  We need to knock down our outside shots.

North Carolina went strictly with a man-to-man defense early and we exploited it to take a 15-4 lead after 5-1/2 minutes of play.  Our defense wasn’t allowing the Tar Heels to get clear shots and was forcing turnovers.  Midway through the half, SG James Lilly picked up his 2^nd foul.  We expanded our lead to 29-11 with 8 minutes left in the half.  The Tar Heels switched their defense to the expected 2-3 zone making it more difficult for us to  score.  But our defense held strong and we finished the half on top 35-20.  We outshot North Carolina 52% to 27%, were +7 in rebounding, and forced the Tar Heels to make 11 turnovers (although we made 10 of our own).  The refs called 10 fouls on us compared to just 5 against the home team.  PF Marius With scored 10 points and had 4 rebounds.

We had trouble solving NC’s 2-3 zone in the 2^nd half and the Tar Heels began creeping up on us.  With 12 minutes to go our lead was down to 44-39.  But our guys stubbornly refused to give in and slowly pulled away again.  With 3:36 remaining we led 64-51.  Gutsy play by our team led to a surprising 71-57 upset victory, beating North Carolina, their fans, and the refs.  Even though the refs sent the Tar Heels to the line 11 more times than us, we offset that by hitting 45% of our shots while holding North Carolina’s shooting to 35% and out-rebounding the Tar Heels 40-27.

Topping our scoring was PF Marius Witt with 17 points and he also pulled down 8 boards.  SG James Lilly was in foul trouble most of the game and fouled out late in the game, but still scored 11 points and dished out 5 assists.  C Jason Caldwell scored 8 and grabbed 12 rebounds.  We held Duke Stokes to just 6 points but SG Chris Craig scored 22 for North Carolina.

 

[PointGuard 70]

Jan. 6, 2026: #6 ranked Duke Blue Devils (12-2, 3-0) vs Boston College Eagles (9-4, 2-1) at Silvio O. Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, MA

Tommy Vincent, long-time fan

The Eagles certainly are doing better than they have in recent memory, but going up against Duke is always a scary proposition.  The Blue Devils only losses have been to Michigan in the NIT Season Tip-Off and in a scheduled pre-conference game.  They demolished two teams that BC has played, Kansas State (which the Eagles lost to) and New Mexico (whichBC also beat).  Duke’s 1-3-1 zone defense has been extremely stingy, giving up just 55.1 ppg.  Offensively they have 3 players scoring in N figures: C Maurice McCoy (16.6 ppg), SG Stephan McIntosh (15.6 ppg), and 7’0” PF Greg McDyess (13.8 ppg…and also 10.2 rpg).  But it’s been fun to watch the plucky Eagles this season.  I hope they can make a game of it.

James Lilly is definitely our star player, but I’ve really be impressed by Marvin Reese.  He hardly played at all as a freshman.  No one expected anything of him before the season started.  But he is a gutsy player and has performed well at both PF and SF and has shot well and been a consistently good scorer…so well that he worked himself up from being a reserve to being a starter.  In addition, he’s from Lynn, Mass where I grew up (long before he was there).

We held a small lead for the first 4-1/2 minutes, but the refs were tagging our guys for picayune fouls.  Then the Blue Devils forced repeated turnovers and took advantage of those to quickly open a 29-14 lead with 8 minutes remaining in the half.  By the time the half ended, Duke had turned it into a rout, 48-27.  Duke getting to the line 16 times to our 3 trips didn’t help the matter, but it wasn’t surprising as our guys had to try to stop the speed, strength, and talent that exists throughout the Blue Demon roster.  A 14-4 turnover deficit also did us in.

Early in the 2^nd half, Duke expanded their lead to 28 points.  But BC’s shooting in the 2^nd half was phenomenal.  Even though Duke never folded, the Eagles gradually cut into their lead and got as close as 12 points before losing 87-72.  Boston College outshot Duke 57% to 53% (and hit 8 of 12 of their 3’s).  If it hadn’t been for Duke getting to the line 18 more times and scoring 13 more points on free throws, the game would have been very close.  I believe the Blue Devils gained some respect for the Eagles due to BC’s tenacity in the 2^nd half.

Freshman SF Michael Millford came off the bench and hit 6 of 8 FG’s and 3 of 4 three’s to lead BC’s scoring with 15 points.  He also had 5 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 blocks.  It was by far his best game in his short career for the Eagles.  Very impressive!  SF/PF Marvin Reese hit for 14 points, SG James Lilly scored 12, and C Jason Caldwell finished with 10 points.  PG Willis Lofton had 8 points and 9 assists.

[PointGuard 70]

Roster Eval

Head Coach Fred Aura:

We’re in the midst of a really tough part of our ACC schedule.  After playing #6 ranked Duke, we go up against ranked teams in our next 3 games, so we need to do whatever we can to give our chance in those games.  And the way Michael Millford stepped up to play so well at SF against Duke made it clear that we need to take a closer look at how we’re using our roster.  So I sat down with the staff for a serious discussion about each of our scholarship players and if we need to make adjustments on what we’re doing at each position.  While our talent level isn’t as strong as most of the ACC teams, we’ve had some surprisingly strong performances from reserves who we didn’t expect to get much from.  Here’s a quick summary of what we discussed:

Guards:

Willis Lofton: 6’0” junior…started all of our games at PG 25.6 mpg…not scoring much (5.9 ppg) but has done well directing our offense (5.5 apg and just 2.5 topg)…scored in double figures just once but had two games in which he had double figures in assists…mainly a mid-range shooter but hits a low percentage of his shots (37% of his FG’s, 26% of his 3’s, and 73% of his FT’s)…needs to drive more and shoot less from deep outside…good defender but doesn’t get as many steals as we’d like…gets few rebounds…Future: Continue to start at PG but cut his playing time some, play no other position, encourage him to drive more and shoot fewer 3’s.

