Boston College men’s basketball will be looking to end a three-game losing skid this weekend against Duke before another ACC matchup against Virginia next week.
Saturday:
Who: Duke Blue Devils (15-2) vs. Boston College Eagles (9-8)
Where: Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, MA
When: Saturday, January 18th at 8:00 PM
How to Watch: The game will be broadcast on ESPN.
Tuesday:
Who: Boston College Eagles (9-8) vs. Virginia Cavaliers (8-9)
Where: John Paul Jones Arena, Charlottesville, VA
When: Monday, January 21st at 7:00 PM
How to Watch: The game will be broadcast on ACC Network.
Duke and freshman phenom Cooper Flagg have been the talk of college basketball recently. The Blue Devils are 15-2, have won eleven games in a row, and are turning into the legitimate title contender that some thought they could be; the Eagles will have to be perfect if they want to pull off this upset.
Duke is averaging just over 80 points per game this season with a 48.2% team field goal percentage. Three of the team’s top four scorers are freshmen: Flagg, Kon Kneuppel, and Khaman Maluach. Flagg, one of the frontrunners for player of the tear, is putting up 18.7 points, 8.2 boards, 4.1 assists, 1.5 steals, and 1.2 blocks per game, all of which are best on the team. Kneuppel is a 6’7 guard who is scoring 13.4 points per game, while shooting 45.6% from the field and 89.2% from the charity stripe. Maluach is a 7’2 behemoth who patrols the paint for the Blue Devils. He is second on the team in rebounds and blocks and is also averaging 9 points on a 79.7% shooting percentage. Tyrese Proctor, a 6’6 junior, is the veteran presence on the team. He’s third on the team in scoring with 10.5 points and is shooting 41.1% from beyond the arc. This is a deep and talented Duke team, and Earl Grant is going to need a phenomenal coaching job and a lot of lucky bounces to send Duke home with a loss.
After facing off against Duke in Chestnut Hill, the Eagles will travel to Charlottesville to play the Virginia Cavaliers, who have a game on Saturday against Louisville. Virginia is currently 1-4 in the ACC, and while they are not the team they have been in the past, they will still be a formidable opponent for BC. The Cavaliers still play at an incredibly slow pace and are averaging 61 points per game. Their leading scorer is junior guard Isaac McKneely, who is shooting 41.6% from three this season (on 113 attempted three-pointers) while averaging 11.9 points. Forward Elijah Saunders is Virginia’s only other player averaging double-digit points with 11.6 and he is also second on the team in rebounds with 5.1. The Eagles need to be sure to play their type of game against the Cavaliers, instead of being drawn into one of Virginia’s low-scoring, defensive battles.