Gritty Eagles Produce Pretty Win Over Jackets

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. -- Lance Terry didn't know what hit him.

He'd spent most of the first half of Saturday as one of two offensive weapons in Georgia Tech's quest to vanquish Boston College, but his baseline drive to the basket in the opening minutes of the second half ended with a difference-making and tone-setting moment. Having rotated out of the paint after missing his first opportunity at the basket, the Atlanta native and Gardner-Webb transfer used a second chance to dribble past Donald Hand, Jr.

He saw a window to the rim opening, but he didn't see Chad Venning on the opposite side of the post. He didn't notice Venning's slide step across the baseline paint, nor did he identify the defender's path to the open rim as he left his feet for a layup. He couldn't stop the mismatch against the six-foot, nine-inch Venning from developing, and he couldn't stop Venning from executing a picture-perfect, floor-to-ceiling block.

Nor could he, or anyone else from Georgia Tech, stop Venning from finishing a layup on the other end of the floor. Having already landed second chance points to start the half, the graduate transfer from St. Bonaventure knifed through two defenders as he pro-hopped and Euro-stepped towards the basket. Conte Forum erupted, and BC, which led the first half by five, began the closeout to a 69-54 victory injected with the Senior Day swagger of a team surging through its second consecutive win.

"We try to defend, rebound and take care of the basketball," said head coach Earl Grant. "That's really the formula for us to have success. Against NC State, we had four turnovers in the first three minutes, which was very uncharacteristic, but in the second half, we held them to 25 points. We've been building on that ever since, and the guys keep showing up every day to work. Now we have to try to do it again and get back to work to figure out how we can continue to improve."

BC exited Saturday as a team in an upward surge towards the ACC Tournament, but the endgame story line showcased how the Eagles were finally capitalizing on circumstances conspiring to generate opportune moments. A potential sleeper pick ahead of the 2024-2025 season, Georgia Tech nursed 1-7 record in true games ahead of its visit to Conte Forum, and the oncoming issues with winning games away from McCamish Pavilion sunk whatever preseason tournament expectations existed.

The Eagles, meanwhile, turned its season into an upswing by continuously pounding at its own proverbial glass ceiling. Their 25-point loss to Duke had begun, for example, by bloodying the top-ranked Blue Devils before the overtime loss to North Carolina nearly upset the Tar Heels in Chapel Hill. The Louisville loss was, admittedly, a blowout, but beating Florida State before dragging both Syracuse and Notre Dame into multiple overtimes in games that should have been victories illustrated the razor-thin margin between a losing record and finally, finally gaining wins.

"I would say that we've been comfortable for the whole second half of the year," said Donald Hand, Jr. "I'm pretty sure you can see in the games that we lost in overtime that we would mess up on some little things that we're now starting to click on, and the coaches have said that our best basketball has to come in February and March. Now we're clicking, so we're happy."

The Virginia Tech game therefore seasoned Saturday's preamble with a 40-minute precursor shutdown performance. The Hokies were above-average for much of the year compared to a Georgia Tech team that dropped its production by over six points on the road, a number that continued to decline without the triple overtime win over the Tigers and an outlier performance that, once removed, lowered the Yellow Jackets' road performance to an average of 65.6 points per game.

Compare that to a BC team that coherently pushed the limit over the past two months. Once again removing the outlier performances from overtime games, the Eagles allowed around 70 points per game with a remarkable consistency balanced against home and away performances, and while the offense hadn't broken through to a wider margin, Grant understood how the team also transitioned to a new identity during that same stretch."

"They beat us up in the first game with us playing two bigs," said Grant. "Obviously Roger McFarlane is a small forward, but when Elijah [Strong] was out, he was the only power forward that we had, so we had to play with four guards. We found a new identity, and we've been ganging up on the defensive glass and making sure we all work together. We've tried to figure it out as a committee because a lot of teams are bigger than we are."

Therein built the cross-section against Georgia Tech, and nobody aside from Terry and Baye Ndongo scored through the first 15 minutes of the first half. The Yellow Jackets were specifically anemic from outside, and their rebound numbers failed to generate enough second chance points to counteract BC's dominance both in the paint and outside the arc after the Eagles went 8-for-18 on three-pointers in the first half with 20 interior points in the second half.

Hand and Venning served as lightning rods by befuddling Damon Stoudamire's defense with alternative drives and shots off ball screens. Where Hand went 4-for-10 in the first half, Venning went 5-for-10 with 12 points after halftime. Where Venning barreled through defenders for five rebounds, including four on the defensive end, Hand hit the dagger three at the end of the game. Where both either attacked the rim or created blocks, other players such as Elijah Strong and Chas Kelley III poured and spotted individual shots capable of tilting and eventually breaking Georgia Tech's back line.

"We rotated two guys onto whomever Ndongo was guarding," said Hand, "and we just ran [Naithan] George off the line. That was the coaches doing a great job of getting a game plan going, and it worked."

"We didn't really come out saying to launch up threes," said Grant, "but analytically, eight times three is 24, so 24 points on 18 possessions is a really high position. That was the shot that was available, so after driving in the paint, they were doubling our big guys, and we knew they would double. We got it out and swung the ball to the weak side. The threes were finding us, so we had to take them. When you have five guys shooting 37 percent on threes, we have to embrace it."

Staying ahead allowed BC to spike Georgia Tech back to Atlanta with a debilitating ninth loss, and winning a fourth ACC game brought the Eagles within a game of the ACC Tournament. Of the teams ahead of them, Cal sits on this week's schedule as one of the two California-based opponents, after which a final home game against Clemson will likely determine if BC is heading to the postseason or not.

"From day one, my message was that we wanted to be gritty," said Grant. "I thought, and I still think, that Boston College is a hard worker's place. It's a fighter's place with a blue-collar mentality. We've been pursuing that since Day One, and we've been fighting for it. Recently, we started to see the fruit of our labor, but the guys have to stay humble. We can't put the carriage before the horse. To figure it out, it takes a lot of hard work."

Gritty Eagles Produce Pretty Win Over Jackets

Players Mentioned

Chas Kelley III

Roger McFarlane

Elijah Strong

Chad Venning

Related Videos