Samuel King: 6’5” junior…hasn’t started any games and has mainly subbed at PG…has scored well (4.6 ppg in just 11.7 mpg playing time) and has hit 46% of his FG’s, 36% of his 3’s, and 75% of his FT’s…shoots best from mid-range but is a decent 3-point shooter and likes to shoot from outside the arc…too many TO’s (2.4 topg) and too few assists (1.4 apg) to be as effective as PG as we need…Future: We’re going to play him at SG (and try him at SF) rather than PG.

James Lilly: 6’0” sophomore…started all our games at SG averaging 27.4 mpg and is a Norton Award nominee…leading scorer (18.1 ppg), hitting 46% of his FGA’s, 35% of his 3PA’s, and 92% of his FTA’s…scored in double figures in all but one game, and has 5 games in which he’s scored from 24-30 points…prefers (and is most effective) shooting from mid-range…excellent rebounder (6.1 rpg) who has had two games with double figure rebounds…few turnovers (0.2 topg)…very good defender who is extremely good at stopping drives and getting steals (1.7 spg)…we’re at our best when he’s on the court.  Future: Keep him on the floor as much as possible, primarily at SG but can also fill in at PG.

Jon Ray: 6’3” sophomore…subbed primarily at SG but also at PG and to a lesser degree at SF…has scored a respectable 6.3 ppg while averaging 13.3 mpg on the court and has hit 41% of his FGA’s, 40% of his 3PA’s, and 86% of his FTA’s, scoring in double figures in 3 games including scoring 20 points in one game…decent rebounder and defender and court general.  He’s still learning our sets.  Future:  We’re going to continue to let him spell Lilly at SG plus increase his playing time at PG.

Jason Dunn: 6’2” sophomore…has played little (3.9 mpg while playing in just 9 games) at SG and SF…has played well in a few of those games, scoring 9 points in one game in which he was on the floor for 6 minutes…has knocked down 36% of his field goals, 50% of his 3’s, and 100% of his free throws…rebounding has been good as has his ability to feed assists to others…has an edge to him that rubs people the wrong way…relationship with the team has declined a bit.  Future: It’s still too early to know how he will fit in and develop, but we’ll try to give him a little more playing time at SG and SF to see how he does.

Small Forward:

This has been our most difficult position to fill.

Earl Betts: 6’7” junior…began the season as our starting SF…after 5 starts, he was relegated to the bench due to his very low level of scoring (2.7 ppg while averaging 16.7 mpg) and only hitting 37% of his field goals (and the same percentage of his 3’s)…good free throw shooter (83%)…takes few shots but has been best from outside the arc while being particularly ineffective at mid-range…decent rebounder and defender.  Future: We’ve been reducing his playing time as the season has progressed and will continue to do so unless he turns things around.  We’ll try him subbing a little at PF to see how that works out for him.

Marvin Reese is a 6’6” sophomore who began the season subbing primarily at PF with some time at SF.  He produced nearly every time he came onto the court, though so he’s become our starting SF, while also filling in at PF.  He’s averaging 10.6 ppg while playing 24.0 mpg and has hit 48% of his FGA’s, 36% of his 3PA’s and 72% of his FTA’s.  He’s being hitting shots from all over the court and is very good at drawing fouls.  He’s a solid rebounder and a pretty good defender.  He’s still learning our sets.  He’s very durable although needs to work on his stamina.  He often spurs us offensively while in the game.  We’ll continue starting him at SF and augmenting his playing time at PF as well.

Michael Millford: 6’6” freshman…played very little early in the season since he didn’t show much ability in practice…increased his playing time recently as he’s shown glimpses of productivity….has played 10.0 mpg and is averaging 3.6 ppg…likes to shoot from all over the court and has hit 51% of his FGA’s, 38% of his 3’s, and 75% of his FT’s…against Duke he scored 15 points, hitting 6 of 8 from the field including 3 of 4 from 3 point distance and pulled down 5 rebounds while playing 23 minutes.  Future: We need to play him more at SF to see how he develops.  He could be a real unexpected surprise for us this season.

Interior Players:

Marius Witt: 6’7” senior…starting PF in all our games this season…solid and pretty consistent, particularly as our leading rebounder (6.2 rpg)…averaging 8.6 ppg, but has scored 15 and 17 points in two of last 3 games…need him to shoot more and keep up that offensive production since he’s hitting 59% of his FG’s, 45% of his 3’s, and 89% of his FT’s…shoots well from all over the court, but tends to work hard to set picks at the expense of shooting…PER is 2^nd on the team only to James Lilly.  Future: Since he tires pretty quickly, I’m still figuring out how to give him breathers but maximize his playing time.  We will continue encouraging him to shoot and score more.

