Photo by: Eddie Shabomardenly
Island VIbes For BC In Dominating First Round Win
November 25, 2024 | Men's Basketball, #ForBoston Files
The Eagles pummeled Old Dominion to advance to Monday's winner's bracket vs. Missouri State
GEORGE TOWN, Grand Cayman -- The steel drum echoing through John Gray High School's air conditioned gymnasium offered the perfect serene backdrop to Sunday night's Cayman Islands Classic opening day. By its nature, the tournament celebrates the basketball culture of a British Overseas Territory while offering opportunities for Division I programs to escape to tropical destinations. The facility is located within earshot of serene waves crashing against Grand Cayman's southwest shore, and the bright and happy percussion offered the perfect complement to the opening day's matchups.
To Boston College head coach Earl Grant, the scene indicated the unique environment surrounding the tropical holiday tournament getaway, but any joy associated with off-court atmosphere was collectively happier because of his Eagles' effort. Executing a gameplan that began with its win over Loyola, BC ran away from its first meeting with Old Dominion by kicking off the Cayman Islands Classic with an 82-52 victory over the Monarchs.
"This was really the fruits of our labor," said Grant of the team's victory. "We really had a good focus and practice before we took this trip to the Cayman Islands, and we arrived really competitive and really tough. To carry on from that, we executed a game plan."
Old Dominion was one of those programs occupying special intersections in the long and tortured history within NCAA basketball. It became synonymous with a No. 14 seed and its upset special after eliminating Big East champion Villanova in 1995's first round, after which the Monarchs became one-half of the first tournament to advance two No. 14 seeds since the tournament's expansion in 1995. As part of an East Regional with top-ranked Wake Forest and second-seeded UMass, the win over Kerry Kittles' Wildcats sent the Monarchs down a path with Tulsa and Oklahoma State that ended when Bryant "Big Country" Reeves ended a 44-year Final Four drought for that year's Big 8 champion.
The Monarchs stuck out from a tournament region featuring Tim Duncan, Marcus Camby and the innumerable pro prospects dotting the games in Albany and beyond, and the surrounding index around Old Dominion followed it through an odyssey breaking through the Colonial Athletic Association and Conference USA. They eventually returned to the Sun Belt Conference in a move centered around their football program, but they remain - as does their league - a team seldom seen by Boston College at any level of basketball.
"They'd been competing pretty hard," said Grant. "I watched all of their games and [found] they were very competitive. They'd gotten down a few times big in some games and competed to make it a close game, so when we got up by 19 or 20 in the first half, my mindset was that we hadn't put them away or that they might have tried to make a run. They actually did make a run to cut our lead back to 15 or 14 because Donald Hand made a couple of big threes, Fred Payne came in and gave us a lift, and we got it back to 20 with the lead still building."
BC hadn't seen a Sun Belt Conference member since facing Arkansas State in the consolation game of the 2001 Rainbow Classic, but any dreams of replicating Marshall's 130-69 win during Dwight Eisenhower's first presidency quickly fell out of reality because of Grant's continued defensive swarm. Old Dominion didn't get to the foul line more than three times and couldn't consistently bury three-pointers, and the ongoing prevention of second opportunities paced transition game play that included 13 fastbreak points for the maroon and gold and an additional 13 points off turnovers.
The Eagles added 11 second chance points after truly dominating the offensive window throughout the first half, and nothing else really changed for a Monarch attack built primarily around the three-pointer. Being forced into taking more desperate or ill-timed shots resulted in one made deep ball for the entire second half, after which BC continued rolling through fastbreak and points off turnovers while maintaining more first chance points without a need for offensive glass.
"We just executed our game plan," said Hand. "We'd been going over it for a couple of days now, and the coaching staff are big on executing. Once game time comes, we've had a great scout team that ran their style perfectly, so once it was game time, we were prepared.
