Not playing Cards right
BC effort not there in blowout
Boston College learned what happens when a team gets outworked and outhustled by a superior opponent.
LOUISVILLE 90 BOSTON COLLEGE 67
Sixth-ranked Louisville dominated on both ends of the floor to secure a 90-67 Atlantic Coast Conference victory over the Eagles yesterday at Conte Forum.
BC fell to 9-15 overall and 2-9 in the ACC while the Cardinals improved to 19-4 and 7-3. The Eagles will face another tough ACC opponent when they host Pittsburgh on Wednesday night.
“The bottom line is our guys learned a valuable lesson today and the lesson is how hard you have to play to beat a good team,” said BC coach Jim Christian.
“They played seven or eight guys, pressed us the entire night and they cut harder than us, they guarded individually harder than us and they were more aggressive than us in every facet of the game. That is a valuable lesson for our guys, especially the young players.”
The Cardinals shot 57.6 percent from the floor and 63.3 percent in the second half on high-percentage shots while dominating in every significant category. The Cardinals enjoyed advantages in points in the paint (40-28), points off turnovers (23-8), fast break points (14-6) and bench points (32-23).
The Cardinals had 27 defensive rebounds and allowed zero second chance points. BC shot 45.5 percent from the floor with 26 rebounds, eight made 3-point shots, 14 turnovers and only 11 assists.
Deng Adel and Donovan Mitchell led Lousiville with 19 points apiece, while freshman guard Ky Bowman paced BC with 18. BC starting guard Jerome Robinson (13 points) was hampered by an illness and was limited in the second half.
“This team (BC) has played almost everybody tough and they are getting the most out of every ounce of their talent,” said Louisville coach Rick Pitino.
“They run things that are difficult to defend but because you are in the ACC and you are building the right way as Jimmy is, you can overachieve. But you have to get players as good as Louisville, good as Duke and good as North Carolina and it takes a little time.”
Louisville opened the second half with a 39-30 lead and quickly expanded it with high-percentage shots and an unyielding presence on the defensive glass. The Cardinals went up 50-38 on a medium-range jumper by V.J. King with 15:42 to play.
Bowman’s jumper a minute later cut the BC deficit to 10 but Louisville countered with a 9-0 run to make it 59-40 with 12:55 remaining. Adel drained a trey and a long 2 to fuel the surge.
Louisville’s press and deep bench eventually overwhelmed the Eagles. Junior forward Anas Mahmoud had two easy dunks in the paint before Mitchell dropped a 3-ball to make it 77-49 with 5:44 to play.
“They just play so hard that they don’t give you good ones (shots), they are a team that makes you make another play,” said Christian. “To me it was effort level and their effort level was far superior to ours and that is what I will point out and show to our team.”