ACC Basketball: Each team’s worst performance of the last decade

Boston College

November 11, 2011 (Massachusetts 82, at Boston College 46) (GS: 4)

Before we really dive into this game, let’s get a couple of things straight. Yes, Boston College hasn’t exactly been a stellar program for the last decade. Yes, Massachusetts was favored to win this game despite it being a road game for them. This was a UMass program that had scuffled in previous years, but this game represented an opportunity for both teams. For Boston College, this was a chance to right the ship after an equally embarrassing twenty-two-point loss to a mediocre Holy Cross squad. For UMass, this was a chance to move to 4-0 and to show they were serious in the A-10 in 2012.

What actually happened was clearly a second straight embarrassment for Boston College, part of the reason why this game was selected. In a way, this effort defined Steve Donahue’s tenure in Boston, his four years equating in very little for this ACC program.

Chaz Williams led the balanced scoring attack from the Minutemen with 16 points, while Boston College committed an unacceptable 22 turnovers, more than twice than they committed against Holy Cross three days earlier. With just under six minutes to go in the first half, Boston College was still within two, but that’s when UMass started to pull away, another ugly loss for a devastated Boston College program.

The firing of Al Skinner was considered by some a mistake, but Steve Donahue’s years in Boston College have shown that his hiring compounded the issue. While it remains to be seen if the Eagles will ever bounce back and contend in the ACC, this game is just one representation about how a once proud contender really fell through the cracks, unable to even be competitive against an in-state rival at home.