Boston College has a busy few days coming up, with a Saturday matinee against Syracuse before travelling to South Bend to take on Notre Dame. BC is looking to bounce back from its ugly loss to Georgia Tech and gain some ground in ACC play and has two winnable matchups here to do it.
Saturday:
Who: Syracuse Orange (7-8, 1-3 conference) vs. Boston College Eagles (9-6, 1-3 conference)
Where: Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, MA
When: Saturday, January 11th at 3:00 PM
How to Watch: The game will be broadcast on the CW Network
Monday:
Who: Boston College Eagles (9-6, 1-3 conference) vs. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (7-8, 1-3 conference)
Where: Purcell Pavilion, South Bend, IN
When: Monday, January 13th at 7:00 PM
How to Watch: The game will be broadcast on ACC Network
This is a big two-game stretch for the Eagles. Both Syracuse and ND both sit under .500 under the season; though both have avoided any shockingly bad losses they have clearly yet to figure out a consistent winning formula. Syracuse is led by the trio of G J.J. Starling (19.0 PPG, 2.8 APG), F Donnie Freeman (13.4 PPG, 7.9 RPG) and F Chris Bell (10.3 PPG, 2.6 RPG). I fully expect BC to have issues with the Orange’s size; they have a deep frontcourt and will look to attack Chad Venning and Elijah Strong early. If either one gets into foul trouble, it will force Grant into some difficult lineup decisions. On the other hand, Syracuse is a poor-shooting 3-point team, shooting a combined 28.9% from downtown. Given BC’s seeming complete inability to consistently defend the 3-point line, I could see the Eagles living with the Orange shooting 3s in order to clog the paint and prevent Syracuse from bringing its size advantage to bear.
Notre Dame is continuing to build under second-year coach Micah Shrewsbury, whose team got off to a 4-0 start this season before dropping five in a row. Unlike Syracuse, ND can and will shoot the ball – they average over 22 attempts per game, and connect at a 36.0% clip. With star guard Markus Burton’s (18.4 PPG, 4.0 APG) absence due to injury, it has been F Tae Davis (16.5 PPG, 5.6 RPG) and G Braeden Shrewsbury (15.9 PPG, 36.6 3P%) keeping ND afloat. This team is efficient and can score – though it is winnable, it will be a challenge for this Eagles team. With Earl Grant still juggling lineups every game, no clear offensive identity and absolutely abysmal perimeter defense, Grant needs something to click this weekend.
As always, go Eagles.