Tale of the Tape: Boston College at Virginia
Posted on Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2020, 6:34 pm
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Virginia will be fighting for its third straight win and sixth in the last seven games when Boston College comes to town tonight at 8 (ACC Network).
The Cavaliers (17-7, 9-5 ACC) will also be hoping to avoid being swept by the Eagles (13-13, 7-8), who, despite being short handed, pulled off a 60-53 upset at the Conte Forum last month.
UVA — which trailed by 12 in the second half in Chestnut Hill before storming back with a 20-3 scoring spurt to take a 5-point lead with 5½ minutes left — had taken six meetings in a row and eight of the previous nine against BC.
The ‘Hoos are 8-2 all-time against the Eagles in Charlottesville and have won five straight at JPJ (Virginia’s last home loss to BC was almost nine years ago, in February of 2011).
UVA, a 12-point favorite to win tonight, enters the contest ranked No. 52 in the country by KenPom (4th AdjD, 233rd AdjO) and 54th in the latest NCAA NET ranking. Boston College is rated No. 155 by KenPom (86th AdjD, 236th AdjO) and 142nd in the NET.
The question is, which BC team will show up tonight? Will it be the one that swept Virginia Tech, hung tight with Duke, won at North Carolina and then knocked off NC State over the weekend?
Or will the Cavaliers get the version of the Eagles that was blown out on the road at Syracuse (26 points), Wake Forest (18) and Miami (27)? A win for the Eagles Wednesday night would mark the first time in 11 years that they captured four or more ACC road victories in a season.
With BC’s home win over the Wolfpack Sunday night, Virginia now holds a two-game lead — with six games to go — over State and Syracuse, which are tied in fifth place at 7-7, in the conference standings.
Two of the Eagles’ top three scorers, Derryck Thornton and senior forward Nik Popovic, are back in the lineup after both missed the January tilt with injuries. Thornton — a graduate transfer from Southern Cal — and Popovic have combined for just over 25 points a game across BC’s previous five contests.
Freshman guard Jay Heath filled in admirably at the point for Thornton, as he put up a game-high 17 points and sank three of the Eagles’ four 3-pointers (UVA made just 3 of 16 from downtown that night).
Heath has started every game he’s played in, and is averaging a team-best 14.7 points over the last three games.
Junior forward Steffon Mitchell, who was a game-time decision with flu symptoms in the first matchup with the ‘Hoos, wound up with 10 points, 7 rebounds and 3 blocks.
The Hamilton brothers — Jared scored 16 off the bench including the go-ahead 3 in the final minute against UVA; Jairus started at forward and put up 10 points, 7 boards and a pair of steals in the first meeting — will also need to be monitored defensively.
Both UVA and BC are at the bottom of the ACC when it comes to field-goal percentage — the ‘Hoos rank 14th at .407 and the Eagles are dead last at .405.
After a bit of a rough start to his first season at the Division-I level, we’ve all seen what junior guard Tomas Woldetensae can do, now that he certainly seems to have found his shooting touch.
The 6-foot-5 juco transfer from Indian Hills Community College in Iowa has made 14 3-pointers over his last three games, none more important than the game-winning dagger to beat the buzzer at UNC over the weekend.
Mamadi Diakite earned his first-ever ACC Player of the Week award after a pair of stellar performances against Notre Dame and the Tar Heels.
Senior forward Braxton Key led the team in scoring last time out against BC, while sophomore guard Kody Stattmann posted a career-best 11 points in 39 minutes that night, and Kihei Clark added a dozen points and three steals.
Up next for the ‘Hoos is a weekend trip up to the Steel City for a noontime Saturday showdown at Pitt (ESPN2), followed by a jolt down to Blacksburg next Wednesday to face the reeling Hokies.
You can find the full schedule, ACC standings and tonight’s schedule right below this side-by-side Tale of the Tape graphic:
