Photo by: John Quackenbos
Thursday Three-Pointer: Week One
November 14, 2019 | Men's Basketball, #ForBoston Files
A blowout win capped a 3-0 start to the season for BC
CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. -- Conte Forum's lights still illuminated the hardwood below, but head coach Jim Christian wasn't letting his team bask too much in its own glory. His Boston College Eagles were minutes removed from a 59-33 win over High Point, but he didn't want his team reflecting too much on its 3-0 start with a game against a perennial national powerhouse on tap.
"I told the team in the locker room that Belmont is a perennial powerhouse," he said on Wednesday night. "They are really, really good. I don't know the exact number of wins per year, but it's probably in the high-20's. They're very difficult to guard especially in special situations. They play hard and together and confident. It's going to be a heck of a test."
Such is how BC ended its first full week of the 2019-20 season. It started 3-0 for the second time in three seasons but didn't want to dwell too much on the positive. There was too much unfinished work and too little time, well aware of a team waiting in the wings to upset the apple cart before the next work week could dawn.
"In every game, there are going to be things that stick out statistically," Christian said. "One thing you can do every night is play hard. You can take charges and dive on the floor. That's why you win games against teams like South Florida. You can weather that storm."
The words came as a look of contented determination swept across the coach's face. The season is only three games young, creating an urgency to continue moving forward. But the undefeated week is clearly a source of pride and satisfaction for a team looking to enter week two with continued momentum.
THREE POINTS
1. Night guards
Derryck Thornton and Jay Heath entered the season wth completely different basketball resumes. Thornton, the veteran from Los Angeles, is on his third team after stops at both Duke and earning his undergraduate degree from USC. Heath, the Woodrow Wilson H.S. product, is a rookie out of Washington, D.C. Their basketball paths never crossed before they arrived at Boston College.
The backcourt of Thornton and Heath ed the Eagles to a 77-70 victory over Wake Forest in their first game together. Thornton (22) and Heath (18) combined for 42 points, more than half of the team's cumulative total, debuting a fresh look for the team's high-octane, fast-paced offense.
Guard play is a well-publicized piece of Christian's philosophy, but it's less known how the style adapts to individual players. Thornton's maturity and basketball acumen seamlessly combines with Heath's enthusiasm and natural ability to generate offense through two potential points. It's a switch from last year's reliance on Ky Bowman's explosiveness and how the prior year wanted to get the ball into Jerome Robinson's shooting hands. It provokes early-season victories because older game film is almost immediately outdated.
It's also part of a game plan where the team can pick itself up by simply playing together. Heath struggled with turnovers against USF, but Thornton and the defense compensated for the number. Thornton struggled to consistently knock down shots against High Point, but the frontcourt helped widen the gap before Heath took over in the second half to finish with a game-high 14 points.
"It depends on what happens," Christian said. "Turnovers are because of decision-making with the ball. You just have to fix it. It was two games into the year, and now it's three. There are always things that you have to fix, but at the same time, you have to prepare for the next team. You just have to keep going. Your players have to buy in, which they've done."
2. Trap Game Becomes Blowout City
Midweek, non-conference games against mid-major programs can turn into a form of kryptonite for power conference teams if they aren't careful. The games scream out for a trap, especially if the "bigger" team swaggers into the matchup with a little bit of overconfidence. BC avoided that temporary case of mid-major flu when it shut down High Point in its 26-point victory
It's the kind of game where the Eagles handled necessary business. The defense held the Panthers to 29.2% shooting in the first half and clamped down even further after halftime. HPU didn't score its first second-half point until 9:28 remained, at which point the Eagles built a 34-point cushion as part of a larger 21-0 run.
"A team like High Point runs really good stuff," Christian said. "They have a lot of young players and they're a rhythm-type team. We just wanted them to become uncomfortable so they'd be forced to make their own plays. If you can do that, you can force turnovers and steals."
That's not to say the game was perfect. The Eagles' offense struggled through some sloppy play in the first half. The Eagles only shot 36.9% on the game, particularly struggling with the outside shot, but found solace in the emergence of both Jared Hamilton and Steffon Mitchell. Hamilton was 5-of-6 in that first half, knocking down two 3-pointers.
"I just want these guys to play hard and play right," Christian said. "I have total confidence in Jared. He impacts the game defensively. He had a tip-in and made some buckets in transition. It's a mindset. He's becoming a captain on defense. He understands the scheme and what to do. He has long arms and he's active. It's all part of the team. If he's hot, we aren't thinking to feed him 27 times, but we just want him to play hard."
Mitchell, meanwhile, displayed a tenacity that created offense through defense. He had five boards on the High Point glass in the first half alone and created chances through two steals. He owned the paint with seven points and cruised to a double-double with 10 points and 10 boards.
"I have total confidence in Steff becoming an offensive weapon for us," Christian said. "The plays that he makes to win? There are 350 Division I coaches that want him in their lineup."