Jason Caldwell: 6’8” freshman…started every game at C…averaging 9.1 ppg and 5.9 rpg while playing 22.8 mpg…shooting stats are 53% for FG’s, 39% for 3’s, and 78% for FT’s…does most of his damage inside but isn’t afraid to put up shots from outside as well…defense is adequate but still a work in progress...tires quickly so that has limited how much we can keep him on the court.  Future:  We just need to keep developing his skills.

Steve Ross: 6’10” junior…has done a good job backing up Caldwell at C…been on the court 16.7 mpg and is scoring 6.4 ppg and has 3.2 rpg…scores most all his points inside and is hitting 59% of his FGA’s and 61% of his FTA’s…good interior role player.  Future: continue to play him mostly at C and some at PF.

[PointGuard 70]

Jan. 9, 2026: Boston College Eagles (9-5, 2-2) vs #2 ranked Florida State Seminoles (15-1, 4-1) at Donald L. Tucker Civic Center in Tallahassee, Florida

2^nd Assistant Coach Chris Evans:

We just jumped from the frying pan (hosting #6 ranked Duke) to the fire (visiting #2 ranked Florida State).  Like Duke, Florida State has 4 players averaging in double figures: PG Marlon Bond (15.4 ppg), SG Andy Blizzard (14.4 ppg), PF Jermaine Slider (15.3 ppg and 13.5 rpg), and SF Andy Banks (10.7 ppg).  Bond and Blizzard both hit a very high percentage of their shots.  Florida State is scoring 83.9 ppg this season.  They’ve beaten 4 of the 5 ranked teams they’ve played thus far.

High points of first half: 5-3 and 7-6 leads.  It was all downhill from there and we trailed 52-29 at the break.  We couldn’t stop SF Andy Banks who scored 16 points and we made 13 turnovers.

We played the Seminoles pretty much even up for most of the 2^nd half and then closed to within 10 points before losing by a final score of 94-82.  We outshot Florida State 58% to 46% but made 18 turnovers to just 7 by them.  That plus their having a slight advantage on the boards resulted in the Seminoles getting 19 more shots off that we did.

SG James Lilly scored 16 while PF Marius Witt, SF Michael Millford and C Steve Ross each tallied 11 points, and C Jason Caldwell added 10.  For the Seminoles SF Andy Banks and PF Jermaine Slider both scored 22 with Slider also grabbing 12 boards.

Willis Lofton: After the game Coach Aura gave us all a pat on the back for our determination and intensity and our scoring 53 points in the 2^nd half against the #2 team in the country.  He said that even though we lost, we outplayed the Seminoles in the second half.

Edited May 10, 2021 by PointGuard

[PointGuard 70]

Jan. 13, 2026: #13 ranked Syracuse Orange (14-2, 4-1) vs Boston College Eagles (9-6, 2-3) at Silvio O. Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, MA

RyRey’s Blog

Heya b-ball fans, it’s RyRey, OK Ryan Reynolds, here again.  I’m writing to you this morning after attending Boston College’s game against Syracuse last night.  Yes, the same BC we’ve become accustomed to see lose.  And the Eagles taking on yet another perennial powerhouse.  Life’s not fair, is it.

Well, BC came into last night’s game with 9 wins, more than we normally see them getting in an entire season.  Yeah, I know they lost their last 2 games to ranked opponents.  But they played well against both of those foes in the 2^nd half.  Now all they need to do is keep from getting into another deep hole in the first half.  Taking on the Orange, that meant keeping Syracuse’s high-scoring guards from breaking out.  SG Adrian Hooks has averaged 20.7 ppg and PG Steve Havens 15.5 ppg.  Those two plus Wes Brown at SF (13.6 ppg) are a formidable perimeter shooting trio.

So here’s what I saw the Eagles do against Syracuse:

Coach Aura went strictly with a man-to-man defense rather than augmenting it as usual with a 2-3 zone.  The teams traded baskets in the first 4 minutes, but then, behind a roaring home crowd, BC went on a 13-2 run that put them ahead by 10 midway though the half.  The tight m-2-m defense plus double teaming was keeping the Syracuse guards from breaking loose but it put SG James Lilly and SF Marvin Reese into foul trouble.  The Orange narrowed the gap to 42-36 at the end of the first half.

The Eagles defense was very effective early in the 2^nd half which allowed BC to open a 15 point lead with the crowd fueling the Eagles’ momentum.  Syracuse then began scoring and cutting into the lead.  With 3 minutes to go, the Orange only trailed by 2.  Boston College C Jason Caldwell hit back-to-back field goals to put the Eagles on top by 6 with 1:18 to go.  Even though Syracuse fought to get back into the game, hitting a 3.  But they then were forced to foul and the Eagles carved out a narrow but exciting 77-72 win.

BC’s offense was led by C Jason Caldwell’s 18 points and PG Willis Lofton’s 15 points.  SG James Lilly was limited to just 21 minutes on the court so only scored 8 but had 9 rebounds.  SF Marvin Reese and SF Michael Millford each scored 9 points.  Syracuse’s guards (Hooks and Havens) were limited to a combined 25 points (10 of those scored on free throws) and together only hit 6 of 22 field goals and 3 of 16 from beyond the arc.

BC’s student section went crazy after the final buzzer sounded…the Eagles beating a ranked team is that big of a deal here in Chestnut Hill.  The win improved BC’s conference record to 3-3 and kept them solidly in the middle of the ACC standings.

