Wake Forest at Boston College: 73-112
There is a huge temptation after a loss like this to rant for several paragraphs about how terrible this team is and how they never make shots and never play defense and never do anything right and that we might as well give up on this season right now. In fact there's a very strong temptation to do that.
But everyone will be better served if that is avoided.
Even without a rant the facts aren't pretty: Wake lost by 39 to a Boston College team who just lost to Robert Morris. Boston college shot 66% overall and an even better 68% from beyond the arc. Tyrese Rice (who I now probably like less than just about any college player I've seen play thanks to his cockiness) tied his career high with 32 points. John Oates, who averages 3 ppg, scored 14.
Wake shot a somewhat respectable 44%, but turned the ball over 16 times ( and it seemed like 26). Other than James Johnson's 22 points no one scored more than 11.
The first thing that stands out about this loss is the score. 10 minutes into the game Wake was only down by 5. At Halftime it was 15. At the end of the game it was 39. Check out this game flow chart - the bleeding never stopped:
It didn't seem like Wake was out of it at halftime. A comeback was going to require huge second half improvements, but there were enough positives to indicate it was possible for things to turn around, and it certainly didn't seem like they could play worse.
Nothing improved, and really things got worse. The team seemed to roll over and give up. Boston College, who didn't seem like they could play any better, didn't look any worse in the second half and really may have been better. In the first half Boston College was shooting very well, but they were doing it with a hand in their face almost every time. When Wake's defense seemingly gave up in the second half Boston College was able to shoot more uncontested shots and had a ridiculous 73% shooting and even more ridiculous 78% from three. They deserve credit for some incredible shooting.
Boston College must be given some credit for an outstanding performance. With BC shooting the lights out like they were this Wake Forest team probably couldn't have kept up even if they played a pretty good game. I think I would have rather had a close, hard-fought loss than a blowout though.
After beating BYU convincingly on Tuesday, Wake looked poised to really buckle down and make a truly strong start to the ACC schedule. Instead they proved just how awful they can be on the road. The Deacs have played five road games this season and lost four. The win at Iowa was nice, and although it was a frustrating loss the team didn't play too poorly at Vanderbilt.
The other three road losses - Charlotte, Georgia, and now Boston College - were about as ugly as it comes. It doesn't make sense that a team could play so much worse on the road than they do it home. It's not like playing at Georgia or Boston College is like playing at Duke where the environment can get to you. Many teams play better at home than they do on the road, few show such a huge discrepancy.
I don't have an explanation for today or any other road performance and I doubt anyone else really has one either. Even though the home schedule is reasonably favorable for Wake this season no one should be counting on eight ACC home wins. The team is going to need to find a way to win a couple on the road, and the game at Maryland on Tuesday night is one of those wins we really need to get.
I understand that this team is young and can't be expected to play to their greatest potential every time they hit the floor. Today I would have been just as surprised to see them play as well as they did against BYU as I was to see them play as poorly as they did. Nonetheless, it would be nice to feel like you were at least watching the same team from game to game.
I don't intend to dwell on this loss, and I hope the team won't either. They're staying up north and going to Maryland without ever coming home. Hopefully that will focus the team and maybe make them more comfortable with the road environment. Coming back to Winston with a 2-1 ACC record won't be all that bad.
It would be nice if Maryland didn't have its best shooting night ever on Tuesday.
