Saturday afternoon in Cameron Indoor Stadium, Boston College showed that while its first unit is capable of competing with the best teams in the ACC, the lack of productivity from its reserves may be too big of an issue to overcome. After a ho-hum first half where the Eagles entered the locker room down 16 points, Jim Christian’s team came storming out to trail Duke by just 10 seven minutes into the second stanza. The Eagles used all five starters to cut the lead to a manageable figure, but then fatigue and foul trouble forced Boston College to go to the bench. The outcome: Within four minutes, the Blue Devils had spurted to an insurmountable 24-point lead and ended up coasting the rest of the way to an 85-62 victory.
In his postgame press conference, Christian commented that his team “needed to get energy from our bench in this game. I don’t think we did that.” He made a point to say that he wasn’t worried as much about bench points (a 17-point deficit), but more about getting effort and energy from the bench in areas such as rebounding and defense. Perhaps the player most affected by the Eagles’ lack of quality depth is star guard Olivier Hanlan, who led the way against Duke with 22 points and four assists in 37 minutes of action. As Christian said of his best player, “I wish we could get him a rest but unfortunately we don’t have another point guard.” Hanlan, described by Mike Krzyzewski as “a load to defend,” was effective in getting to the basket despite facing multiple fresh Blue Devil defenders throughout the game. But according to his coach, fatigue is hurting the junior All-ACC player’s contributions at the defensive end, and his challenge is to learn to “play through it.” Tired legs is also a major reason that Hanlan’s shooting percentages are down across the board this year.
We first suspected that Boston College would be in trouble from a depth perspective soon after last season ended, when starters Ryan Anderson and Joe Rahon each decided to transfer out of the program after the firing of head coach Steve Donahue. But Christian was able to secure a couple of graduate transfers from mid-major programs, wings Aaron Brown and Dimitri Batten, who have played well so far this year. But in the preseason, veteran guard Lonnie Jackson was injured and has only played sparingly, leaving Hanlan and Batten as the only experienced and capable guards available. Perhaps this lack of depth is why Boston College, now 7-5 on the season, has had trouble defensively in the second half of games. On the season, its opponents have averaged almost seven more points after halftime than they had scored before the break. In three of those five losses, the Eagles have held the lead at the intermission only to watch opponents overtake them as their legs withered in the second half. Christian clearly recognizes this problem, and seeks to address it from within: “It’s our job as a staff to get them [reserves] better.” But given the current talent he has available, it’s difficult to see all that much improvement possible this season.