Not to take away from what the Eagles accomplished, but I overheard some of the Syracuse fans talking about a couple of their players being at less that 100% either because of a touch of food poisoning or the flu bug.  But a win’s a win.

[PointGuard 70]

Jan. 16, 2026: Boston College Eagles (10-6, 3-3) vs #14 ranked Virginia Cavaliers (13-3, 4-2) at John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, Virginia

Robert Wilson, 3^rd Assistant Coach (Scouting)

Virginia’s biggest win this season was when they defeated #2 ranked Florida State 84-76 on the road.  Virginia has outscored opponents by an average of 20 points (87 to 67).  They run a fast-paced offense with a lot of offensive freedom but the primary set they use is the triangle.  They mainly employ a man-to-man defense.  They’re 9-0 at home thus far this season.  The Cavaliers’ C Dustin Bryant has scored 16.3 ppg while SG David Young is right behind at 16.2 ppg.  Young has scored 20-30 points in 8 games while Bryant has done so 5 times.  And don’t forget, Bryant is also averaging 10.3 rpg, so the guy is a beast.  SF Jamaal Lawson is scoring 14.4 ppg and PG Damion Clagget is averaging 12.2 ppg.  Bryant does most of his scoring inside and Young drives to score a lot of his points so control of the interior is critical.  Lawson, Clagget, and reserve PG Eddie Anderson are the Cavaliers’ principal outside threats.  Bryant, Young, and Lawson are all juniors so they’re well-schooled on Virginia’s offenses and defenses.

SF Michael Millford:

It’s good the coaches finally decided to play me more.  In the 3 games I’ve been on the court 20+ minutes, I’ve scored 8, 11, and 15 points and have hit 13 of 21 field goals in those 3 games. 

Coach Wilson was right. Virginia likes to pound the ball inside.  James Lilly picked up two quick fouls trying to contain Young and went to the bench just 3 minutes into the game.  12 of their first 14 points were the result of inside shots.  I got put into the game at the first media timeout at which point we trailed 14-4.  Willis Lofton got called for his 2^nd foul at the 13:41 mark.  I hit my first bucket, a jumper from the right of the key, with about 12 minutes to go in the half to cut their lead to 23-12.  I forced an errant pass a minute later.  But I had a tough time getting clear for shots.  I got tangled up with my guy with 9 minutes to go and the ref called me for the foul and I got subbed out.  We trailed 28-14 at that point.  Coach Fed got me back on court with 4 minutes left with Virginia leading 41-26.  I put up a 3 but it was off the mark.  I grabbed a rebound but forced a pass that went out of bounds with 2-1/2 minutes left.  The half ended with us on the short end of a 48-35 score.  Coach got on us in the locker room about our defense since Virginia hit 61% of their first half shots.  SG Jon Ray was our top scorer with 9.  The Cavaliers’ big 3 (Bryant, Young, and Lawson) were all in double figures.  The 3 of them are tough to defend against.

Three minutes into the 2^nd half, Coach put me back in but we trailed 60-43 by that point.  I got some shots off but just couldn’t connect.  I got pulled with 9 minutes remaining.  3 minutes later I was back in with us down 77-54.  I just wasn’t able to get the job done tonight and got subbed out with 2 minutes to go.  We ended up losing badly 93-68.  We did everything we could do to cool them down in the 2^nd half but just couldn’t do it.  They knocked down 57% of their FG’s and 57% of their 3’s.  They also had a 17-9 turnover advantage.  We only hit 39% of our FG’s and just 21% of our 3’s.

Five on our team scored in double figures: C Jason Caldwell-13; SG Jon Ray-12; SG James Lilly-11; SF/PF Marvin Reese-10; and PG Willis Lofton-10.  I don’t even want to talk about my stats.  Virginia’s SF Jamaal Lawson scored 26.

1^st Assistant Coach Kevin Abney:

Totally outclassed. Not much more to say about this one.

[PointGuard 70]

Jan. 18, 2026: Wake Forest Demon Deacons (8-7, 2-4) vs Boston College Eagles (10-7, 3-4) at Silvio O. Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, MA                                   

Boston Herald

SECOND HALF TELLS STORY FOR EAGLES

Last night the Boston College Eagles hosted the Wake Forest Demon Deacons.  The Eagles had an 86-73 win over Wake Forest three weeks ago in Winston-Salem.  But the Demon Deacons arrived at Conte Forum with wins over #14 ranked Notre Dame and #18 ranked Pittsburgh while losing to #15 ranked Louisville in their last 3 games this season. 

BC quickly gained control and led throughout most of the first half, but could never draw away.  The Demon Deacons smothered James Lilly, the Eagles top scorer and prevented him from getting a shot off as he scored just 2 points on free throws.  Then late in the half Lilly and teammate Jason Caldwell crashed together going after a rebound.  Lilly got the worst of it and was sent to the locker room.  Lilly didn’t return to play the rest of the game.  The half ended with BC on top 38-33. 

The Eagles switched to primarily using a 2-3 zone in the 2^nd half and Wake Forest was unable to crack it.  In addition BC dominated the boards and steadily pulled away throughout the entire remainder of the game.  The Eagles finished with a 76-53 thumping of Wake Forest to even their ACC record at 4-4.  The win keeps Boston College firmly ensconced in the middle of the ACC standings.

