Eagles earn ACC its first win in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge

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Eagles down Minnesota, earn ACC its first win in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge

Depth scoring by Boston College and some streaky shooting by Minnesota propelled the Eagles to a 68-56 win in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge Monday night
For the second game in a row, Ky Bowman was held to 12 points, this time on 3-of-13 shooting, but his teammates picked up the scoring slack.
Nic Popovic scored a game-high 18 points on perfect 9-of-9 shooting off the bench. Wynston Tabbs led Eagles starters with 17 points. The freshman continues to show promise as a dynamic scorer both from behind the arc and at the rim.

 

Points are still hard to come by for Steffon Mitchell as he struggles to find his shooting stroke, but Mitchell continues to find ways to impact the game. He’s always in the dirty areas battling for contested rebounds and loose balls. Mitchell is an athletic, lock-down defender who can also come up with steals and blocks.

 

The Eagles showcased a depth which wasn’t available last season. The final minute totals for Bowman and Jordan Chatman may not indicate it, but BC finally has a bench capable of spelling its stars. Chris Herren Jr. has looked comfortable at the college level and Vin Baker Jr. has made the most of his limited minutes, even knocking down an early 3-pointer in this contest. That depth will only increase once transfer Jared Hamilton debuts after the first semester.

 

For the first time all season, the Eagles were able to build a lead and hold it. Despite winning the Ft. Myers Tip-Off Tournament, BC allowed both Wyoming and Loyola-Chicago to hang around after building 20-point leads. Once BC built its double-digit lead on the Golden Gophers, the Eagles allowed just one basket over a stretch of about 6 minutes to comfortably maintain the lead.

Minnesota’s Jordan Murphy averaged a double-double coming into the game and kept pace against BC with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Minnesota was able to find looks for Murphy down low with screens that forced BC to switch a guard onto the 6-foot-7, 250-pound senior. Midway through the second Murphy picked up fouls on back-to-back possessions, which sent him to the bench with four fouls; he’d pick up his fifth with around 5 minutes remaining.

 

BC employed a 2-3 zone for most of the game. It flustered the Golden Gophers to a degree, but skip passes created open looks that Minnesota just couldn’t knock down. Minnesota shot 17 percent (5-of-30) from 3-point range.

 

“When you hold a team to that type of shooting it’s usually a combination of two things,” Coach Jim Christian said. “We played really good defense. We didn’t give up easy shots. I thought we did a good job recognizing on our scouting recognizing who we had to play a little bit off of and who we had to get off the line. And then they have to miss some shots.”

 

Minnesota flew cross-country to Chestnut Hill, coming from the Vancouver Showcase tournament that ended on November 21, and the Golden Gophers arrived in Boston late last night due to flight issues. Coach Richard Pitino, however, wasn’t going to make excuses.

 

“I can make every excuse until I’m blue in the face,” Pitino exclaimed. “But none of them really matter. I’ve kind of learned that nobody cares about excuses. It’s kind of a win-loss profession.”

 

This game marks the second of two to take place on the opening night of the ACC-Big Ten Challenge. BC’s win gives the ACC its first win of the tournament, evening the contest at 1-1. Clemson fell to Nebraska 68-66 in the first game of the tournament.

 

The tournament picks up steam on Tuesday and Wednesday with a total of 12 matchups, highlighted by Duke’s freshman trio squaring off against Indiana’s Romeo Langford and North Carolina versus Michigan.

 

The win marks Boston College’s first in this tournament since 2012 against Penn State 73-61. The Eagles have gone 0-3 since and have been left out of the tournament twice (2014 and 2016) due to the ACC having one more team than the Big 10.

 

The ACC is going for its third-straight series victory after last season’s 11-3 head-to-head record, the largest margin in the tournament’s history.

 

Boston College returns to the court Thursday night to face Sacred Heart
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