BC KISSES TECH GOOD KNIGHT
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – To the untrained eye, Boston College’s first two offensive possessions against Texas Tech yesterday were an eyesore.
Sean Marshall hoisted up a 3-pointer from the top of the key that clanged wildly off the rim, just beating the shot clock. Tyler Roche grabbed the offensive rebound and the Eagles reset. Once again the shot clock bled down until Jared Dudley committed a turnover.
As the Eagles ran back on defense, one Texas Tech fan cynically cried out, “Nice offense, BC.”
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, though, and Boston College coach Al Skinner saw a masterpiece in the works.
“It was a sign that we were going to be patient,” Skinner said. “What we wanted to get, we didn’t exactly get to, but they didn’t give up on it. I was disappointed that we didn’t run [the offense] better, but I was happy that they were patient and they executed it.”
The Eagles executed their “flex” offense as well as they have all season and bounced Texas Tech from the NCAA tournament with an 84-75 win in a first game of the East Region at the Joel Memorial Coliseum.
BC shot 52.6 percent, had 30 baskets off 16 assists, and committed just eight turnovers against a coach who prides himself on defense.
“They were a lot sharper in their offensive play than we were in our defensive play,” Texas Tech coach Bobby Knight said.
A subdued Knight, who rarely left his chair on the Texas Tech bench, couldn’t get his Red Raiders to defend. The Eagles (21-11), who meet Georgetown tomorrow in a rematch of former Big East teams, shot better in the second half (53.3) than in the first (51.9).
That was one of the two most disturbing aspects of the Red Raiders’ loss. Not only was their defense passive, but Knight, the ultra competitive and at times combative coach, seemed resigned to the end of the season.
One reporter asked Knight, who this season passed Dean Smith as college basketball’s all-time winningest coach, if he contemplated retiring.
“No, we were talking [yesterday] morning about the kids that we recruited and what these kids that are coming back were going to have to do,” Knight said. “We have some things that I think that we can do with the players that we’re gonna have next year that are really intriguing and really interesting.
“I’m still going to go fishing [today].”
Perhaps he can reel in some of the rugged man-to-man defenders he had at Indiana. The tougher team, mentally and physically, was BC, which will take on Georgetown (27-6) in a Big East-ACC grudge match in the second round.
“Georgetown, I would say, is the hottest team in the country,” said Dudley, one of four BC players in double figures with 19. “We’ve had success over the years against them. A lot of people will definitely have us as the underdogs saying we can’t win. But the only thing that matters is the people in this locker room.”