The first half effort buoyed the team before Jay Heath erupted for six baskets in the second half. It helped BC avoid the early-season letdown game permeating through power conference programs. Both Wake Forest and Virginia Tech struggled against UNC Asheville and USC Upstate, respectively, before pulling away late, and FIU drove NC State to a tie game at halftime. It came a day after nationally-ranked Auburn barely snuck past South Alabama and top-ranked Kentucky lost to Evansville.
3. Turnovers - great with apple, bad with basketball
Not everything in the first three games was gravy. The Demon Deacons almost completed a comeback at Conte Forum in the season opener and the 28 turnovers against USF were the most in a BC victory since a 2017 game against Syracuse. The offense went blank for periods against High Point.
The turnover numbers more than doubled the season average after the Wake Forest game, but it had some silver linings. For starters, BC only turned the ball over 13 times against the Panthers, falling back into a more recognizable number. Second, the Eagles forced 56 turnovers against USF and HPU, including 29 against the Panthers on Wednesday night.
The early-season numbers skew, which warrants mentioning, but things will iron out as the season progresses. It's still worth keeping an eye on ensuring that the numbers remain in favor of BC across the game-to-game ratio.
Layup Line: I'm Batman
The BC win over High Point provided opening fodder for the 2019 Gotham Classic, a five-team tournament continuing later this week when the Eagles host Belmont. The victory came opposite a 22-point victory for Saint Louis over Eastern Washington, while the Bruins remained idle awaiting Saturday's game in Chestnut Hill.
This year marks the eighth consecutive year of the tournament, which normally combined mid-major basketball programs with upstart mid-major bids. Every season includes a "showcase game," which for the first three years was held at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The last four years gravitated largely to campus sites, but the spirit of the round-robin tournament remains.
The 2019 showcase game will be later this month when Saint Louis comes to Chestnut Hill to play Boston College on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, but there are still some intriguing and compelling matchups capable of impacting the national tournament radar. This upcoming Saturday is one of those games, when a perennial powerhouse Belmont team invades Boston to play the Eagles.
Belmont broke a three-year absence from the NCAA Tournament last year when it won the Ohio Valley Conference regular season championship and earned a No. 11 seed in the East Regional. The Bruins became part of a near-bracket buster grouping when it battled sixth-seeded Maryland to a two-point loss opposite 14th-seeded Yale's five-point loss to LSU.
The team remains a mid-major fixture since reclassifying in the late-1990's. Under future Hall of Fame head coach Rick Byrd, Belmont joined the Atlantic Sun in 2001 and has made a postseason tournament every year since with only five exceptions. Belmont hasn't won less than 20 games since 2009-10.
"We signed up for a number of tough games this season," Jim Christian said. "We have some really challenging games early in the year. We wanted to be a team that competed against the best, and we're putting ourselves to that test."
Boston College will tip-off against Belmont at 2 p.m. from Conte Forum. That game can be seen on the ACC Network.
"I told the team in the locker room that Belmont is a perennial powerhouse," he said on Wednesday night. "They are really, really good. I don't know the exact number of wins per year, but it's probably in the high-20's. They're very difficult to guard especially in special situations. They play hard and together and confident. It's going to be a heck of a test."
Such is how BC ended its first full week of the 2019-20 season. It started 3-0 for the second time in three seasons but didn't want to dwell too much on the positive. There was too much unfinished work and too little time, well aware of a team waiting in the wings to upset the apple cart before the next work week could dawn.
"In every game, there are going to be things that stick out statistically," Christian said. "One thing you can do every night is play hard. You can take charges and dive on the floor. That's why you win games against teams like South Florida. You can weather that storm."
The words came as a look of contented determination swept across the coach's face. The season is only three games young, creating an urgency to continue moving forward. But the undefeated week is clearly a source of pride and satisfaction for a team looking to enter week two with continued momentum.
THREE POINTS
1. Night guards
Derryck Thornton and Jay Heath entered the season wth completely different basketball resumes. Thornton, the veteran from Los Angeles, is on his third team after stops at both Duke and earning his undergraduate degree from USC. Heath, the Woodrow Wilson H.S. product, is a rookie out of Washington, D.C. Their basketball paths never crossed before they arrived at Boston College.
The backcourt of Thornton and Heath ed the Eagles to a 77-70 victory over Wake Forest in their first game together. Thornton (22) and Heath (18) combined for 42 points, more than half of the team's cumulative total, debuting a fresh look for the team's high-octane, fast-paced offense.
Guard play is a well-publicized piece of Christian's philosophy, but it's less known how the style adapts to individual players. Thornton's maturity and basketball acumen seamlessly combines with Heath's enthusiasm and natural ability to generate offense through two potential points. It's a switch from last year's reliance on Ky Bowman's explosiveness and how the prior year wanted to get the ball into Jerome Robinson's shooting hands. It provokes early-season victories because older game film is almost immediately outdated.
It's also part of a game plan where the team can pick itself up by simply playing together. Heath struggled with turnovers against USF, but Thornton and the defense compensated for the number. Thornton struggled to consistently knock down shots against High Point, but the frontcourt helped widen the gap before Heath took over in the second half to finish with a game-high 14 points.
