Boston College has a loss to Albany, a pair of losses to Rhode Island. And also wins at home over Notre Dame and Virginia Tech, and a road win at Clemson.
The Eagles (9-11, 4-6 ACC) are a tough out. In a 58-47 loss to North Carolina in Chapel Hill last week, BC held the Tar Heels to 29.1 percent shooting, and absolutely stifled Player of the Year frontrunner Armando Bacot, limiting him to six points on 1-of-10 shooting.
Boston College will be on short rest heading into Tuesday’s matchup with Virginia, having had to have played Pitt a day late because of weather issues, defeating the Panthers, 69-56, on Sunday.
Coach Earl Grant is in his first year in Chestnut Hill, after seven years at the College of Charleston, which he led to the 2018 NCAA Tournament, one of three 20-win seasons he had there before making the move up to Power 5.
Boston College rotation
Grant goes with a seven-man rotation, led by 6’3” senior Makai Ashton-Langford (13.0 ppg, 3.9 rebs/g, 3.0 assists/g, 42.1% FG, 32.5% 3FG) and his younger brother, 6’5” sophomore DeMarr Langford (10.5 ppg, 4.5 rebs/g, 42.2% FG, 26.7% 3FG).
Grant uses the Langfords a lot on pick-and-rolls, though neither is particularly good at them – Ashton-Langford for 68 usages (29.4% FG, 32.4% AFG, .588 PPP) and Langford for 60 (33.3% FG, 34.4% AFG, .717 PPP).
Ashton-Langford is the one to watch in spot-ups (73 usages, 34.4% FG, 46.7% AFG, .932 PPP). The younger Langford is a good finisher in transition (32 usages, 61.9% FG/AFG, 1.125 PPP).
6’2” freshman point guard Jaeden Zackery (9.1 ppg, 3.1 rebs/g, 2.5 assists/g, 44.2% FG, 47.1% 3FG) is adept at the spot-up (55 usages, 45.8% FG, 63.5% AFG, 1.145 PPP), so, you need to watch for him on kick-outs and ball reversals.
7’0” junior center Quinten Post (8.9 ppg, 5.4 rebs/g, 46.0% FG, 26.1% 3FG) is the sixth man. Post, who averages 20 minutes per game at the five, can pick-and-pop (41 usages, 46.7% FG, 51.7% AFG, .951 PPP), and you also need to keep tabs on him on cuts in the lane (37 usages, 55.6% FG/AFG, 1.135 PPP) and the offensive boards (32 usages, 45.8% FG/AFG, 1.031 PPP).
The starter at the five spot, 6’9” junior James Karnik (8.0 ppg, 4.9 rebs/g, 51.6% FG, 34.6% 3FG), gets a fair amount of looks in the post (43 usages, 33.3% FG/AFG, .628 PPP), and can beat you on the back end of pick-and-rolls and pick-and-pops (44 usages, 48.6% FG, 56.8% AFG, 1.068 PPP), cuts in the lane (23 usages, 70.6% FG/AFG, 1.261 PPP) and on the offensive boards (17 usages, 84.6% FG/AFG, 1.529 PPP).
6’9” junior power forward TJ Bickerstaff (8.0 ppg, 8.0 rebs/g, 39.0% FG, 30.0% 3FG) leads the team in defensive rebounding percentage (23.7%), and for some reason has the second most usages on the team in spot-ups (64) despite putting up anemic numbers there (29.1% FG, 36.4% AFG, .688 PPP).
The other primary bench guy is 6’2” senior Brevin Galloway (7.3 ppg, 29.0% FG, 25.6% 3FG).
BC: Inside the numbers
The offense ranks 160th nationally per KenPom, averaging 1.033 PPP, and in ACC games, BC is averaging .962 PPP, 14th of the 15 teams.
The defense ranks 149th nationally (1.013 PPP), but in conference games, it has ranked fourth (1.038 PPP).
For comparison, Virginia ranks 85th nationally in offense (1.073 PPP), and is ninth in ACC games (1.051 PPP); and defensively, the Cavaliers are 104th nationally (.994 PPP), and in ACC games rank 13th (1.088 PPP).
Tempo: Boston College likes to play a little faster (65.2 possessions per game). Virginia is, as usual, the slowest team in D1 (58.5 possessions per game).
How Virginia matches up
It will be important for Virginia to get good defensive minutes from 5’9” senior point guard Kihei Clark (9.3 ppg, 3.1 rebs/g, 4.2 assists/g, 40.0% FG, 37.8% 3FG) on Zackery, who can make you pay on spot-ups after distributing the ball and finding a spot on the perimeter.
Virginia has been getting beaten badly by opponent threes this year – with ACC opponents shooting 39.7 percent from long-range.
6’3” sophomore Reece Beekman (8.2 ppg, 3.7 rebs/g, 4.8 assists/g, 44.1% FG, 33.3% 3FG) has been a force of late, averaging 10.6 points and 4.9 assists per game over Virginia’s last seven games, shooting 54.3 percent from the floor and 47.8 percent from three.
6’4” junior Armaan Franklin (11.8 ppg, 40.7% FG, 25.5% 3FG) has stunk it up of late – over his last three games, Franklin is averaging 9.9 points per game on 9-of-31 shooting (29.0 percent), including a woeful 2-of-11 shooting effort in Virginia’s 69-65 loss at Notre Dame on Saturday.
Beekman and Franklin will need to check the Brothers (Ashton-)Langford on the defensive end.
6’7” power forward Jayden Gardner (14.3 ppg, 6.9 rebs/g, 52.6% FG) has trouble with size in the post, and BC, with a front line that goes 6’9”, 6’9” and 7’0”, has size in the post. Meaning, more mid-range jumpers from Gardner (48.4% FG in the mid-range).
The bigs, 6’11” sophomore Kadin Shedrick (6.3 ppg, 5.0 rebs/g, 2.6 blocks/g, 59.0% FG) and 7’1” junior Francisco Caffaro (6.3 ppg, 4.3 rebs/g, 51.6% FG), seem to match up well with BC’s fives.
Story by Chris Graham
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