BC did not let any of Wake Forest’s starting five to score more than 6 points.  Their only player to score in double figures was guard Rickey King who came in off the bench to score 11 points.  Even though Lilly and PG Willis Loften scored just 5 points between them, the team was led by C Steve Ross with 14 points, PF Marius Witt who scored 13 and pulled down 8 rebounds, and SF/PF Marvin Reese, C Jason Caldwell, and SG Samuel King who each scored 10.

Coach Fred Aura said, “We had 3 things going for us tonight.  First, our defense in the 2^nd half was simply awesome.  Second, we controlled the boards, grabbing 15 more rebounds that our opponent, and third, our bench again was terrific scoring 50% of our points in this game.”  When asked about Lilly’s condition Aura responded, “He took a good hard rap.  He wanted to come back into the game in the 2^nd half, but we just decided to play it safe.  He’s a tough kid and will be ready for our next game, though.  In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s at practice tomorrow.”

The Eagles have a break in the schedule with their next game being a week from now when they host Notre Dame.

[PointGuard 70]

Jan. 25, 2026: #16 ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish (14-6, 4-5) vs Boston College Eagles (11-7, 4-4) at Silvio O. Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, MA

Barney Bradley, BC fan:

This game was close in the early going with multiple lead changes. But in the latter stages of the first half, BC caught fire, hitting most all their shots from all over the court.  By the end of the first 20 minutes, the Eagles sported a 46-35 lead and Notre Dame seemed in shock.  The only problem for BC was that starting C Jason Caldwell had 3 fouls against him.

Then in the second half the Eagles shifted from a hot offense to a daunting defense which kept the Fighting Irish unable to really fight back and unable to mount a challenge.  BC took Notre Dame to the cleaners and scored a resounding 78-61 victory.  The Eagles outshot the Irish 58% to 37% and totally dominated the boards 36-18.

Guard Samuel King came off the bench to lead all scorers with 16 points.  C Jason Caldwell scored 12 before fouling out.  PG Willis Lofton and SG James Lilly both added 11 points.  PF Marius Witt and SF/PF Marvin Reese combined to grab a total of 17 rebounds.

It sure was great seeing the Eagles take down Notre Dame so convincingly.  We Eagles’ fan are not used to that.

[PointGuard 70]

JJ Conroy

BeanTownSports Blog

It’s been a while since I’ve talked about Boston College basketball.  As you may recall, I have said this is a program, that while it may improve, will NEVER contest for the top spots in the ACC.  They simply can NOT compete with the likes of Duke, Syracuse, Florida State, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, and Louisville.  I would include North Carolina in this list, but they’re having an uncharacteristically disastrous season…but in the long-term they will consistently top the Eagles.  Hell, you could even add Virginia and Georgia Tech to that list.  And there will be years where the rest (NC State, Virginia Tech, Clemson, Miami, and Wake Forest) outdo BC.  So like I said before the best they can be in the ACC is middle of the pack.  If they want to be conference champs they need to drop down to a lower-tier conference.  Maybe the Big East…or better yet, the Atlantic 10 where they could finish up towards the top.

So that brings us to this season, the first in the reign of their new coach Fred Aura.  To be honest, they have definitely improved over where they’ve been for a number of years so I’ll toss a bone to Aura for that.  BUT…they’re still in the middle of the ACC standings…tied tor 7^th to be exact.  And that’s even after surprising wins over top-25 ranked Notre Dame and Syracuse.  Of course, those wins were home games for the Eagles.

But before you say “JJ, they’re 5-4 in the ACC and have won 3 of their last 4”, let me tell you something.  This team has got its hands full for the rest of their schedule.  The next 3 games are against non-worldbeaters to be sure…BUT…the first of those is against Virginia Tech who’s been playing way over the heads all season and has been in either 1^st or 2^nd place in the ACC every week.  And all 3 of those games are road games for BC meaning they’re likely to go 0-3.  Then they end the season by playing 5 of their final 8 conference games against top-25 ranked teams and they play one of the other 3 teams that aren’t in the top-25 on the road.  So the best they’re likely to do is go 2-6 in those last 8 games.  That means they’ll end the season with a 7-13 ACC record which will likely place them in the bottom third in the standings.  Kind of BC’s lot in life in the ACC.

So Eagles fans, enjoy what you’ve had thus far.  The Eagles are about to have their tail feather picked clean and plummet to the earth with a real hard landing like NASA’s first space launch in the early 1960s…a big crash and burn.  So don’t book a flight south to watch them get roasted in their game at Virginia Tech later this week.

Got a beef with this?  Tough!  You obviously just can't handle the truth.  Quit being a fanboy.  

[PointGuard 70]

Jan. 26, 2026: Boston College Eagles (12-7, 5-4) vs Virginia Tech Hokies (13-5, 7-2) at Cassell Coliseum in Blacksburg, Virginia

1^st Assistant Coach Kevin Abney

Virginia Tech was picked to finish near the bottom of the ACC standings.  But the Hokies have surprised the entire conference after winning their first 5 conference games and residing in 1^st or 2^nd place in the ACC throughout conference play.  Nationally, they get no respect.  They’ve yet to be ranked in the polls.  Meanwhile they’ve landed two highly rated recruits.  What’s worked so well for Virginia Tech?  Their two starting guards have combined to average 27 ppg and their two starting forecourt players have combined to score 18.6 ppg and pull down 13.5 rpg.  As a team they’ve been extremely effective on the boards.  Their only weakness has been at SF.  I felt we had a chance but that we’d need to play an exceptionally strong game to win against the Hokies in Blacksburg.