"Everything comes from making quick decisions," added Jayden Hastings. "Trusting each other, knowing that we're not playing one-on-one, we're moving the ball. For my part, it's also about screening and making sure my guys have clear lanes."
Both Hand and Hastings finished with impressive per-minute numbers after BC ran its offense through 10 different scorers who all posted between six and 11 points. Both Joshua Beadle, Roger McFarlane and Luka Toews all scored on the low end of that spectrum, but each contributed either rebounds, assists or the occasional steal, with McFarlane topping most categories after grabbing 11 boards, including six on the offensive window, with five assists, a block and a steal.
Hand and Payne each scored in double figures while playing less than 30 minutes, and Chad Venning and Elijah Strong nailed down eight points with Hastings likewise contributing one basket short of double figures. He added three boards and three assists with a team-high two blocks, all of which limited Old Dominion to not much more than 19 points from Robert Davis Jr.
"We wanted to take ODU out of the game in terms of letting them shoot a lot of threes," Grant said. "We did a good job in making it tough for them, to which we then executed really well on offense by sharing the ball and rebounding the first miss. We didn't give up a lot of second chance opportunities.
"A lot of times in practice," said Grant, "our second team challenges the first group and gives them a go and run for their money. We see it every day in practice, and I think the first group realizes what the second group can bring. We kind of intermingled the units together because in a three-games-in-three-days tournament, you need to play a lot of guys."
Beating Old Dominion then saved BC for its second round matchup against Missouri State. Advancing to the winner's bracket ensured a 24-hour time differential between tip-offs to the next night without having to play in the 5 p.m. game, after which the winner would advance to another 7 p.m. start on Tuesday for the tournament championship.
The Bears earlier defeated High Point to advance to the winner's bracket second game against BC, with South Dakota State and Boise State previously advancing through the afternoon session with wins over Duquesne and Hampton, respectively. Monday's four-game session will now feature Duquesne and Hampton in an 11 a.m. tip-off with Boise and South Dakota State tipping off at 1:30. High Point and Old Dominion then slot into 5 p.m. with the Eagles and Bears wrapping out the day.
Should BC beat Missouri State, it would advance to Tuesday's championship at 7:30 p.m., while a loss would relegate the Eagles to playing the loser of Boise-South Dakota State at 5 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon.
All games are available for broadcast on the FloCollege app by FloSports with a subscription to FloSports required for watching.
To Boston College head coach Earl Grant, the scene indicated the unique environment surrounding the tropical holiday tournament getaway, but any joy associated with off-court atmosphere was collectively happier because of his Eagles' effort. Executing a gameplan that began with its win over Loyola, BC ran away from its first meeting with Old Dominion by kicking off the Cayman Islands Classic with an 82-52 victory over the Monarchs.
"This was really the fruits of our labor," said Grant of the team's victory. "We really had a good focus and practice before we took this trip to the Cayman Islands, and we arrived really competitive and really tough. To carry on from that, we executed a game plan."
Old Dominion was one of those programs occupying special intersections in the long and tortured history within NCAA basketball. It became synonymous with a No. 14 seed and its upset special after eliminating Big East champion Villanova in 1995's first round, after which the Monarchs became one-half of the first tournament to advance two No. 14 seeds since the tournament's expansion in 1995. As part of an East Regional with top-ranked Wake Forest and second-seeded UMass, the win over Kerry Kittles' Wildcats sent the Monarchs down a path with Tulsa and Oklahoma State that ended when Bryant "Big Country" Reeves ended a 44-year Final Four drought for that year's Big 8 champion.
The Monarchs stuck out from a tournament region featuring Tim Duncan, Marcus Camby and the innumerable pro prospects dotting the games in Albany and beyond, and the surrounding index around Old Dominion followed it through an odyssey breaking through the Colonial Athletic Association and Conference USA. They eventually returned to the Sun Belt Conference in a move centered around their football program, but they remain - as does their league - a team seldom seen by Boston College at any level of basketball.
