The Panthers opened play in the ACC Tournament tonight and beat Boston College in convincing fashion, winning 80-70. Pitt will now take on Syracuse on Wednesday night at 9:00 p.m. The Panthers (14-18) could muster only four points in the first six minutes and combined that with four or five turnovers and a shot clock violation. Fortunately, that didn’t last long. Pitt grabbed a lead and pushed it to 15 at the half after a dismal offensive performance by Boston College (14-17). Pitt opened that lead up even a bit more in the second half before holding on for the win. Boston College is a bad team. Let’s get out of the way. But Pitt isn’t a good team, either, and these guys deserve the credit for not only competing in this game but dominating most of it. It would have been just as easy to let the slow start get them down and turn this into a slugfest that came down to the wire. Instead, the team rallied and broke away for a rather easy win. For Pitt, it was a return to some of their earlier games. The Panthers were led by freshmen Xavier Johnson and Trey McGowens, who both had big nights, combining for 49 points on 14-28 shooting, led by McGowens’ 26. 19 of those combined points for the duo came at the free throw line. Jared Wilson-Frame added 16 points and nine boards, and it was great to see Pitt get a tournament win to advance, even if their stay may not be particularly long-lived. The biggest thing that stuck out to me was just the confidence with which the team played on offense. Even in the last win against Notre Dame, you didn’t see them open up nearly as much on offense as they did tonight. But I’m going to shelve that for a few minutes to look at an interesting graphic. So look, we’ve talked a lot this season about the team’s inability to shoot anything beyond a layup. The Panthers have gotten some help from Wilson-Frame beyond the arc but largely try to do their damage in the paint. But, holy cow, even I remain surprised at seeing shot charts like these from tonight. Pitt is the blue, obviously, and if you’re unfamiliar with these charts, the filled in circles are made shots. Now, the missed/made shots aren’t even all that relevant here. What is relevant is where those shots are taken — especially compared to their opponent. Notice anything? Everything’s basically right at the bucket or a hail Mary, so to speak, even if they’re not real effective back there. Boston College, like most teams, I imagine, takes a much more balanced approach. The perimeter shooting is clearly the team’s fatal flaw and this is a pretty good example of how hard the team will work to avoid the mid-range jumper. Typically, that’s a problem. But if the offense plays with confidence, how the game otherwise unfolds can be quite different from what we’ve seen for much of the ACC season. As they proved tonight, when the offense is going well, that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re going to step up and start knocking down jumpers. But what they will do is find ways to get into the paint, play a little more loose, and just let their athleticism sort of take over. That also includes getting the foul line as a result, which is a big part of their offense since they have such difficult shooting the ball most of the time. Tonight they got to the line 32 times. Pitt just played with all kinds of confidence in this game. I don’t know what the post-game interviews will be like but if that theme doesn’t come up, I’d be surprised. A perfect example of that was Trey McGowens. McGowens had an early look at a three-pointer in the first half. Completely wide open and he passed the ball anyway. He later picked up a layup and found himself beyond the arc again. That time he took (and made) a more difficult three-pointer. I’m not saying I want McGowens out there bombing from long range. I don’t. He’s like a 32% shooter from three-point range. But it’s amazing what a few easy buckets can do for guys’ confidence. And, similarly, I’m not saying Pitt can get by just fine without being better at shooting the ball. Pitt doesn’t have the tools needed to really compete against good teams and a win against one of the worst teams in the conference doesn’t change that. They’re not generally going to beat good teams unless they shoot as well as they did from the field tonight and get a few things to break their way. But as they showed tonight, they are plenty capable of beating the lesser ACC teams (and even of competing against better ones) if they get a little bit of confidence and don’t sleepwalk and go through the motions on offense. A lot of movement tonight on offense, getting guys into some open space, getting to the foul line — that went a long way tonight. Some of that, I’m certain, is on the opponent, who let Pitt get into the paint at will. But some of it is certainly on the assertiveness of the guys in the blue and gold, too. Bring on the Orange-type people or something.