Even though we play 2 halves, if this game were divided into quarters, Virginia Tech won the 1^st 10 minutes (building a 13 point lead), we won the 2^nd 10 minutes (cutting our deficit at the half to just a single point at 33-32, we won the 3^rd 10 minutes (moving out to a 16 point lead), and Viginia Tech won the 4^th 10 minutes by steadily eating into our lead.  Fortunately we had just enough of a lead to hold on for a slim 76-72 victory.  Rebounding (we out-rebounded the Hokies 34-27), turnovers (we turned the ball over 14 times, but forced Virginia Tech into 21 turnovers), and fast break points (14-2 in our favor) were the real differences in this game.

The opposition continues to double team James Lilly but he still was our leading scorer with 14 points (and he also had 7 rebounds).  C Jason Caldwell with 12 points was our only other player to score in double figures.  SF’s Marvin Reese and Michael Millford each scored 9 points.  And PF Marius Witt had a tremendous game, scoring 9 points, pulling down 10 rebounds, getting 4 steals, and most importantly, holding the Hokies’ PF Kurt Tucker scoreless.

Injury: Samuel King strained his hamstring.  He’s likely not to be 100% for 7-10 days.

[PointGuard 70]

Athletic Director Jason Braxton

We’re proud to announce that SG James Lilly today was named a quarterfinalist for the Norton Award.  Even though teams are now defensively keying on him, James to cut into his scoring, he’s still averaging 15.8 ppg.  He’s also our 2^nd best rebounder with 6.1 rpg and 2^nd best in assists (2.3 apg), and tops in steals (1.4 spg).  He’s also tops in PER, Stop %, and Turnovers Forced on our team.

What excites me further is that he’s just a sophomore!

[PointGuard 70]

Jan. 30, 2026: Boston College Eagles (13-7, 6-4) vs Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (14-7, 6-4) at Hank McCamish Pavilion in Atlanta, Georgia

C Damon Smith, Walk-on

This is the 2^nd of our 3 straight road games.  We’re tied with Georgia Tech in the standings and both teams are riding 3 game win streaks.  We got whipped by the Yellow Jackets 92-76 about a month ago when we hosted them.  So our team wants to return the favor and beat Georgia Tech on their court.  I assume I’ll likely be a spectator from the bench the entire game, as usual.

Things began OK for us, but we had a series of turnovers that allowed Georgia Tech to take a 17-11 lead with 13-1/2 minutes to go in the first half.  The only player on our team doing much scoring was Marvin Reese.  He finished the half with 12 points.  We were down 42-34 at the half.  Coach Aura was on us to clean up our play in the 2^nd half…fewer turnovers and better crashing of the boards.

The lead pretty much stayed intact until midway through the half when the Yellow Jackets went on a tear and opened a 73-51 lead with about 9 minutes to play.  Coach tore into us all during a time out, but things didn’t improve.  With a minute-and-a-half left we were behind by so much that Coach Fed put me and Chris Nelson, our other walk-on into the game.  Chris got an assist.  Both Chris and I put up a shot apiece but neither of scored.  Final score was an embarrassing 87-62.  The loss slipped us down from 6^th place to 8^th place in the conference so 7 teams above us and 7 below us.

SF/PF Marvin Reese scored 14 and SG James Lilly had 13 for us.  C Brandon Elloie tossed in 20 to lead Georgia Tech.

[PointGuard 70]

Feb. 3, 2026: Boston College Eagles (13-8, 6-5) vs Miami (FL) Hurricanes (10-11, 3-8) at Watsco Arena in Miami, Florida

2^nd Assistant Coach Chris Evans

Our southern road trip has moved from Virginia to Georgia and now to Florida.  Sure would be nice to end it with a “W”.

Miami: Their primary defense: 2-3 zone; I wish we were ranked…Miami’s played 6 ranked teams and lost all 6 games by 13 to 31 points each…but that makes them 13-2 against unranked opponents.  Hurricanes’ opponents have scored over 30 points in 6 of their 8 losses, but when they’ve won, their opponents have not scored over 73 points…moral of the story is to get our offense in gear.

Miami’s Top player: SF Dewayne Jennings who averages 23.2 ppg and 9.0 rpg and is in strong contention to win the Norton Award.  He’s scored 20+ points in 16 of their 21 games and has scored in the high 30’s in two of those games…need to keep him from breaking out.  In addition he’s a great defensive player and he averages making just 0.6 fouls a game.  Marvin Reese is good at drawing fouls for us, but it looks like it’s nearly impossible to get Jennings into foul trouble and onto the bench…he’s averaged 34.3 mpg on the court.

Miami’s SG Marcel Allaway is averaging 11.8 ppg while hitting 50% of his FGA’s and 42% of his 3’s.

We stunk the first 6 minutes…falling behind 18-2 due to 5 turnovers leading to multiple easy layins, 6 fouls (2 on Lilly and 2 on Caldwell) on us and none on the Hurricanes, and we hit just 1 for 8 from the field.  With Coach Aura screaming at the refs and our players, we finally picked up our game a little, but not enough and found ourselves in a 39-27 hole at the half.  If Miami had been able to hit more than 39% of their shots, we would have been even further behind.  We hit just 30% of our shots and made 10 turnovers.  James Lilly had 3 fouls and no points.  Our top scorer was SG James Ray with 9 points.  The only thing we’d done well was hold Dewayne Jennings to just 3 points on 1 for 6 shooting.

