Boston College Athletics
Photo by: Eddie Shabomardenly
Eagles Strong-Arm Their Way Into NIT Second Round
March 21, 2024 | Men's Basketball, #ForBoston Files
A career night from BC's freshman pushed the team past rival Providence.
CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. -- The story lines heading into Tuesday night's National Invitation Tournament first round matchup between Boston College and Providence swirled around the Friars' omission from the NCAA Tournament and the possibility of playing a postseason without Big East Player of the Year Devin Carter and All-Rookie pick Rich Barron. Providence believed in its NCAA Tournament candidacy, but not even the emergence of a long-forgotten Northeast rivalry removed the salt of playing in the NIT. It wasn't the halcyon days of Jimmy Walker, Johnny Egan, or Vinny Ernst for the Friars. It was disappointment.Â
Without the aforementioned scratches, the game was touted to come down to a battle in the middle between two all-conference centers in Quinten Post and PC big man Josh Oduro.  But by the time the clock struck 9 p.m. at Haven Brothers, the story switched to the play of Elijah Strong - a depth chart freshman post who scored eight of his 10 points during a key second half stretch.
Strong got his chance when Post found himself on the bench with three fouls in the first half. In the second half, when Post and Devin McGlockton both received their fourth fouls, the freshman from Charlotte saw his opening. A three-star prospect recruited by head coach Earl Grant from prep power Myers Park threw a dagger through the Providence season with a performance for the ages. Nobody in Rhode Island saw it coming, but by the end of the game, the freshman stood tallest among titans in a 62-57 win that sent BC to the NIT's second round with its 20th overall win.
"That's a moment I've been waiting for all season," Strong said in the aftermath of the win. "I just let my confidence take over in that type of moment. It's not an environment that I'm not used to, so I just kept working and kept my head down.  I got an opportunity. It doesn't mean a lot to me personally because it means a lot to my teammates. We worked so hard to play in March, and this is such a big accomplishment for us."
Strong's 10 points were fourth-most on the BC roster on Tuesday, but his 12 critical minutes began after a 30-second stretch that pushed Providence to a two-possession lead as contact increased within the paint and the Eagles' frontcourt stars found themselves in foul trouble.
"He's a winning piece,"Â Grant said. "That's why he was brought here. We have to complete our program and be a guiding light, inside and out. He'd been working on his skill, development, and his attitude every day, and we felt like we needed to go with Elijah with Devin. That was a lineup that we were really excited about, and those two together started working from the middle of the first half."
Strong still made some freshman mistakes in the second half, but his 3-pointer with 4:27 remaining called back to his only start of the season. He later drew a foul for a key one-in-one and sank both free throws to push the lead to three points by the final media break, and his driving layup with 2:17 on the clock fired his bench into a froth as he threw a fist pump towards the Providence student section situated behind his offensive net.
In total, his 3-for-4 night included a 3-for-4 performance at the free throw line, and his defensive awareness produced the second-best plus-minus on the defensive end. Providence failed to score more than six points against his defensive possession, and his rating drew more than five fouls per full game after analytics extrapolated him to the end of the game.
The depth anchored BC, and the Eagles finished with four players in double figures after Claudell Harris, Jr. went for 17 points and four rebounds with a 3-for-4 night from outside. Post and McGlockton combined for 27 points and 13 rebounds, but the offensive switch to put Mason Madsen near the basket in the second half helped push him to eight rebounds and three assists with Jaeden Zackery completing the full-team effort with five helpers.
"We talked about it before the game," Grant said. "We needed to embrace the possibilities. We needed to embrace the postseason and embrace each other. We needed to embrace the moment. We had a couple of guys in foul trouble, but they've done it a lot [because] we had that situation in the ACC Tournament. I think all of the moments throughout the year put us in a position where we could be calm. We're battle-tested, we could be calm and just try to execute."
