Maybe we should be thanking Boston College for pounding the living crap out of us in Chestnut Hill. The Eagles grabbed just about every shot they missed in the first half of that game, creating the kind of desperate situation that made the nuclear option appear not only viable but also necessary. So Sidney Lowe countered with a Costner-McCauley-Smith lineup in the second half in the hopes that it would stop the bleeding. After BC pushed its lead to 19 in the half's early stages, State's big lineup led the team on a 16-0 run and made the game competitive for the first time all afternoon. The Pack hung around down the stretch, but as is often the case, never could get over the hump.
Nevertheless, it was an a-ha moment for Lowe, and that lineup has been the team's staple ever since.
A glance at the Boston College offense and defense in conference play:
108.9 (2) 49.8 (6) 20.4 (5) 41.1 (2) 35.2 (6)
Def_Eff (Rk) eFG% (Rk) TO% (Rk) OR% (Rk) FTR (Rk)
110.9 (12) 48.6 (5) 17.6 (12) 42.4 (12) 38.5 (9)
It's not a great shooting team, but they have the luxury of a lot of second chances, and they do a reasonable job of protecting the ball and getting to the line.
At the defensive end, their problems mirror ours, except theirs are more pronounced, if that's possible. I don't think I've ever seen a more extreme difference in a team's rebounding from one end of the floor to the other. They rank in the top five nationally in offensive rebounding percentage and in the bottom 30 in defensive rebounding percentage. They've allowed ACC opponents to grab 40% or more of their misses in eight of 14 games and so have been pretty much mauled on a regular basis (notable exception: NC State, which grabbed just 30% of its misses in the first meeting).
Outside of Joe Trapani, not a single Eagle has a defensive rebounding percentage that even approaches respectable. Often you'll hear that such-and-such is this height, but he plays much taller. Well, Josh Southern is 6-10, and he plays much shorter. His 9.9 DR% in conference play is lower than that of guards Tyrese Rice and Reggie Jackson. And clearly, if there's one team that needs its 6-10 guy to play like he's 6-10 (or at least 6-5; jesus, man), it's Boston College.
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