We started the 2^nd half almost as badly as we did the first half and fell behind by 21 points with 13 minutes to go.  We just didn’t have it and went down to an ignominious 83-58 beating.

SG Jon Ray hit for 18 and SF/PF Marvin Reese scored 15.  No one else on our team scored more than 6 points.  All 5 starters for Miami scored in double figures.  Jennings finished with 13 points and 5 rebounds so well below his average….just a pyrrhic victory since we let everyone else on the Hurricanes do so well.

[PointGuard 70]

Feb. 6, 2026: Pittsburgh Panthers (16-7, 6-6) vs Boston College Eagles (13-9, 6-6) at Silvio O. Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, MA

Boston College Chronicle

Kinsey Ramsey, Sports Reporter

After three straight away games, the Eagles finally returned home for a game.  Pittsburgh, their opponent, had been ranked throughout the season but fell out of the top 25 recently.  They began the season by winning 10 of their first 11 games including an 8-game win streak and winning the Las Vegas Invitational championship.  But their play in the ACC has been inconsistent, although they entered the fray against BC after winning their last two games.  Defense has been their forte.  Their opponents averaged 69.8 ppg and they’d given up more than 80 points to only two opponents.  Offensively they’re led by SF Kevin Woni’s 17.9 ppg, SG Rudy Kerlin’s 14.9 ppg, and PG Marcus Williams’ 10.5 ppg.  Woni also was averag 9.3 rpg.  So even though the game was at home for BC, they were up against a formidable opponent.

It took more than 7 minutes for the Eagles to hit their first field goal.  BC struggled to close the gap throughout most of the half, but as the half drew to a close the Eagles captured a one point lead. The half concluded with Pittsburgh on top by just 2 points at 38-36 even though BC hit just 39% of their shots and had 11 turnovers.  Kevin Woni carried the Panthers with 16 points in the half

BC scored the first 8 points in the 2^nd half giving them a 6 point lead.  Pittsburgh turned the tables by then going on an 8-0 run.  The score remained close but in the last 8 minutes the Eagles had a tough time getting the ball in the hoop and Pittsburgh opened a double digit lead.  BC tried to make a late run.  But it was too little, too late.  The Panthers won by a score of 82-74.

Leading the scoring for the Eagles was SG James Lilly with 25 points followed by SF/PF Marvin Reese with 11.

Coach Frederick Aura said, “Our poor start put us in a deep hole.  Even though we were able to make comebacks, Pittsburgh never let us gain confidence in our shooting and that did us in.”

The loss dropped BC into 10^th place in the ACC standings with a 6-7 conference record.

[PointGuard 70]

Feb. 10, 2026: North Carolina State Wolfpack (10-12, 2-11) vs Boston College Eagles (13-10, 6-7) at Silvio O. Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, MA

Coach Fred Aura:

We’re playing a team with a worse record than us and playing them on our court…and we’re underdogs.  Sort of hard to believe, but that’s the respect we get.  Following 3 straight losses, we really need to win this one. 

The Wolfpack took and held a small lead through much of the first half.  It was a defensive battle but we overtook them late in the half and came away with a slim 29-28 halftime advantage. During the break we outlined a strategy designed to break their 1-2-2 zone defense.  It worked and we began pulling away in the 2^nd half.  Midway through the half we led by as much as 12 points.  NC State rallied to get close as time wound down.  But we stopped them in the final 2 minutes and came away with a 74-67 victory.

SG James Lilly and C Steve Ross both scored 12 while SF/PF Marvin Reese had 11 and C Jason Caldwell finished with 10.  PF Marius Witt came up big on the boards with 12 rebounds.

[PointGuard 70]

Feb. 15, 2026: Boston College Eagles (14-10, 7-7) vs #22 ranked Louisville Cardinals (19-6, 8-6) at KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky

Baldwin the Eagle

I’m the BC mascot. I normally don’t get to travel to away games, but I grew up in Kentucky and an alum who is from Louisville picked up the tab for me.
Tough to play Louisville on their court where they’ve won 12 of 13 games. We’ll have to do most everything right to win. But we really need to play solid defense. We’re 0-9 in games where our opponents have scored 80 or more points and we’re 14-1 in games where they’ve scored 79 or less points. Louisville won their first 11 games this season, but are 8-6 since ACC play started so we’ve got a chance even though we’re big underdogs. The Cardinals’ best scorers are SF Josh Miller with 16.2 ppg and SG Jason Johnson with 11.1 ppg.

Not many Eagles fans to pump up here but I gave the crowd a show with my antics anyway. On the court, our team fell behind early, and Louisville hit 60% of their FG’s to amass a 49-29 advantage at the break.

During halftime Louie the Cardinal and I had a series of competitions to entertain the crowd. I was worried that the albatross around my neck would be Louie’s hometown advantage. But I’m not one to grouse and I’m pretty swift, so I ducked that advantage and terned it around by making this a lark. Louis tried robin me in some of the contests but toucan play that game. I don’t want to crow, but wouldn’t you be a loon to think an Eagle would lose to a Cardinal? So no egrets…um, I mean regrets.

