Sleepwalking

The young Eagles mailed it in a little tonight and got caught by a game UMass squad, 83-80. If you were concerned about freshman mistakes coming into the season, this was your Exhibit A. BC had a litany of lazy passes, turnovers and forced shots. Tough time with the press, little hustle on loose balls. Not a good game, and you wonder how much of it was attributable to a victory hangover following BC's big ACC road win over Maryland Sunday. In any event, the Eagles lost this game early in the second half, when they frittered away a 3 point lead at the break and fell behind 15 points.

Heroes:

Ty Rice. Not the greatest game for Ty. He was rattled a little by UMass' full court press, but in fairness he really didn't get much help. Backcourt mate Tyler Roche was moving like Frankenstein and the Minutemen exploited that, double-teaming and trapping Rice at every opportunity. Ty still finished with 26 points, his turnovers (4) were not that bad given the pressure, and he had a clear look at a 3 to tie the game at the buzzer (clanked it off the back of the rim).

Corey Raji. Again a solid game, but in limited minutes. When he was on the floor, BC made some big runs. I really don't know why Al is not giving this kid 30-35 minutes a game (more on that below). Raji did not enter the game until the 11 minute mark of the 1st half, and did not re-enter until the 12 minute mark of the 2nd half. Why?

John Oates. Had his most meaningful offensive game in memory with a couple of big threes, some key free throws and a couple of big boards. But his defense was again atrocious - I will have images of Gary Forbes blowing by him for weeks.

Biko Paris. Generally handled the ball well in the face of tight pressure, with a few unsightly exceptions. Had a few big hoops and made some nice passes. But Biko again showed his age, committing some ugly turnovers (especially on entry passes to Blair).

Villains:

Tyer Roche. I don't know what it is with this guy, but he looked half asleep out there. He hit a couple of shots, but sucked on defense and looked lost on the press. Al has to sit him down and give Raji some more time.

Al Skinner. I love Skinner, but the Roche over Raji thing is getting as head-scratching as Oates over Williams and Doornekamp over anybody. I know Al is still searching for a rotation, but it is clear that guys like Raji and Paris have to get a lot more time.

Free Throw Shooting: The stats may be OK (inflated by Rice), but it says here BC lost this game at the line when Roche and Blair went 1-6 early in the second half, right when UMass was going on its 21-6 run to takecontrol. Raji also clanged two freebies late in the first half when BC was looking to push the lead to 8.

MIA:

Shamari Spears and Tyrelle Blair. these guys were pretty invisible against a mostly smaller UMass lineup. Spears in particular had a ton of shots blocked. But my big beef with these two was that they played with no fire, and it showed in their work on the boards.

Rakim Sanders: Had no presence whatsoever tonight. I'm giving Sanders a pass here, the announcers said he did not practice this week and was nursing a pretty sore hip after injuring it in the Maryland game.

That's it. All in all, a sucky game that BC let get away from them in the second half. But these are young kids. Most of the mistakes I'll chalk up to inexperience, and I did like the way they fought back (like the Providence loss). I just wish they could have escaped with a win, and learned the lesson without the L.