Miami Hurricanes @ Boston College Eagles Basketball Recap

Miami 73, Boston College 64

Oh, no, Boston College. This was not a good career move.

When a team lives squarely on the middle of the NCAA Tournament bubble, the last thing it can afford to do is lose a conference home game to an inferior opponent. Yet, in the heat of the chase for a spot in the field of 68, that’s exactly what the Eagles did in their New England abode. Now, their margin for error in the coming days is zero.

Yes, Boston College slipped on the banana peel precisely when it could not absorb an embarrassing loss. Coach Steve Donahue’s Eagles came out pancake-flat on Wednesday night on home hardwood at the Sylvio Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, and the Miami Hurricanes took advantage by severely crippling the home team’s NCAA hopes.

Miami has made it a habit to play spoiler in the ACC in recent years. Coach Frank Haith’s team effectively knocked Virginia Tech out of the Big Dance last year by rising up in Greensboro, North Carolina, to stun the Hokies in the quarterfinals of the 2010 ACC Tournament. Miami was the last-place team in the ACC a year ago, but the 12th-seeded Canes rocked fourth-seeded Virginia Tech thanks to ballsy shotmaking and resilient defense down the stretch. On this night in New England, Miami’s formula for victory was much the same against the bubble-trouble Eagles, with the only difference being that this contest wasn’t decided in the final few minutes. It was over early.

> Check out a great selection of Miami Hurricanes Apparel & Merchandise!

Miami bolted to a 38-17 halftime lead and, despite some second-half struggles, won on the road without too much difficulty. Boston College came oh-so-close to beating North Carolina on the road last Saturday, but instead of allowing the gritty “almost-but-not-quite” performance to buoy their spirits, the Eagles looked downtrodden in the wake of their loss at UNC. Boston College needed to move on from the heartbreak of that experience on Tobacco Road and learn from it instead. That’s not what the Eagles did, however, and their season has become imperiled as a consequence. Boston College displayed no life or energy at the offensive end of the floor in the first 20 minutes. Averaging less than one point per minute is no way to grab an NCAA berth by the horns. Miami, meanwhile, found the very groove on offense that BC was lacking. The Canes shot 51 percent from the field for the game, with four players scoring in double figures. Malcolm Grant and Reggie Johnson both posted 15 points for Miami. Boston College got 16 points from big man Joe Trapani, but the Eagles limped to a 39-percent shooting performance from the field, which was padded by a lot of garbage buckets when the Eagles played catch-up against Miami’s not-as-intense defense. If you looked only at BC’s shooting percentage in the first 30 minutes, the Eagles hit 30 percent of their shots and did not register much of a pulse at all.

Boston College is now on life support as far as the NCAAs are concerned. If the Eagles don’t win at least four more games before Selection Sunday, and very likely five, they’re not going to breathe easy on March 13.

Not at all.

By: Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer