No. 16 Virginia at Boston College, 8 p.m. ACC Network (NBC29 in Cville area)
The Wahoos went into a tough situation Saturday and came away with a victory at Clemson, 77-73. London Perrantes, with 25 points, was a point away from tying his career high and hit 4 of his 8 3-pointers. The senior point guard was clutch often, never more so than when Clemson tied the game at 70 with 2:18 left, and Perrantes promptly hit a 3, putting Virginia up for good. Marial Shayok, starting for the second consecutive game, had 17 points for the second consecutive game. He's scored 17, his career high, three times (once last year). As a team, UVa could not miss. The Cavaliers shot 58 percent overall and made 10 of 18 3-pointers (55.6 percent). Devon Hall only played 20 minutes because of foul trouble but was third on the team with nine points and made both of his 3-pointers. Isaiah Wilkins recorded eight points, all in the second half, and pulled down a career-high 13 boards. Darius Thompson had seven points, and Kyle Guy hit two 3s for six points.
UVa's defense left something to be desired, with the 73 points marking the most any opponent has scored on it in regulation this season. The Tigers outscored the 'Hoos, 42-18, in the paint. Virginia was sloppy, with 16 turnovers, which led to 23 points. At least three times, poor inbound passes or bad passes in the offensive flow led to Clemson dunks. If UVa had played more cleanly, it could have won by 14 instead of four.
Tonight, UVa stays on the road in the tough ACC against Boston College, which has taken a step up from being historically bad last season. Here's more on the Eagles:
Record: 9-9, 2-3 ACC
Leading scorers: Sophomore guard Jerome Robinson (20.2), freshman guard KY Bowman (12.2), sophomore forward A.J. Turner (9.9)
Leading rebounders: Senior forward Connar Tava (5.9), senior forward Mo Jeffers (5.9), Robinson
(4.6), Bowman (4.1), Turner (3.9), freshman forward Nik Popovic (3.8)
Assist leaders: Turner (3.7), Robinson (3.2), Tava (2.4), Bowman (2.4)
Notable: Tava, Popovic, Jeffers, and sophomore guard Jordan Chatham all average at least 5.4 points, so the Eagles have six players averaging more than five points. Robinson averages two steals. Robinson and Bowman each average about three turnovers.
Best win: vs. Syracuse at home, 96-81
Worst win: vs. Sacred Heart at home, 82-75. The Pioneers, of the Northeast Conference, are 8-11.
Other wins: Maryland-Eastern Shore, Stony Brook, Towson, Dartmouth, Auburn, Providence, N.C. State
Best loss: at Duke, 93-82. The Eagles made it a single-digit game in the closing minutes after getting down by 25.
Worst loss: vs. Hartford at home, 65-63. The Hawks, of the America East Conference, are 6-13.
Other losses: Nicholls, Kansas State, Richmond, Harvard, Fairfield, Wake Forest, Syracuse
What Boston College does well: The Eagles move the ball well, recording 15.8 assists per game (tied-70th). They shoot 37.9 percent on 3-pointers (tied-66th). They shoot 45.6 percent from the field (125th). They own a +2.5 rebounding margin (122nd). Interestingly, despite a subpar defense in most facets, their 3-point field goal percentage allowed, 30.1, ranks 20th.
What Boston College does poorly: The Eagles' offense is definitely better than last year, but it still struggles. They score 73.3 points per game (194th) and shoot 66.5 percent from the free throw line (263rd). They average 16 turnovers (330th). The defense hasn't been great either. The Eagles allow 73.7 points per game (226th) and a 43.7 field goal percentage (196th).
Coming off back-to-back wins, and a rather tough one at Clemson, the Cavaliers should be feeling pretty good about themselves. As long as they play BC with an edge and with confidence, they should win. But if they come in overconfident, they could take a damaging loss. With the schedule UVa has coming up, losing to a team that probably won't be better than .500 in the league would pretty much sink any hopes UVa had of winning the ACC regular-season title. These Eagles aren't great, but they are much better than last year's version that went 0-18 in the ACC and won four games. Several transfers dot the team, giving it a different feel than last season, and obviously contributing to a more winning environment. They are good enough to have beaten Syracuse by almost 20 and come back on Duke from 20+ down to make it a game at Durham. In the home contest against the Orange, BC hit 16 3-pointers and shot 60 percent from beyond the arc. Pittsburgh shot 60 percent from 3 against the Cavaliers in the Panthers' win a couple weeks ago, which has been their only conference victory so far. So if BC gets hot, Virginia needs to try to get control of things and hope the game doesn't get a little out of reach. With that said, I like Virginia to pull through for another ACC road win.
Gut feeling: Virginia wins by 5-10 points.
The Wahoos went into a tough situation Saturday and came away with a victory at Clemson, 77-73. London Perrantes, with 25 points, was a point away from tying his career high and hit 4 of his 8 3-pointers. The senior point guard was clutch often, never more so than when Clemson tied the game at 70 with 2:18 left, and Perrantes promptly hit a 3, putting Virginia up for good. Marial Shayok, starting for the second consecutive game, had 17 points for the second consecutive game. He's scored 17, his career high, three times (once last year). As a team, UVa could not miss. The Cavaliers shot 58 percent overall and made 10 of 18 3-pointers (55.6 percent). Devon Hall only played 20 minutes because of foul trouble but was third on the team with nine points and made both of his 3-pointers. Isaiah Wilkins recorded eight points, all in the second half, and pulled down a career-high 13 boards. Darius Thompson had seven points, and Kyle Guy hit two 3s for six points.
UVa's defense left something to be desired, with the 73 points marking the most any opponent has scored on it in regulation this season. The Tigers outscored the 'Hoos, 42-18, in the paint. Virginia was sloppy, with 16 turnovers, which led to 23 points. At least three times, poor inbound passes or bad passes in the offensive flow led to Clemson dunks. If UVa had played more cleanly, it could have won by 14 instead of four.
Tonight, UVa stays on the road in the tough ACC against Boston College, which has taken a step up from being historically bad last season. Here's more on the Eagles:
Record: 9-9, 2-3 ACC
Leading scorers: Sophomore guard Jerome Robinson (20.2), freshman guard KY Bowman (12.2), sophomore forward A.J. Turner (9.9)
Leading rebounders: Senior forward Connar Tava (5.9), senior forward Mo Jeffers (5.9), Robinson
Assist leaders: Turner (3.7), Robinson (3.2), Tava (2.4), Bowman (2.4)
Notable: Tava, Popovic, Jeffers, and sophomore guard Jordan Chatham all average at least 5.4 points, so the Eagles have six players averaging more than five points. Robinson averages two steals. Robinson and Bowman each average about three turnovers.
Best win: vs. Syracuse at home, 96-81
Worst win: vs. Sacred Heart at home, 82-75. The Pioneers, of the Northeast Conference, are 8-11.
Other wins: Maryland-Eastern Shore, Stony Brook, Towson, Dartmouth, Auburn, Providence, N.C. State
Best loss: at Duke, 93-82. The Eagles made it a single-digit game in the closing minutes after getting down by 25.
Worst loss: vs. Hartford at home, 65-63. The Hawks, of the America East Conference, are 6-13.
Other losses: Nicholls, Kansas State, Richmond, Harvard, Fairfield, Wake Forest, Syracuse
What Boston College does well: The Eagles move the ball well, recording 15.8 assists per game (tied-70th). They shoot 37.9 percent on 3-pointers (tied-66th). They shoot 45.6 percent from the field (125th). They own a +2.5 rebounding margin (122nd). Interestingly, despite a subpar defense in most facets, their 3-point field goal percentage allowed, 30.1, ranks 20th.
What Boston College does poorly: The Eagles' offense is definitely better than last year, but it still struggles. They score 73.3 points per game (194th) and shoot 66.5 percent from the free throw line (263rd). They average 16 turnovers (330th). The defense hasn't been great either. The Eagles allow 73.7 points per game (226th) and a 43.7 field goal percentage (196th).
Coming off back-to-back wins, and a rather tough one at Clemson, the Cavaliers should be feeling pretty good about themselves. As long as they play BC with an edge and with confidence, they should win. But if they come in overconfident, they could take a damaging loss. With the schedule UVa has coming up, losing to a team that probably won't be better than .500 in the league would pretty much sink any hopes UVa had of winning the ACC regular-season title. These Eagles aren't great, but they are much better than last year's version that went 0-18 in the ACC and won four games. Several transfers dot the team, giving it a different feel than last season, and obviously contributing to a more winning environment. They are good enough to have beaten Syracuse by almost 20 and come back on Duke from 20+ down to make it a game at Durham. In the home contest against the Orange, BC hit 16 3-pointers and shot 60 percent from beyond the arc. Pittsburgh shot 60 percent from 3 against the Cavaliers in the Panthers' win a couple weeks ago, which has been their only conference victory so far. So if BC gets hot, Virginia needs to try to get control of things and hope the game doesn't get a little out of reach. With that said, I like Virginia to pull through for another ACC road win.
Gut feeling: Virginia wins by 5-10 points.
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