Boston College will look to build upon a strong season-opening win and log its third straight 2-0 start under coach Earl Grant, facing a road test Friday against The Citadel in Charleston, S.C.
While 11 players took the floor and 10 scored during Monday’s 89-70 win over Fairfield, Quinten Post led the Eagles (1-0) in dominant fashion.
The 7-foot center and reigning Atlantic Coast Conference Most Improved Player, Post logged a career-high 31 points and 11 rebounds after reaching double digits on the boards only twice last season. He was 11 of 14 from the field, canned five of the team’s 11 3-pointers and also had a personal-best four blocks.
“This is his third year putting on a Boston College jersey, so his loyalty and commitment — it’s a huge thing for this program,” Grant said. “He got rewarded. … He had another good spring and summer, kept getting better and it showed.”
Aside from Post, Jaeden Zackery added 10 points on 5-of-8 shooting and four players scored nine for the Eagles, who recorded their highest-scoring opening win since 2009.
Getting numerous contributions from a deep bench made for a positive start.
“Obviously, you want to win, but you’ve also got to develop and grow your team,” Grant said. “… I thought for 30-32 minutes, we were really good. In a couple patches, we needed to take better care of the ball and shrink our defense back.”
Friday’s game is a homecoming for Grant, a Charleston native who led College of Charleston for seven seasons prior to BC. He also had assistant coaching stops at The Citadel, Winthrop and Clemson in his home state.
The Citadel (0-1) takes on its second straight ACC opponent after falling 72-59 on Monday at NC State.
Sophomore AJ Smith scored a career-high 15 points to lead the Bulldogs, who were in a six-point game in the second half before the Wolfpack went on an ultimately insurmountable run.
Smith started just one game and averaged 6.1 points per game last season.
A whopping 13 of coach Ed Conroy’s 16 players are underclassmen.
“They definitely have the ability,” Conroy said of his newcomers. “The question is, can they mature quickly enough and figure out how to win college basketball games.”
Kam Roberts and Christian Moore both had a strong first game as freshmen, combining to go 5-for-5 from the floor for 11 points.
–Field Level Media