We played even with Louisville in the 2nd half but with both teams playing tough defense, there was no way for us to seriously cut into their lead. We ended up losing 75-55 as Louisville outshot us 48% to 34%.

C Jason Caldwell scored 12 and SF/PF Marvin Reese hit for 11. For Louisville, SF Josh Miller scored 19.

Edited May 27, 2021 by PointGuard

[PointGuard 70]

Feb. 17, 2026: #9 ranked Virginia Cavaliers (20-5, 11-4) vs Boston College (14-11, 7-8) at Silvio O. Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, MA

Jason Braxton, Athletic Director

Nice for our team to be playing at home.  Not so nice to have to play Virginia.  They’re the top-scoring team in the country (87.3 ppg) and also #1 in rebounding (38.0 rpg).  The Cavaliers are 2^nd in assists (21.6 apg), 10^th in blocks (6.5 bpg), 25^th in FG% (49.4 %), and 3^rd in NET Rating (22.3).  Virginia has 4 players averaging in double figures: C Dustin Bryant (17.4 ppg plus he’s also averaging 10.2 rpg), SG David Young (16.6 ppg plus averaging 9.0 rpg and 5.2 apg), SF Jamaal Lawson (14.3 ppg), and PG Damion Clagget (12.3 ppg plus 6.3 apg).  Even though they’re the visiting team, the Cavaliers are prohibitive favorites in this game.  But they have lost 4 on the road in ACC play so I’m not counting the Eagles out.  I’m pulling for them to win their 15^th game of the season…that would fulfill one of the goals I set for Coach Aura.

Virginia jumped out on top but the Eagles were scrappy and took an 18-17 lead with 11:37 left in the half.  But the Cavaliers controlled the game in the final 10 minutes of the half as Coach Aura was forced to protect 3 starters who were in foul trouble.  Virginia moved out to a 50-39 halftime lead. 

Our guys fought hard in the 2^nd half, but the refs tagged us with far too many fouls.  Virginia held us at arms length and came away with an 89-78 victory.

C Jason Caldwell topped our scoring with 16 points.  Reserves Samuel King and Michael Millford both scored 13.  Starters James Lilly only played 13 minutes before fouling out and Marvin Reese was limited to 18 minutes due to 4 fouls.  Five Cavaliers scored in double figures.

[PointGuard 70]

JJ Conroy

BeanTownSports Blog

Blog of Feb. 21, 2026:

I hate to say “I told you so”…but I did.  BC is going down in flames as the season winds down. 

Their next game is AT Duke.  They may as well phone in a forfeit.  They aren’t in Duke’s class.  And…Duke just sustained a road loss to Georgia Tech last night that cut their play the Eagles. 

So, Eagles fans…this ain't gonna be pretty.

 

Blog of Feb. 23, 2026:

Feb. 23, 2026: Boston College Eagles (14-12, 7-9) vs #4 Duke Blue Devils (22-5, 13-3) at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, NC

Recipe for disaster:

*Duke’s Big Mac attack trio of SG Stephan McIntosh-17.1 ppg; C Maurice McCoy-15.7 ppg, 7.0 rpg; PF Greg McDyess-14.6 ppg, 9.5 rpg.

*Duke’s defense allows just 59.6 ppg.

1^st Half: TOTAL DOMINATION by Duke.  FG% 45% to 32%, FT’s 12 for 12 vs 0-0, Rebounds 19-8, Steals 8-5, Blocks 5-0, TO’s 9 by Duke vs 14 by BC…and halftime score 39-14.

2^nd Half: Duke went up by 30 just a minute into the 2^nd half and coasted the rest of the way as they demolished the Eagles 76-45.  Dukes defense was just too much for BC.

The only BC players to score in double figures was PG/SG James Ray with just 10 points.  The entire starting 5 for the Eagles totally just 21 points.  And the Mac’s?  They didn’t need to score much for Duke, but finished 15, 14 and 11 points with McDyess getting a double-double (11 points and 10 rebounds).

I hate to tell you “I told you so”…but I did.

[PointGuard 70]

Feb. 24, 2026: Boston College Eagles (14-13, 7-10) vs Clemson Tigers (20-9, 11-6) at Littlejohn Coliseum in Clemson, SC

Steve Ross, C

We fell behind early in the game.  But we fought our way back and took a 2 point lead with 10-1/2 minutes to go in the half.  Clemson regained the lead, but late in the half we again pulled slightly ahead only to have the Tigers hit a 3 just before the buzzer sounded to give them a 42-41 halftime lead.  I got to play more than usual since Jason Caldwell got into foul trouble.  The refs sent Clemson to the line much more often and they scored 9 more points on free throws than we did.  I hit for 7 points and pulled down 5 boards in the half with SF Michael Millford hitting for 8 to top our scoring.

We quickly fell behind by double digits early in the 2^nd half.  We again made a move midway through the half to cut our deficit to 5 points.  We struggled to get closer but just couldn’t do it.  Then in the final few minutes, Clemson hit shots from all over the court to pull away for a 90-74 win.  We lost because the Tigers scored 15 more points at the line that we did.

SG James Lilly had 15 points and SF Michael Millford hit for 13.  I scored 9 while grabbing 7 rebounds.  PG Daniel Robinson scored 24 for Clemson.

We’re now tied for 10^th place with Notre Dame and just 4 teams are below us in the ACC.