Boston College Athletics
Photo by: Anthony Garro
They're On Fire: Eagles Put on a Display in Miami Win
January 14, 2021 | Men's Basketball, #ForBoston Files
BC channeled its inner NBA Jam by hitting from everywhere against the U
CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. -- Fans of a certain age will remember the feeling of hitting three uninterrupted shots on an NBA Jam arcade game. That first shot would fall innocently enough, but the second consecutive bucket made the announcer come alive. It all led to the third straight hoop and the signature sight of a net going up in flames. Nothing could top that feeling because it meant buckets would start falling from anywhere on the court.Â
Tuesday night's game was real life, but Boston College's shooting felt a little bit like playing the tabletop video game in a Pizza Hut in 1993. RIch Kelly drained seven 3-pointers, scoring a season-high 27 points, while Jay Heath drained five treys en route to a career-best 25 points as BC crushed Miami, 84-62, at Conte Forum.
"It's like the story of the stone cutter," Kelly said. "You just keep tapping on that rock and eventually the rock's going to break. Up until (Tuesday), it hadn't broken. But it finally broke. Everything was clicking out there."
BC made nine threes in the first half and finished with 18 splashes from downtown - second-most in a single game in program history. It accounted for more than half of the team's made shots and the Eagles finished with almost 65 percent of their offense coming from beyond the arc. They connected on better than 50 percent shooting on three pointers in a game for the second time this season.
CJ Felder started the rush with the team's long ball, but Kelly and Heath owned the perimeter with a combined 12 threes. They matched each other on the offensive end with crisp passing inside, but Heath's uncontested three from well outside forced the Hurricanes to call a quick timeout at the eight minute mark. Later in the opening half, Heath found Steffon Mitchell - who made three long-balls of his own on the night - off of a pick-and-roll that pushed the lead to double digits.
The confidence built in the second half when Kelly splashed a corner three that was good when it left his hands. He turned to his bench in exultation on the shot and pushed his team to a 16-point lead less than five minutes into the half, and it shattered Miami defensively before the passing again went inside-out between Heath and Mitchell.Â
Mitchell would find his own brand of success outside by going 3-for-4, and Felder added a second outside shot as the Eagles opened up their offense with a season-high 21 points in transition.
"We're doing a much better job with turnovers and rebounding," head coach Jim Christian said. "We outrebounded Virginia, and we're getting gang rebounds. Jay Heath gets down there, and DeMarr is a good rebounder. Kamari, when he gets in there, can rebound. I think it has to be a team thing, step-by-step. I thought CJ was really energetic on defense, guarding smaller guys on the perimeter, and he did a great job of keeping them in front and poking balls away. Steffon was really, really good and helped guys, coming over to block shots. We had seven blocks. All of those things contribute to get us out to run."
It was a massive breakthrough for a BC offense that saw highs and lows during its previous four-game skid. The Eagles outright shot poorly in the losses to Louisville and Virginia, while making close to 57% of its field goal attempts at Duke in a one-point loss. It led to a slide where BC lost consecutive conference games, including three to nationally-ranked opponents, by an average of seven points,
More specifically, the outside shooting struggled even though its looks offered good shot attempts at the basket. The ball simply wouldn't drop, but after shooting under 30 percent from outside in two of their three games prior to Tuesday, the Eagles are now well over 50 percent in two of their last three games.
"It's a relief," Heath said. "There were some nights where we play great defense, but the shot was off. There were some nights where we shot well but didn't play great D. We finally put it together. We had a great scout, and we were focused in practice. Once we went out there, it was easy."
"The approach in practice is detail and effort," Christian said. "The effort is understanding and being locked in. It's what we're teaching, just the way to approach it, how hard you cut on every shooting drill, how focused you are when we're going over how to attack a defense or when we're putting in something new.Â
"We put in a couple of new things offensively," he added, "and you could just feel the energy in practice. The volume of the communication amongst them was really good conversation. That's what makes teams good. What I was proud of was after Virginia. We were disappointed because we didn't play as well as would have liked, but we didn't waver. We had some guys hurt, but that's what I meant by energy. It's the way practice was approached from the time we hit the floor until the time we left. It was straight business, and that's the way it has to be every day."
