Boston College Athletics
Photo by: John Quackenbos
Fireworks and Fun Prevail in Eagles' Opening Night Win
November 08, 2022 | Men's Basketball, #ForBoston Files
Fired up student crowd welcomed back men's basketball season on Monday night
CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. -- Season openers are often exercises in the unknown. Monday night's matchup with Boston College and Cornell was no exception. In front of a lively crowd of more than 4,000 fans - led by a student crowd that surrounded the far end of the Conte Forum floor and made their presence felt the entire night - BC emerged victorious. But how did the night unfold? Fireworks and fun.
The Big Red entered Conte Forum having been picked fifth out of eight in the Ivy League - a year after a 15-win campaign. But as life goes in college basketball, departures of the top four scorers allowed for some newer players to step into their roles, looking for the upset. Boston College, while on the opposite side of the retention scale, started two newcomers - freshman Prince Aligbe and junior transfer Mason Madsen - while also dealing with the injury unavailability of two starters, in Quinten Post and DeMarr Langford Jr.
The Big Red fell behind early but managed to catch up quickly after going went bombs away, making 13-of-36 3-pointers. Cornell abandoned the interior against the more physical Boston College defense unless quicker players could drive the basket from just outside the paint. The rhythm Cornell then discovered chipped away at the Eagles' early lead and allowed the Big Red to maintain pace in a back-and-forth second half. The near upset - Cornell had tied the game on a right-wing 3-ball with 30 seconds remaining - would have been another result that would be cause for a furrowed brow in the league on opening night.
That almost-overuse of the 3-pointer further challenged a BC team missing two of its veteran leaders but it also forged BC's lineup rotations to find cohesion in real time. T.J. Bickerstaff posted one of the most complete stat lines in the ACC in over 25 years, finishing with 12 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, five steals, and two blocked shots - the second of which nearly took out an unsuspecting cheerleader. Division II transfer CJ Penha, scored 15 points in 16 minutes by shooting 6-of-8 from the floor - including key buckets during a late second half stretch. Redshirt freshman Devin McGlockton grabbed six rebounds, while Donald Hand Jr. added five points in their BC debuts - part of a rotation that went nine players deep.
The night, though, belonged to Aligbe, whose 16-point debut fell one rebound short of a double-double and all but outlined, in one moment, why Earl Grant's recruiting class was among the tops in the ACC and the nation. The play itself was an exercise in BC's ability to share the ball, and after Aligbe lined up in the low block, he rotated from one side to another as Jaeden Zackery laid a pass into Makai Ashton-Langford.
Ashton-Langford delivered a perfect pass, and Aligbe soared towards the cup by banging through traffic. He leaned into a play that modern players normally convert into a fadeaway, and he executed an old-school finger roll that ever-so-slowly dropped into the bottom of the bucket and prevented the night from extending into overtime.
The crowd's subsequent explosion told the story of how that felt, pushing the Eagles to 1-0 at home, and it sent the week into Friday both success in the ledger and plenty of teaching moments as BC prepares for another upset-minded opponent in Detroit Mercy on Friday at 1 p.m. The rare weekday hoops matinee can been seen live on ACCNX.
The Big Red entered Conte Forum having been picked fifth out of eight in the Ivy League - a year after a 15-win campaign. But as life goes in college basketball, departures of the top four scorers allowed for some newer players to step into their roles, looking for the upset. Boston College, while on the opposite side of the retention scale, started two newcomers - freshman Prince Aligbe and junior transfer Mason Madsen - while also dealing with the injury unavailability of two starters, in Quinten Post and DeMarr Langford Jr.
The Big Red fell behind early but managed to catch up quickly after going went bombs away, making 13-of-36 3-pointers. Cornell abandoned the interior against the more physical Boston College defense unless quicker players could drive the basket from just outside the paint. The rhythm Cornell then discovered chipped away at the Eagles' early lead and allowed the Big Red to maintain pace in a back-and-forth second half. The near upset - Cornell had tied the game on a right-wing 3-ball with 30 seconds remaining - would have been another result that would be cause for a furrowed brow in the league on opening night.
That almost-overuse of the 3-pointer further challenged a BC team missing two of its veteran leaders but it also forged BC's lineup rotations to find cohesion in real time. T.J. Bickerstaff posted one of the most complete stat lines in the ACC in over 25 years, finishing with 12 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, five steals, and two blocked shots - the second of which nearly took out an unsuspecting cheerleader. Division II transfer CJ Penha, scored 15 points in 16 minutes by shooting 6-of-8 from the floor - including key buckets during a late second half stretch. Redshirt freshman Devin McGlockton grabbed six rebounds, while Donald Hand Jr. added five points in their BC debuts - part of a rotation that went nine players deep.
The night, though, belonged to Aligbe, whose 16-point debut fell one rebound short of a double-double and all but outlined, in one moment, why Earl Grant's recruiting class was among the tops in the ACC and the nation. The play itself was an exercise in BC's ability to share the ball, and after Aligbe lined up in the low block, he rotated from one side to another as Jaeden Zackery laid a pass into Makai Ashton-Langford.
Ashton-Langford delivered a perfect pass, and Aligbe soared towards the cup by banging through traffic. He leaned into a play that modern players normally convert into a fadeaway, and he executed an old-school finger roll that ever-so-slowly dropped into the bottom of the bucket and prevented the night from extending into overtime.
The crowd's subsequent explosion told the story of how that felt, pushing the Eagles to 1-0 at home, and it sent the week into Friday both success in the ledger and plenty of teaching moments as BC prepares for another upset-minded opponent in Detroit Mercy on Friday at 1 p.m. The rare weekday hoops matinee can been seen live on ACCNX.
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