Aidan Shaw & Fred Payne talk last-second win over Wake Forest
BC still isn’t out of the woods by any means, but Aidan Shaw may have saved the season (at least for a week or so) and his head coach’s job on Wednesday night.
After Juke Harris (38 points) hit a three for Wake Forest with 18 seconds left to put the Demon Deacons up by one (following a BC inbounds turnover), Shaw put back a missed Fred Payne layup with 0.2 remaining for a 68-67 win.
The Eagles (10-18, 3-12 ACC) are still in a dogfight with Pitt, Notre Dame and Georgia Tech trying to avoid finishing in one of the final three spots in the ACC, missing out on the conference tournament.
Payne had 23 points and Boden Kapke had 13 points and 10 rebounds. Donald Hand Jr. also returned – coming off the bench – and had five points, including the 1,000th of his career.
BC had to overcome another putrid half of shooting though, going 1-15 from three in the first 20 minutes. To their credit, the Eagles came out flying in the second half, burying four three pointers en route to a sudden 36-30 lead after trailing 29-22 at the half.
BC led by as many as 11 (49-38 with a little more than eight minutes left), but once again had to sweat it out. As a team, BC shot 7-28 from three and 25-58 from the field. Defensively, they held Wake to just 35% shooting (22-62) and 10-30 from three.
BC has two very difficult road games against Miami and Virginia Tech coming up this Saturday and next Tuesday before wrapping up the season at home against Notre Dame a week from this Saturday.
Here’s what Payne and Shaw had to say after the win:
Shaw
On if the final play was just ‘right place, right time’ & how it feels
“I feel pretty good. You know, just letting the game come to me. I feel like, the tip in, the ball really just came straight to me. So, just knew what I was supposed to do and put it back.”
On the final play being called in the huddle & his mindset crashing the boards
“Yeah. That play, Fred drives and usually makes that layup. So, just end of the game scenario, we’ve got to crash the board with that much time left because we were down one point. We needed that, so I had to crash, it’s just what I do.”
On how the team can maintain momentum
“Stay level-headed. We know every game is going to be a battle, just like every other game this season has been. Every single game has been a close game. Just keeping our heads down, preparing and making sure that everybody’s on the same page for the next one.”
On how it felt to get a win with a lot of noise around the program right now
“It felt great. I mean, you’ve got to block out the outside noise and be where your feet is. Coach always say…obviously, you can see the outside noise, but if you can stay level-headed, stay in the gym and grind, you can block out all the noise and eventually the sun is going to shine, so…”
Payne
On overcoming the turnover on the inbounds
“Game ain’t over till the clock says 00. So, just stay where your feet at like I always say. At the end of the game, you always got a chance to win if there’s a second on the clock.”
On the early 2nd half surge for the offense
“My teammates trust me. Every time they pass me the ball they expect it to go in. Shooter’s shoot, but it’s all about the team. Just, teammates trusted me and that’s really it for that one.”
On Donald Hand Jr. returning & getting his 1,000th point
“Oh amazing, I told him before the game ‘I’m proud of you.’ Like, I’m proud my brother’s back on the court. Obviously, he got his 1,000th point, so I mean, we’re going to celebrate him tonight. It’s all about him. It was a great job of what he gave, obviously it was the first game. So, I mean, he did what he had to do.”
On how it felt to get a win with a lot of noise around the program
“Yeah, just take it one game at a time. So, on to the next one.”
