Boston College Athletics
Boston College
Connecticut
Men's Basketball Falls To No. 23 Connecticut, 75-61
February 25, 2002 | Men's Basketball
Feb 25, 2002
By JIMMY GOLEN
AP Sports Writer
BOSTON - Caron Butler had 24 points and 15 rebounds, and Emeka Okafor set a school shot-blocking record as No. 23 Connecticut beat Boston College 75-61 on Monday night.
Okafor blocked five shots to give him 116 for the season - five more than Donyell Marshall had in 1993-94 and more by himself than the Huskies' opponents have all this year. Johnnie Selvie scored 14 as UConn (20-6, 12-3 Big East) beat Boston College (18-10, 7-8) for the 26th time in the last 27 tries.
Uka Agbai scored 19 for BC, and Troy Bell had 11 - snapping a five-game streak with 20 or more.
UConn already clinched the conference's East division title by beating West Virginia 95-73 on Saturday. With that, the Huskies probably earned a berth in the NCAA tournament as well.
But Boston College needs some help to get in, and Monday night was their last chance to impress the selectors with a win over a ranked team. The Eagles have won just three of their last eight as they fight for consideration for the NCAA tournament.
BC plays Syracuse on Sunday, but the Eagles probably need to win a couple of games in the Big East tournament to make the 65-team field.
It's quite a comedown from last year, when BC went from worst to first in the conference in the regular season and then won the Big East tournament before losing in the NCAA's second round to Southern California. Based on that and a nine-game winning streak to start this season, the Eagles climbed as high as 10th in The AP Top 25 poll.
BC had lost 23 straight to UConn before winning last year, now, they've lost three in a row. On Feb. 16, BC blew a 10-point lead with 2{ minutes left in regulation and UConn won 79-77 in overtime.
Agbai had 12 points in the first half. Without him, Boston College was 3-for-22 shooting.
UConn never trailed, taking a 15-6 lead early en route to a 38-20 halftime lead. That was Boston College's lowest first-half scoring total of the season.
