The Cavaliers are fresh off a critical road win in Pittsburgh on Sunday. This team is red hot right now and they welcome BC into town as winners of their last five and eight of nine overall.
The Eagles, conversely, have seen their season go awry rather quickly. They are 6-15 and 2-6 in conference play. Their two wins come over the Hokies of Virginia Tech, who just so happen to be the worst team in the conference.
The Eagles nearly knocked off Notre Dame on the road Sunday, however, and they have been much more competitive in the last month. They battled with Syracuse at home before losing by ten and also had UNC in a tight one on the road before losing by 11 in Chapel Hill.
Steve Donahue’s team is as miserable as it gets defensively, but they do shoot the ball well. Virginia is known as having an extremely stingy defense, but they do not defend the three ball nearly as well as they do the interior, and that could be B.C.’s saving grace as they come into this game.
The Eagles also have a very good power forward in Ryan Anderson who should be able to give the Cavalier bigs a legitimate challenge. Mike Tobey and Anthony Gill are consistent defenders with good size underneath. They will challenge Anderson and force him to play a more physical game than he would likely prefer, but at least he gives them some balance.
Boston College is not a bad offensive team at all, ranking 40th nationally in efficiency. But they are a middle of the pack club when it comes to turnovers. While UVA is not a group that necessarily forces a ton of turnovers, they do have enough size and quickness at the guard position to really cut down on passing angles, which could hurt the Eagles here.
Situationally, fading the Cavaliers could be a decent option considering just how exhausting that win at Pitt was. Stylistically, the Eagles are a far different ball club and they are playing with increased confidence right now. Their willingness to take chances and shoot the ball with little conscience could be just the ingredients necessary to potentially pulling an upset.
Vegas surely senses that as they have opened this spread at 13.5. This is a tricky spot given the style differences and the fact that B.C. has not faced a defense with this type of punch since playing Syracuse a month ago.
Still, you could argue this spread should be closer to 15 given how bad B.C. is defensively. The Eagles are a tempting bet here given the circumstances, but I’d certainly wait to see if a larger number posts anywhere before jumping on this game.
