Virus-hit Boston College fires coach Jim Christian

The basketball team that struggled to fill out a lineup a s COVID- 1 9 p r o t o c o l s chipped away at the roster lost coach Jim Christian on Monday when he was fired with three weeks remaining in his seventh season.

The Eagles are 3-13 with just one win in 10 Atlantic Coast Conference games. Athletic director Pat Kraft said assistant Scott Spinelli will coach the team the rest of the season.

Christian went 78- 1 32 (26-94 ACC) in seven years at BC, struggling to recruit top talent and supplementing his roster with graduate t r a n s f e r s w h o s h o w e d promise. But he couldn't elevate the school from the also-rans of the ACC, and the Big East before it.

The shallow roster proved devastating t his s eason, when the Eagles were down to four available scholarship players because of positive coronavirus tests and the resulting contact tracing.

When: 7 p.m. Tuesday

Where: Chesapeake Energy Arena

TV: Fox Sports Oklahoma (Cox 37/HD 722, DirecTV 675, U-verse 751/1751)

Radio: WWLS 98.1 FM

Three things to know

• The Thunder beat the Trail Blazers 125-122 on Jan. 25 in Portland. Shai GilgeousAlexander led the Thunder with 24 points, nine rebounds and six assists. Gilgeous-Alexander has missed five of the last seven games with a left knee sprain. • Portland guard Damian Lillard is fourth in the NBA in scoring (29.2 points per game) behind Bradley Beal, Stephen Curry and Joel Embiid.

• The Thunder has a three-game winning streak against the Trail Blazers. OKC leads the all-time series 25-24.