"They'd been competing pretty hard," said Grant. "I watched all of their games and [found] they were very competitive. They'd gotten down a few times big in some games and competed to make it a close game, so when we got up by 19 or 20 in the first half, my mindset was that we hadn't put them away or that they might have tried to make a run. They actually did make a run to cut our lead back to 15 or 14 because Donald Hand made a couple of big threes, Fred Payne came in and gave us a lift, and we got it back to 20 with the lead still building."
BC hadn't seen a Sun Belt Conference member since facing Arkansas State in the consolation game of the 2001 Rainbow Classic, but any dreams of replicating Marshall's 130-69 win during Dwight Eisenhower's first presidency quickly fell out of reality because of Grant's continued defensive swarm. Old Dominion didn't get to the foul line more than three times and couldn't consistently bury three-pointers, and the ongoing prevention of second opportunities paced transition game play that included 13 fastbreak points for the maroon and gold and an additional 13 points off turnovers.
The Eagles added 11 second chance points after truly dominating the offensive window throughout the first half, and nothing else really changed for a Monarch attack built primarily around the three-pointer. Being forced into taking more desperate or ill-timed shots resulted in one made deep ball for the entire second half, after which BC continued rolling through fastbreak and points off turnovers while maintaining more first chance points without a need for offensive glass.
"We just executed our game plan," said Hand. "We'd been going over it for a couple of days now, and the coaching staff are big on executing. Once game time comes, we've had a great scout team that ran their style perfectly, so once it was game time, we were prepared.
"Everything comes from making quick decisions," added Jayden Hastings. "Trusting each other, knowing that we're not playing one-on-one, we're moving the ball. For my part, it's also about screening and making sure my guys have clear lanes."
Both Hand and Hastings finished with impressive per-minute numbers after BC ran its offense through 10 different scorers who all posted between six and 11 points. Both Joshua Beadle, Roger McFarlane and Luka Toews all scored on the low end of that spectrum, but each contributed either rebounds, assists or the occasional steal, with McFarlane topping most categories after grabbing 11 boards, including six on the offensive window, with five assists, a block and a steal.
Hand and Payne each scored in double figures while playing less than 30 minutes, and Chad Venning and Elijah Strong nailed down eight points with Hastings likewise contributing one basket short of double figures. He added three boards and three assists with a team-high two blocks, all of which limited Old Dominion to not much more than 19 points from Robert Davis Jr.
"We wanted to take ODU out of the game in terms of letting them shoot a lot of threes," Grant said. "We did a good job in making it tough for them, to which we then executed really well on offense by sharing the ball and rebounding the first miss. We didn't give up a lot of second chance opportunities.
"A lot of times in practice," said Grant, "our second team challenges the first group and gives them a go and run for their money. We see it every day in practice, and I think the first group realizes what the second group can bring. We kind of intermingled the units together because in a three-games-in-three-days tournament, you need to play a lot of guys."
Beating Old Dominion then saved BC for its second round matchup against Missouri State. Advancing to the winner's bracket ensured a 24-hour time differential between tip-offs to the next night without having to play in the 5 p.m. game, after which the winner would advance to another 7 p.m. start on Tuesday for the tournament championship.
The Bears earlier defeated High Point to advance to the winner's bracket second game against BC, with South Dakota State and Boise State previously advancing through the afternoon session with wins over Duquesne and Hampton, respectively. Monday's four-game session will now feature Duquesne and Hampton in an 11 a.m. tip-off with Boise and South Dakota State tipping off at 1:30. High Point and Old Dominion then slot into 5 p.m. with the Eagles and Bears wrapping out the day.
Should BC beat Missouri State, it would advance to Tuesday's championship at 7:30 p.m., while a loss would relegate the Eagles to playing the loser of Boise-South Dakota State at 5 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon.
All games are available for broadcast on the FloCollege app by FloSports with a subscription to FloSports required for watching.
Players Mentioned
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