Everything from Earl Grant after loss to Cal
Another ‘we were in it at the end’ game for BC resulted in the Eagles’ 10th ACC loss of the season on Saturday.
With six games remaining, BC is in serious danger of missing the ACC tournament for the second straight year. Earl Grant continues to believe in his process and guys are clearly listening because defensively, the program has been good for the majority of the season. But, in a sport where scoring is imperative, BC’s offense has been well below average and frankly, non-competitive at times.
If it continues these final six games, Grant may finally be looking for employment elsewhere after five years in Chestnut Hill. To his credit though, you can’t say they aren’t playing hard.
Here’s everything Grant said after the loss to Cal:
Opening statement
“Obviously without Donald Hand, I thought it took us a while first half to get some offensive flow. I thought the players did a good job of adjusting in the middle of the first half. We were down 15, so that’s a hole to climb yourself out of. And then California, you’ve got to give them credit, they made 14 threes. It’s hard to do that. You can defend them great, you can be open, making 14 threes is not an easy thing to do, so you’ve got to give them some credit. I mean, 14 threes is 14 threes, so…second half, I thought we really played well. We shared the ball, we defended, but we needed to put two halves together.”
On this being a pivotal three game home stand that did not go well
“Obviously, if you watch the games, we all know (what happened), we all know what happened. You know, tie game with three minutes to go. Got an opportunity to win, but they made a few more shots than we did, so that’s pretty simple. Then today, we was without Donald and it took us a while to get going.”
On if Cal’s 14 three pointers was more about making tough shots or what BC did defensively
“I think it’s a combination. I think that they made some tough shots. I thought we had a few breakdowns on some of the flare screens where we allowed Camden and Bell to get loose. But, then again, they made them. The ball went in the basket, you’ve got to give them some credit. Did you contest it, did you not contest it? I think some of them were. We usually take the threes away at a pretty good level, but today, they was able to make the shots from the perimeter. That was the difference in the game, specifically in the first half. I think they made eight threes in the first half.”
On what changed offensively for BC late in the first and into the second
“We simplified. Obviously, you’ve got all three of your point guards on the floor at the same time and you’re subbing young guys into the game, freshmen. So, we simplified. We found some rhythm where we could share the ball and move it and find better shots. That was really it. Just simplification and finding the right rotation of guys who could play. That’s kind of what we did the last 25 minutes of the game. The end of the first half, we made a run…it got to 20, I think we cut it to 14 and then second half, we won the second half. But, again, it’s a 40 minute game. It took us a while to find that rhythm and that rotation. Once we did, we were really good.”
On how hard it is to climb out of a hole with Cal making threes
“Yeah, we cut it to nine. It seemed like every time we cut it to nine or 10, somebody made a big three, with range. Again, sometimes you’ve got to give the other team credit. It’s as simple as they were better today, right? They made more shots. It’s a makes, miss game. It ain’t really that complicated. I think the three point shooting by them and our slow start in terms of trying to figure out the rotation of our guys, that’s the story of the game. Pretty simple.”
On any update with Donald Hand Jr.
“Yeah, he’s being evaluated again by the doctor now. Obviously, that was just a couple days ago when he went down. So, his health is the most important thing. You’ve got a long career ahead of him, so you never want to rush a guy back. But, he wants to be back and he’s passing all tests and all of his imaging is coming back with the best news he can get. But, until they tell us or tell him, ‘hey, you cleared and you can play,’ we’re going to continue to move forward without him. But, we’d love to have him back. He’s a major part of our team, our program. It’s the first game I’ve coached in three years that he wasn’t available to play. So, that kind of lets you know his longevity in the program.”
On Jason Asemota’s strong night and if he could see more time with Hand Jr. out
“Well, yeah, he’s gotta play. Either him, Marko or Caleb Steger. Somebody’s got to step in and fill the void. I thought Jason was good on offense today, provided a nice lift off the bench making a few shots. And then, he’ll continue to mature and grow. He’s a young guy too that hasn’t played a ton of minutes. Be able to play offense and defense and put both together. I thought tonight, he had good energy, but just the experience of playing, I thought some of those breakdowns we lost their best shooters. They were able to capitalize a few times when we didn’t need them to capitalize.”