<doc-sep>And just like that, the Boston College men’s basketball season sputtered to a close with a first-round ACC Tournament loss to 14th-seeded Pittsburgh. The Eagles limped to the finish line of the regular season with a 1-5 record in their final stretch, and the postseason was more of the same with an early exit against a young but feisty Panthers team. The Panthers advanced past BC with a final score of 80-70 after leading by as many as 27 late in the second half. After jumping out to a 7-0 lead on a pair of Popovic jumpers and a Chatman three, the Eagles let Pittsburgh battle back in with turnovers and slow defense. The Panthers defense harassed BC into turnovers and contested shots. They capitalized on steals and poor BC shooting with 10 fast break points in the half. Rather than adapting the offense, the BC team went into an absolute tailspin as the half wore on, missing every field goal attempt in over nine minutes to end the half. Facing a 15-point deficit to start the second period, the Eagles came out with a disappointing effort. They were little more than a revolving door for the Pittsburgh offense that KenPom ranks 171st nationally. They shot over over 50% from the floor for most of the game before stumbling in the final minutes. BC was plagued by many of the offensive problems they have dealt with all season. They over-relied on a three-point shot that wasn’t falling (shooting under 25% from three), they dribbled into traps that resulted in steals or errant passes, and they had virtually no offensive production outside of Bowman, Chatman, and Popovic (Jared Hamilton had 8 but much of it came in garbage time at the end). What looked to be a promising season for an Eagles squad that returned some experienced upperclassmen and boasted an exciting freshman class ended in disappointment down the stretch. We will soon find out if Martin Jarmond will make his first big revenue sport coaching move, but Jim Christian cannot be feeling good about what the past few blowouts have done to his stock. The final record for the season is 14-17, with a conference record of 5-14. BCI will have more offseason coverage and analysis to come.<doc-sep>
We don’t yet know who the Syracuse Orange men’s basketball team will face in the second round of the ACC Tournament. However, whichever opponent it is will certainly be a familiar one. Syracuse faces the winner of tonight’s game between the Boston College Eagles and Pittsburgh Panthers tomorrow night. The Orange are 4-0 against that group this season. Getting a third win against either, though, probably won’t be as easy. Both BC and Pitt have struggled since SU joined the conference for 2013-14, yet this was the first time the Orange earned a 4-0 sweep in the conference-mandated annual home-and-home series against both teams. In previous years, Syracuse did well. But more regularly, it was something looking more like a split: 2017-18: 3-1 2016-17: 2-2 2015-16: 2-3 (includes ACC Tournament loss to Pitt) 2014-15: 2-2 2013-14: 3-1 This year, Syracuse beat Pitt by 11 at home and nine on the road. They beat BC by six on the road and 11 at home. Even in a year where they swept the four games, the Orange didn’t really stomp these clubs... despite the fact that the Eagles and Panthers went a combined 8-28 in league play. So any assumption that the Orange are going to walk through either of these teams both ignores the strength of the ACC from top to bottom, and the fact that it’s also really hard to beat a three times in a single season. Since the start of Big East play in 1979-80, Syracuse has done it 12 times; which sounds like a lot until you see that it’s only happened twice since 2000 (2002-03 vs. Georgetown, 2011-12 vs. Connecticut). At the height of the Orangemen’s success in the 1980s, it happened at least once per season for five straight years, including twice each in 1986-87 and 1987-88. However, it was also a hell of a lot easier to pull off in that smaller Big East than it was in its bloated version later on (with 16 teams and 16 league games for much of that iteration). The full rundown, just for your reference: 1983-84: Connecticut 1985-86: Boston College 1986-87: Villanova 1987-88: Boston College, Seton Hall 1988-89: Providence, Seton Hall 1989-90: Pittsburgh 1992-93: Pittsburgh 1998-99: Boston College 2002-03: Georgetown 2011-12: Connecticut Not that past results indicate future returns, but it’s at least a little encouraging that both BC (three times) and Pitt (two) appear above, no? And most of those past Eagles and Panthers clubs were probably better than the ones in front of us this year. The complicating factors this time around, of course, lie in Syracuse’s struggles with the ACC Tournament so far. For one reason or another — sanctions, wheels coming off, bad matchups, etc. — the Orange are just 1-4 in the event (Kevin talked more about that this morning). Each year’s different, but after the seventh straight 2-4 finish to the season, it’s reasonable to worry that the ghosts of ACC Tournaments’ past could haunt Syracuse once more. What we’ve seen in the second half of four of the last five games also tells us things could get more interesting than we’d like, regardless of whether BC or Pitt get through. More than an impending quarterfinal matchup, though, this upcoming game most matters with regard to just getting SU clear of the NCAA Tournament bubble. They may be already. But a win over Pitt or BC would seal the deal and make us all (or at least, me) feel a whole lot better.