Boston College 65 – Syracuse 60
CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – Somewhere among the hundreds of Boston College students dancing on the Conte Forum court, Eagles forwards Craig Smith and Jared Dudley shared a hug.
A cardboard sign bobbing above them said “Big East Farewell Tour.” The scoreboards on the walls around them said Boston College 65, Syracuse 60 – another sweet step on the Eagles’ send-off to the ACC.
And the tone of their postgame comments said something simple: Believe in us, America. We belong with the best.
“There was so much emotion around this,” Dudley said. “This [was] Syracuse, at home, with ESPN here. We had to win this game. We had to try to earn some respect.”
That esteem may be the lone item missing from the season compiled by the Eagles (22-1, 11-1 Big East), who, though ranked No. 6 in the country, have escaped national attention for much of the year.
There are no cover boys in the maroon and gold uniforms. There is no zillion-dollar coach on their sideline, no pedigree that makes playing in April almost automatic.
There’s only a conference player of the year favorite in Smith, a 6-foot-7, 250-pound stud from Southern California. There’s also the probable Big East regular-season champ; the Eagles hold a two-game lead over second-place Connecticut with four games left.
And there may (the polls be damned) be one of the NCAA tourney’s four No. 1 seeds when the pairings come out three weeks from today.
Last night’s victory proved the Eagles’ place among the nation’s elite, and it came in typical B.C. fashion. The hosts beat Syracuse 45-31 in rebounds and 17-4 in second-chance points, the physical play sparked by a scouting report Dudley said portrayed Orange forward Hakim Warrick as scared of contact.
“There’s nothing to look back on,” Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said. “Except that we didn’t rebound the ball.”
Smith grabbed 15 of those B.C. rebounds, eight on the offensive end, to go with his 16 points. Dudley led all scorers with 21 points, 16 after halftime.
The Eagles shook some adversity, too. The officials slapped them with two questionable technical foul calls, the latter of which fouled out point guard Louis Hinnant with 13:37 remaining.
They overcame Syracuse’s zone defense with the superb rebounding and great ball movement, recording 19 assists on 22 made field goals.
At the other end, center Nate Doornekamp helped hold Warrick, who attempted one shot in the last 18 minutes, to 12 points. Gerry McNamara led the Orange (22-5, 9-4) with 18 points, but shot 5-for-17 from the field.
“We tried to use our strength to distract them,” Smith said. “It’s our style of play, and we always want to do that.”
It worked through last night’s final buzzer, when Dudley joined Smith in the middle of a party that may kick up again here on Chestnut Hill in late March.
“We think we’re better than every team in the Big East,” Dudley said. “You have to have a swagger when you think that, and this year, we’ve got it.”