Boston College to face Louisville in ACC tournament
Earl Grant says ‘It is anybody’s tournament’
When Boston College was coping with injuries and inexplicable nonleague losses early in the campaign, secondyear coach Earl Grant’s only wish was to see the Eagles playing their best basketball in time for
March Madness.
BC ended the season with nine ACC victories, three against ranked opponents, and won three of the last four that included a 63-48 win over No. 6 Virginia at home on Feb. 22.
The Eagles (15-16, 9-11) drew the No. 10 seed in the ACC tournament and will face No. 15 Louisville
(4-27, 2-18) in a preliminary round match at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday at Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, N.C.
“We know what we did in the ACC conference race but obviously this is a new season so it is anybody’s tournament,” said Grant. “Everybody is undefeated as it pertains to this tournament because somebody is going to win it all.
“We are just building on what we did in the ACC race. We wanted to be playing our best basketball by March with a chance to advance and that is where we are.”
BC and Louisville have squared off 15 times since the Cardinals joined the ACC in 2012 but they are meeting for the first time in the tournament. Louisville leads the series 10-5 but BC won the last meeting, 75-65, on Jan. 25 at Conte Forum.
“That was over a month ago and we were a little bit of a different team than we are now,” said Grant. “We are not 100% sure how much of that game relates to this time of year because we were slow-starting a lot at that time.
“Hopefully we are a little bit better now and hopefully we can play as close to a full 40 minutes as we can and move on.”
The great unknown going into the match is the status of 7-0 senior center Quinten Post, the Eagles’ dominant presence in the paint.
Post rolled his right ankle on another player’s foot at 17:18 of the first half of BC’s 73-65 loss to Georgia Tech in the season finale on Saturday. Post left the floor and did not return. Post averages 15.7 points and 5.7 rebounds a game, so it was a sad outcome on Senior Day for a player who contributed substantially to BC’s success.
Post has complementary high-low qualities to his game that show up in the numbers. Post shot 53.8 from the floor, 44.0% from behind the 3-point arc and 85.4% from the line. Post recorded 22 points and six rebounds in the win over Louisville.
“He landed on somebody’s foot and it was a sprained ankle, nothing more than that,” said Grant. “He is moving around better. We will work with him and practice him so we will have a better feeling and understanding of where he is.”
Grant expects to have two-way guard DeMarr Langford Jr. on the court against the Cardinals. Langford missed the last two games with an undisclosed illness and his contributions to the cause far exceed the 7.3 points and 2.0 assist per game that show up on the stat sheet.
The Eagles are harder to guard and defend the perimeter better when Langford is on the hardwood with his brother, senior guard Makai Ashton-Lanford (12.1 ppg.), and dynamic shooter/ playmaker Jaeden Zackery (10.5 ppg.)
“They (Langford and Zackery) go back and forth on and off the ball,” said Grant. “Obviously he frees Jaeden up to be a scorer and be aggressive off the ball.
“It is a good combination because both can attack the paint, both can bring the ball up depending on who the opponent is and how they are pressuring the ball.”