The win improved BC to 20-15 and gave the Eagles their first 20-win season in 13 years. The win over Providence broke a two-game losing streak against the Friars and won a game in the Ocean State for the first time since an 82-77 win during the 2009-2010 season. It ensured the Eagles continued their NIT run for the tenth time in 12 visits to the tournament.Â
They haven't advanced to a quarterfinal since a 1993 loss to the Friars, but the Eagles now head to Las Vegas for a late-night matchup (on the east coast) against UNLV on Sunday night. Tipoff against the Runnin' Rebels is set for 9:30 p.m. ET and the game will air on ESPNU and the ESPN+ premium streaming package.
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Without the aforementioned scratches, the game was touted to come down to a battle in the middle between two all-conference centers in Quinten Post and PC big man Josh Oduro.  But by the time the clock struck 9 p.m. at Haven Brothers, the story switched to the play of Elijah Strong - a depth chart freshman post who scored eight of his 10 points during a key second half stretch.
Strong got his chance when Post found himself on the bench with three fouls in the first half. In the second half, when Post and Devin McGlockton both received their fourth fouls, the freshman from Charlotte saw his opening. A three-star prospect recruited by head coach Earl Grant from prep power Myers Park threw a dagger through the Providence season with a performance for the ages. Nobody in Rhode Island saw it coming, but by the end of the game, the freshman stood tallest among titans in a 62-57 win that sent BC to the NIT's second round with its 20th overall win.
"That's a moment I've been waiting for all season," Strong said in the aftermath of the win. "I just let my confidence take over in that type of moment. It's not an environment that I'm not used to, so I just kept working and kept my head down.  I got an opportunity. It doesn't mean a lot to me personally because it means a lot to my teammates. We worked so hard to play in March, and this is such a big accomplishment for us."
Strong's 10 points were fourth-most on the BC roster on Tuesday, but his 12 critical minutes began after a 30-second stretch that pushed Providence to a two-possession lead as contact increased within the paint and the Eagles' frontcourt stars found themselves in foul trouble.
"He's a winning piece,"Â Grant said. "That's why he was brought here. We have to complete our program and be a guiding light, inside and out. He'd been working on his skill, development, and his attitude every day, and we felt like we needed to go with Elijah with Devin. That was a lineup that we were really excited about, and those two together started working from the middle of the first half."
Strong still made some freshman mistakes in the second half, but his 3-pointer with 4:27 remaining called back to his only start of the season. He later drew a foul for a key one-in-one and sank both free throws to push the lead to three points by the final media break, and his driving layup with 2:17 on the clock fired his bench into a froth as he threw a fist pump towards the Providence student section situated behind his offensive net.
In total, his 3-for-4 night included a 3-for-4 performance at the free throw line, and his defensive awareness produced the second-best plus-minus on the defensive end. Providence failed to score more than six points against his defensive possession, and his rating drew more than five fouls per full game after analytics extrapolated him to the end of the game.
The depth anchored BC, and the Eagles finished with four players in double figures after Claudell Harris, Jr. went for 17 points and four rebounds with a 3-for-4 night from outside. Post and McGlockton combined for 27 points and 13 rebounds, but the offensive switch to put Mason Madsen near the basket in the second half helped push him to eight rebounds and three assists with Jaeden Zackery completing the full-team effort with five helpers.
"We talked about it before the game," Grant said. "We needed to embrace the possibilities. We needed to embrace the postseason and embrace each other. We needed to embrace the moment. We had a couple of guys in foul trouble, but they've done it a lot [because] we had that situation in the ACC Tournament. I think all of the moments throughout the year put us in a position where we could be calm. We're battle-tested, we could be calm and just try to execute."
The win improved BC to 20-15 and gave the Eagles their first 20-win season in 13 years. The win over Providence broke a two-game losing streak against the Friars and won a game in the Ocean State for the first time since an 82-77 win during the 2009-2010 season. It ensured the Eagles continued their NIT run for the tenth time in 12 visits to the tournament.Â
They haven't advanced to a quarterfinal since a 1993 loss to the Friars, but the Eagles now head to Las Vegas for a late-night matchup (on the east coast) against UNLV on Sunday night. Tipoff against the Runnin' Rebels is set for 9:30 p.m. ET and the game will air on ESPNU and the ESPN+ premium streaming package.
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