BC now heads into its Holy War game at Notre Dame with momentum in full tow. The offense is clicking, and the defense is readying for an opportunity on Saturday to beat the Fighting Irish on the road in consecutive seasons after ending a 13-year drought at the Joyce Center last season.
That game will be broadcast on Saturday at 4 p.m. and can be seen on the ACC Network.
Tuesday night's game was real life, but Boston College's shooting felt a little bit like playing the tabletop video game in a Pizza Hut in 1993. RIch Kelly drained seven 3-pointers, scoring a season-high 27 points, while Jay Heath drained five treys en route to a career-best 25 points as BC crushed Miami, 84-62, at Conte Forum.
"It's like the story of the stone cutter," Kelly said. "You just keep tapping on that rock and eventually the rock's going to break. Up until (Tuesday), it hadn't broken. But it finally broke. Everything was clicking out there."
BC made nine threes in the first half and finished with 18 splashes from downtown - second-most in a single game in program history. It accounted for more than half of the team's made shots and the Eagles finished with almost 65 percent of their offense coming from beyond the arc. They connected on better than 50 percent shooting on three pointers in a game for the second time this season.
CJ Felder started the rush with the team's long ball, but Kelly and Heath owned the perimeter with a combined 12 threes. They matched each other on the offensive end with crisp passing inside, but Heath's uncontested three from well outside forced the Hurricanes to call a quick timeout at the eight minute mark. Later in the opening half, Heath found Steffon Mitchell - who made three long-balls of his own on the night - off of a pick-and-roll that pushed the lead to double digits.
The confidence built in the second half when Kelly splashed a corner three that was good when it left his hands. He turned to his bench in exultation on the shot and pushed his team to a 16-point lead less than five minutes into the half, and it shattered Miami defensively before the passing again went inside-out between Heath and Mitchell.Â
Mitchell would find his own brand of success outside by going 3-for-4, and Felder added a second outside shot as the Eagles opened up their offense with a season-high 21 points in transition.
"We're doing a much better job with turnovers and rebounding," head coach Jim Christian said. "We outrebounded Virginia, and we're getting gang rebounds. Jay Heath gets down there, and DeMarr is a good rebounder. Kamari, when he gets in there, can rebound. I think it has to be a team thing, step-by-step. I thought CJ was really energetic on defense, guarding smaller guys on the perimeter, and he did a great job of keeping them in front and poking balls away. Steffon was really, really good and helped guys, coming over to block shots. We had seven blocks. All of those things contribute to get us out to run."
It was a massive breakthrough for a BC offense that saw highs and lows during its previous four-game skid. The Eagles outright shot poorly in the losses to Louisville and Virginia, while making close to 57% of its field goal attempts at Duke in a one-point loss. It led to a slide where BC lost consecutive conference games, including three to nationally-ranked opponents, by an average of seven points,
More specifically, the outside shooting struggled even though its looks offered good shot attempts at the basket. The ball simply wouldn't drop, but after shooting under 30 percent from outside in two of their three games prior to Tuesday, the Eagles are now well over 50 percent in two of their last three games.
"It's a relief," Heath said. "There were some nights where we play great defense, but the shot was off. There were some nights where we shot well but didn't play great D. We finally put it together. We had a great scout, and we were focused in practice. Once we went out there, it was easy."
"The approach in practice is detail and effort," Christian said. "The effort is understanding and being locked in. It's what we're teaching, just the way to approach it, how hard you cut on every shooting drill, how focused you are when we're going over how to attack a defense or when we're putting in something new.Â
"We put in a couple of new things offensively," he added, "and you could just feel the energy in practice. The volume of the communication amongst them was really good conversation. That's what makes teams good. What I was proud of was after Virginia. We were disappointed because we didn't play as well as would have liked, but we didn't waver. We had some guys hurt, but that's what I meant by energy. It's the way practice was approached from the time we hit the floor until the time we left. It was straight business, and that's the way it has to be every day."
BC now heads into its Holy War game at Notre Dame with momentum in full tow. The offense is clicking, and the defense is readying for an opportunity on Saturday to beat the Fighting Irish on the road in consecutive seasons after ending a 13-year drought at the Joyce Center last season.
That game will be broadcast on Saturday at 4 p.m. and can be seen on the ACC Network.
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