Eagles bounced in their ACC opener
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- It was, said Boston College coach Al Skinner, ''no big deal" in terms of overall anticipation. The Eagles, you see, had come from a ''pretty intense league," as Skinner described the Big East.
But the Big East was part of the Eagles' past, and the Atlantic Coast Conference is part of their present and future, which is why last night's ACC opener against the University of Maryland had a March rather than a December feel of intensity.
A sellout crowd at the
But like the Eagles' ACC debut in football, played at Alumni Stadium before a national television audience against Florida State, this debut came up a little short as Maryland squeezed out a 73-71 victory, which left the Eagles as perplexed as they were disappointed.
The sting of Tuesday night's first loss of the season to Michigan State seemed to evaporate as the Eagles (6-2, 0-1) jousted with the Terps through a first half in which Maryland (7-2, 1-0) had the lead (35-33), but not much else.
It was the same at the end, as the Eagles went to the final tick of the clock before they gave up the quest of spoiling Maryland's ACC opener, and making their first game in their new conference a memorable one.
Coach Gary Williams's Terps appeared to have sealed the victory with a 2-point lead and the ball under the BC basket with only two seconds remaining.
But Maryland still is very much a work in progress. It turned the ball over and BC had a chance for an ''Instant Classic" finish.
Two problems. They had used all their timeouts, so Skinner could only give his team a general idea of what he wanted it to do, which was for guard Louis Hinnant to find Jared Dudley for a tying or winning basket.
The play might have been designed for Eagles All-America forward Craig Smith, but in Problem No. 2, Smith, who scored a game-high 23 points and had a game-high 12 rebounds, had fouled out with 54 seconds left.
So the plan was to get the ball to Dudley (12 points, 7 rebounds) coming off a screen. ''The execution wasn't there," said Skinner. Neither was the screen, and Hinnant's toss went to the other end of the court as the clock ran out. The Eagles had dropped their second consecutive game.
''We need to cut down on our mistakes," said Dudley. ''If we made a few more free throws, a few less mistakes, it might have been different."
It could have been different in a lot of ways. Skinner pointed out the difference in the foul shots. Maryland made more (19) than BC took (15). ''You're not going to win many ballgames when the other team makes more foul shots than you take," said Skinner, ''especially when you have a team like ours that is so aggressive."
Smith was philosophical about the goings-on, even the foul that bounced him, although he appeared to have tongue firmly in cheek. ''A good call by the ref," said Smith. ''I just didn't see it the same way he did."
For much of the game it was Smith vs. Maryland's Ekene Ibekwe. Smith muscled his way for points, as did the 6-foot-9-inch Ibekwe, who led the Terps with 21 points and nine rebounds.
The Eagles only led once in the first half and only once in the first 10 minutes of the second half. But with 10 minutes left, it became a contest of who would make the fewest mistakes, or the biggest play.
BC's last lead came when Dudley put in a jumper with 5:27 left to make it 62-60. But with 43 seconds left, Maryland had a 70-65 lead and appeared on the verge of putting the game to bed.
But the Eagles would not say goodnight. At least not yet. Even when Maryland had a 73-68 lead with 8 seconds left, Eagles freshman Tyrese Rice put in a 3-point shot to cut the lead to 73-71 with 2 seconds remaining.
The game left the Eagles disappointed and the Terps drained.
''I told our guys that we had to come out with great intensity tonight," said Williams. ''The X's and O's are always important, but our intensity level had to match BC's. They don't let you go. They're going to be in every game.
''They're really impressive, the way they play and go after it."
Ibekwe was more blunt. ''They fought hard," he said. ''We fought harder. We came out with the victory."
For BC, the first ACC victory now will have to wait until their conference season resumes in January.