"It depends on what happens," Christian said. "Turnovers are because of decision-making with the ball. You just have to fix it. It was two games into the year, and now it's three. There are always things that you have to fix, but at the same time, you have to prepare for the next team. You just have to keep going. Your players have to buy in, which they've done."
2. Trap Game Becomes Blowout City
Midweek, non-conference games against mid-major programs can turn into a form of kryptonite for power conference teams if they aren't careful. The games scream out for a trap, especially if the "bigger" team swaggers into the matchup with a little bit of overconfidence. BC avoided that temporary case of mid-major flu when it shut down High Point in its 26-point victory
It's the kind of game where the Eagles handled necessary business. The defense held the Panthers to 29.2% shooting in the first half and clamped down even further after halftime. HPU didn't score its first second-half point until 9:28 remained, at which point the Eagles built a 34-point cushion as part of a larger 21-0 run.
"A team like High Point runs really good stuff," Christian said. "They have a lot of young players and they're a rhythm-type team. We just wanted them to become uncomfortable so they'd be forced to make their own plays. If you can do that, you can force turnovers and steals."
That's not to say the game was perfect. The Eagles' offense struggled through some sloppy play in the first half. The Eagles only shot 36.9% on the game, particularly struggling with the outside shot, but found solace in the emergence of both Jared Hamilton and Steffon Mitchell. Hamilton was 5-of-6 in that first half, knocking down two 3-pointers.
"I just want these guys to play hard and play right," Christian said. "I have total confidence in Jared. He impacts the game defensively. He had a tip-in and made some buckets in transition. It's a mindset. He's becoming a captain on defense. He understands the scheme and what to do. He has long arms and he's active. It's all part of the team. If he's hot, we aren't thinking to feed him 27 times, but we just want him to play hard."
Mitchell, meanwhile, displayed a tenacity that created offense through defense. He had five boards on the High Point glass in the first half alone and created chances through two steals. He owned the paint with seven points and cruised to a double-double with 10 points and 10 boards.
"I have total confidence in Steff becoming an offensive weapon for us," Christian said. "The plays that he makes to win? There are 350 Division I coaches that want him in their lineup."
The first half effort buoyed the team before Jay Heath erupted for six baskets in the second half. It helped BC avoid the early-season letdown game permeating through power conference programs. Both Wake Forest and Virginia Tech struggled against UNC Asheville and USC Upstate, respectively, before pulling away late, and FIU drove NC State to a tie game at halftime. It came a day after nationally-ranked Auburn barely snuck past South Alabama and top-ranked Kentucky lost to Evansville.
3. Turnovers - great with apple, bad with basketball
Not everything in the first three games was gravy. The Demon Deacons almost completed a comeback at Conte Forum in the season opener and the 28 turnovers against USF were the most in a BC victory since a 2017 game against Syracuse. The offense went blank for periods against High Point.
The turnover numbers more than doubled the season average after the Wake Forest game, but it had some silver linings. For starters, BC only turned the ball over 13 times against the Panthers, falling back into a more recognizable number. Second, the Eagles forced 56 turnovers against USF and HPU, including 29 against the Panthers on Wednesday night.
The early-season numbers skew, which warrants mentioning, but things will iron out as the season progresses. It's still worth keeping an eye on ensuring that the numbers remain in favor of BC across the game-to-game ratio.
Layup Line: I'm Batman
The BC win over High Point provided opening fodder for the 2019 Gotham Classic, a five-team tournament continuing later this week when the Eagles host Belmont. The victory came opposite a 22-point victory for Saint Louis over Eastern Washington, while the Bruins remained idle awaiting Saturday's game in Chestnut Hill.
This year marks the eighth consecutive year of the tournament, which normally combined mid-major basketball programs with upstart mid-major bids. Every season includes a "showcase game," which for the first three years was held at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The last four years gravitated largely to campus sites, but the spirit of the round-robin tournament remains.
The 2019 showcase game will be later this month when Saint Louis comes to Chestnut Hill to play Boston College on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, but there are still some intriguing and compelling matchups capable of impacting the national tournament radar. This upcoming Saturday is one of those games, when a perennial powerhouse Belmont team invades Boston to play the Eagles.
Belmont broke a three-year absence from the NCAA Tournament last year when it won the Ohio Valley Conference regular season championship and earned a No. 11 seed in the East Regional. The Bruins became part of a near-bracket buster grouping when it battled sixth-seeded Maryland to a two-point loss opposite 14th-seeded Yale's five-point loss to LSU.
The team remains a mid-major fixture since reclassifying in the late-1990's. Under future Hall of Fame head coach Rick Byrd, Belmont joined the Atlantic Sun in 2001 and has made a postseason tournament every year since with only five exceptions. Belmont hasn't won less than 20 games since 2009-10.
"We signed up for a number of tough games this season," Jim Christian said. "We have some really challenging games early in the year. We wanted to be a team that competed against the best, and we're putting ourselves to that test."
Boston College will tip-off against Belmont at 2 p.m. from Conte Forum. That game can be seen on the ACC Network.
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