Newfound Confidence Key to Comeback over Notre Dame

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. -- Jaeden Zackery walked into the postgame press conference on Tuesday and absentmindedly looked at the laptop on the table in front of him. A Zoom meeting was up and running to allow outside media to ask questions alongside the reporters who attended Boston College's 70-63 win over Notre Dame in person. He looked directly into the camera and shifted his eyes to the meeting, and without thinking, he did something that even he had no idea he did.

He adjusted his hair.

The move went unnoticed by the participants, but Zackery's simple move and smile illustrated the difference between a player who struggled against Syracuse and the one who scored 18 points in 37 minutes against one of the Eagles' biggest conference rivals. It was confidence, and as he spoke about the game, it was obvious how the sophomore guard felt like a microcosm of the entire BC team that had rediscovered its mojo. If we're trying to make it a mantra, call it "Confidence by Committee."

"Confidence is a big thing," Zackery said. "I talked with Coach Grant after the Syracuse game about it. If you're not mentally strong or have confidence, it'll take a toll on you. So being able to meet with Coach and talk with somebody a little bit about that helped me stay positive when I didn't score a lot in the first half. Being able to stick and play defensively and develop that confidence to bring it in the second half was very good."

That confidence paid dividends against Notre Dame and will be vital as the Eagles prepare to host #16/14 Duke on Saturday.

Beating Notre Dame isn't ever easy, but the most recent victory over the Fighting Irish was the product of the team's persistent ability to manage and persevere through the ups and downs of an individual game. BC didn't lead until 103 seconds remained in a game where the score wavered between double digits and a single possession deficit that never allowed the Eagles to fully whittle an Irish lead until those waning moments. It was the fifth example of the resilience that BC has shown in its eight victories.

"[Notre Dame head coach] Mike Brey has been successful for a lot of years," said BC head coach Earl Grant, "I thought they (Notre Dame) did a great job of coming up with solutions to our ball screen coverages, and in the first half, we weren't as communicative as we needed to be. We broke down and gave them some open threes."

The Irish guards - notably JJ Starling and Dane Goodwin - scored 27 of the Fighting Irish's 38 points in the first half. They were a combined 11-for-16 shooting and 5-for-7 from outside, with Goodwin hitting all three of his three-point attempts, and they neutralized the heartier return offered by Quinten Post's presence on the defensive front. The 7-footer had scored 10 points in 11 minutes off the bench, but Notre Dame used the judicious outside shot to keep its lead even as the rest of the Eagles had it best single offensive half of the season, shooting a season-best 60 percent from the floor.

In the second half, BC used switches to get Post into defensive mismatches against the smaller shooters. The rotations and switches prevented the Irish from getting clean looks on the offensive end, holding one of the ACC's top offensive units to 9-of-29 shooting from the floor.

"That requires a lot of communication and a lot of chemistry," said DeMarr Langford, Jr. "We worked on that for a couple of days in practice, and we actually worked on it in the morning before the game, whether we were going to switch with TJ or Devin and put them in coverage."

The return of Quinten Post allows for Boston College to become more potent on both ends of the floor. Specifically on offense, BC's new-look offensive approach has played a direct effect on the confidence of the team's primary scorers. Zackery tallied 14 of his 18 points over the final 10 minutes of regulation, scoring from the perimeter, off the dribble, and at the free throw line. Prince Aligbe continued to regain his form, scoring 10 points on a trio of power moves in the post. And Mason Madsen made one of the biggest buckets of the night - a baseline 12-footer with 1:43 that put the Eagles ahead for good.

Another positive effect - or perhaps even a root measure - of the confidence down the stretch was the emergence of Langford Jr. as a primary playmaker. He finished the game with a career-high eight assists to go along with seven rebounds. Five of those eight helpers came in the second half, using his vision and athleticism in the latter minutes as a facilitator who cycled the ball to his many options.

"I'd like to point out how QP, Prince and definitely TJ and Devin played a lot of minutes," Langford said. "Being the big on the glass and kicking it out to JZ or Makai or Mason, I think it's very easy. We run more in transition and that opens up more lanes with more looks for shots. It just made it easier for us."

Their head coach agreed. "We just started to focus on ball movement and player movement," said Grant. "We had to get to the point where the ball movement could be the star. Quinten had been out for most of our games, and Prince was out for most of our games, so we didn't have our team. We wanted to get the ball moving, and this makes sure that we can get the defensive team out of position before driving in and attacking the paint. It's not really a concern about who's going to score because we're going to isolate the ball and do it by committee."

The Confidence by Committee mantra will be needed in full effect on Saturday afternoon. The #16/14 ranked Blue Devils come to Chestnut Hill stinging from an 84-60 drubbing at N.C. State. Tipoff is set for 1 p.m. and the game will air live nationally on ACC Network.

Limited tickets are still available by visiting the main athletics box office, calling (617) 552-GOBC, or by visitingBCEagles.com.

Newfound Confidence Key to Comeback over Notre Dame

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