WRAL Sports Fan

College Basketball

Boston College advances past Virginia, 76-63

By Jake Lloyd

Mar 13, 2009

Boston College’s players know the challenge they will face Friday night. They know that the Duke team they’ll take on isn’t the same struggling team they upset on Feb. 15

They know the No. 9 Blue Devils, with their slightly altered lineup, are improved. But they also think they’re better.

And, after Thursday night’s 76-63 win over Virginia, they still have the confidence they gained from beating the Devils the first time. That’s something coach Al Skinner doesn’t downplay.

“It helps that the guys are going to have a little comfort level in the sense that we have had some success (against) them,” Skinner said. “So there’s not that urgency sometimes you get when you haven’t beat someone.”

The Eagles know what they have to do, know what worked for them in their 80-74 win over the Devils in Boston. In that game, they shot 58.8 percent from the field and continually got into the lane.

That opened up plenty of open 3-point looks, and the Eagles shot 8-for-18 from the perimeter.

“We attacked the rim,” point guard Tyrese Rice said. “We just attacked them on defense. We know that they like to take a lot of charges and we tried to use that to our advantage, making drop passes, finding the open man, kicking it out to them.

“So then they’re kind of hesitant to maybe take that charge.”

Since that game, Rice has sat back and watched the Blue Devils twice — in their last two games against Florida State and North Carolina. He’s keenly watched the difference Elliot Williams makes on the defensive end, where he is much quicker and in-your-face than Greg Paulus.

He’s also observed how Jon Scheyer’s scoring has benefited since moving to the point guard position and matching up with smaller guards.

The Eagles will watch tape of that first game — and, surely, gain additional confidence — but they also know what differences Duke’s attack will feature.

“(We’ll) switch up our game plan just a little because they have (Jon) Scheyer playing more (point guard) and Williams playing more,” Josh Southern said. “We just have to change up our game plan — we might have to go small depending on how they play.”

Ultimately, that decision-making will be up to Skinner. And while acknowledging what Duke has done to improve, he said the most important thing is for his players to simply play their game.

Attack the basket, control the tempo, play hard defense.

“We will pay attention to what the new lineup offers them, but we are going to go out and do what we do,” Skinner said. “It really doesn’t matter who we’re playing.

“There are certain things that we must do and make adjustments from there. It’s important for us to go out there and play the way we want to play.”

Against the Cavaliers, Rakim Sanders epitomized that. The 6-foot-5 guard-forward constantly bulled his way to the basket, eluding defenders trying to draw charges and finishing several tough field goals.

Sanders was 7-of-11 from the field and highlighted Boston College’s 31-of-36 performance from the free-throw line by making 11 of 12 freebies.

It was the type of showing — playing B.C. basketball — that the Eagles know they’ll need from everyone against the Devils.

“We’re going to need all that and more,” said Rice, who should be rested after playing a mild 28 minutes against the Cavaliers. “Rakim’s been great for us over the last like 10 games. … He’s just got to keep the confidence up.

“As long as he does that, I feel like there’s not too many people that can stop him.”

The Devils will try to do just that Friday night, and they might have the services of Nolan Smith — who has missed the last three games with a mild concussion. He is probable to return to the lineup.

Still, Smith played 19 minutes in the teams’ first game and was a non-factor. Duke’s biggest wildcards are Scheyer running the point and Williams’ defensive pressure.

The Eagles are aware of the new challenges they’ll face — they’ve been watching — but they’re also confident enough in what they do well. Facing a somewhat different team won’t affect that too much, they believe.

“Once we play our game and maintain what we’re doing, maintain our poise, it’s kind of hard to beat us,” Southern said.