The Boston College Eagles played themselves into a first round play-in game in the approaching ACC tournament.
BC closed out the home side of the slate with a humiliating 90-65 loss to the Pittsburgh Panthers on Senior Night on Saturday in front of a crowd of 7,536 at Conte Forum.
BC entered the game with the outside possibility of finishing ninth in the ACC and securing a first-round bye. But the Eagles needed to run the table starting at home against Pitt and on the road next week at Miami and Louisville. BC (15-14, 6-12) beat the Canes and the Cards at home this season. Pitt improved to 19-10 and 10-8 by scoring its season high against an ACC opponent.
“Maybe I’ll reflect on this in a couple of days and chalk it up to a bad day,” said BC coach Earl Grant. “I thought we could play better in some different areas and other things we did were self-inflicted wounds.
“I love my guys. They work hard and they compete but it is still the same message with two ACC games remaining. How are you going to handle adversity? What is your response? You have to show some character now.”
Pitt shot 54.1% from the floor with a season-high 16 3-pointers, 32 rebounds, 20 assists and five turnovers. Carlton Carrington led Pitt with 27 points. BC was led by graduate center Quinten Post, who scored 30 points with 12 rebounds.
Four players (three starters) were honored during the pregame ceremony, junior Jaeden Zachary, senior Mason Madsen, senior Abe Atiyeh, and Post. All will be receiving their degrees at the end of the spring semester but due to NCAA’s liberal pandemic waiver policies, Zackery and Madsen have another year of eligibility. They can elect to remain at BC or enter the transfer portal. Post received a standing ovation when he exited his final home game with 1:06 to play.
“A salute to Quinten Post, man, I’m a big fan of his and he has had an unbelievable career here,” said Pitt coach Jeff Capel. “He is a very good player and I think he is going to continue to have a bright future in the game of basketball.”
The Panthers came out firing from the perimeter, hitting five of their first six 3-point shots to take a 17-9 lead into the initial media time out. Post and Devin McGlockton accounted for the Eagles’ nine points.
After Blake Hinson (19 points) put Pitt up 21-9 on a 3-ball at 14:04, BC countered with an 11-2 to make it 23-21 with 9:12 to play. Post scored eight points on the run with big man plays in the paint. Forward Guillermo Diaz Graham broke the BC surge with a trey from the top of the key. Pitt led 28-23 at the third media timeout. Pitt closed the half with a 19-9 run to go up 47-32 at the break.
“They shot the ball exceptionally well, give them credit,” said Grant. “We weathered the storm and got it back to a two-possession game but they made another run right before going into the locker room to get it to 15.”
Pitt played a possession game to start the second half and led 58-43 at the second media timeout. Post scored eight of the Eagles 11 points during the stretch. The Panthers surged to a 69-45 lead on three unanswered trifectas with 9:11 to play.