CHESTNUT HILL, Mass.—Marvin Bagley III and Wendell Carter Jr. have exploited Boston College’s lack of size, but so far, it hasn’t mattered enough.
Ky Bowman, Jordan Chatman and Boston College’s lights-out 3-point shooting have propelled the Eagles in front of the top-ranked Blue Devils, who trail 48-41 at halftime. Despite entering Saturday ranked No. 265 in the nation in 3-point percentage, Boston College shot 11-of-16 from beyond the arc, including three from Bowman in the first five minutes. Bowman finished the half with 15 points, and Chatman also chipped in 15 points on 4-of-6 shooting from long range.
Despite Duke’s struggles in defending beyond the arc, it has owned an undersized Eagles team in the post, scoring 22 of its first 24 points in the paint. Boston College just lost its leading rebounder, Deontae Hawkins, for the season.
With a steady diet of feeds to the post, Bagley and Carter combined for 16 points to complement Gary Trent Jr.'s 13 points from the wing. But aside from Trent, the rest of the Blue Devils have missed all six of their 3-point attempts.
Duke has not been able to capitalize on the glass against a team that entered Saturday ranked No. 322 in the nation in rebounding margin, getting outrebounded 17-15 by Boston College and finishing the half even in second-chance points.
Despite averaging more than 25 free throw attempts per game this season, the Blue Devils failed to make it to the line until the final minute of the half.
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Managing Editor 2018-19, 2019-2020 Features & Investigations Editor
A member of the class of 2020 hailing from San Mateo, Calif., Ben is The Chronicle's Towerview Editor and Investigations Editor. Outside of the Chronicle, he is a public policy major working towards a journalism certificate, has interned at the Tampa Bay Times and NBC News and frequents Pitchforks.