Boston College men’s basketball extends losing streak, falls to Virginia 74-56

With Boston College and Virginia both looking to end losing streaks and earn their second ACC win of the season, the Cavaliers came out fast and didn’t let up, coming away with an easy 74-56 victory. The Eagles have now lost five straight and are 1-7 in ACC play.

Isaac McKneely opened the scoring with a three-pointer, and Andrew Rohde made one a few minutes later that put the Cavaliers ahead 10-4. Chad Venning, who dropped 19 against Duke, scored both of BC’s opening buckets. Both teams were a little careless with the ball early on, but BC’s offense struggled to find anything that worked on offense. At the 12:18 mark, the Cavaliers led 19-6 and were 8-12 on field goal attempts. After trading baskets, Virginia held an eleven-point lead, 22-11, about halfway through the first half.

Unfortunately, a TV timeout did nothing to remedy BC’s poor defense and shooting. In three minutes, Virginia built its lead to 30-11 after two more threes and a jumper. After Earl Grant called a timeout in an attempt to slow down Virginia, BC held UVA scoreless for over three minutes, but managed to score just four points during that stretch.

The Eagles didn’t play much better to end the first half, going into halftime trailing 41-23. Chad Venning (8 points) and Donald Hand Jr. (5) were the only two BC players with more than four points and the Eagles shot 43.5% from the field as a team. But the Cavaliers, especially McKneely, were red hot. They had a 55.2% field goal percentage and a 60% three-point percentage; McKneely had 12 points, all of which came from beyond the arc.

It only got worse in the second half. Less than four minutes into the period, Donald Hand Jr. tangled up in Andrew Rohde and elbowed him in the face. After a lengthy review, the judges assessed an obvious 2 foul against Hand Jr. and threw him out of the game. Less than a minute later, Virginia’s Elijah Saunders was also ejected for a flagrant 2 foul very similar to Hand Jr.’s.

But the strange start to the second half did little to change the actual play on the pitch. The Eagles battled to cut the deficit and Virginia won handily. It was another disappointing loss in a season that is quickly turning sour for Earl Grant and his team. The Eagles will be back on the field Saturday in Chapel Hill to take on the North Carolina Tar Heels.