Boston College Cruises Past Maryland Eastern Shore, Remains Undefeated Under Luke Murray

Another game, another win for the Boston College men’s basketball program, which is off to the best start to a season since 2023-24 at 3-0 with wins over Wagner, UMass, and Maryland Eastern Shore following Tuesday night’s 82-54 blowout of the Hawks.

The Eagles carried a 43-25 lead into halftime and never looked back, shooting 50 percent from the field in the second half, as well as 50 percent from three-point land, while going 23-for-24 from the free-throw line overall.

Forward Luke Hunger led BC with 20 points on 5-for-8 shooting from the field, including 2-for-4 from deep, while forward Colby Duggan and swingman Žak Smrekar both reached double figures with 14 and 16 points, respectively.

Duggan was particularly impressive from beyond the arc, as the Monson, Mass., native knocked down four of his seven attempts.

While head coach Luke Murray thought his team could have done better against the Hawks’ zone defense, he was still pleased with a number of possessions the Eagles had, especially since it was their first time seeing that type of defensive set in such aggressive fashion.

“It was a couple times that I thought possession stalled out a little bit,” Murray said. “They do a good job of going from like a soft-token, three-quarter court pressure, and they have to use a couple seconds in the backcourt, and then by the time you get it into the half court, now you’re matched up in zone, and you have to sort of quickly get organized."

“We got to get better at using our pass fakes and being a little bit more deceptive in terms of the way that we use our eyes to open up guys against the zone. I thought our set plays, for the most part, were pretty good against zone, but when we were just sort of playing in the flow, we can continue to build out our confidence.”

Outside of the astonishing free-throw shooting, one of the highlights of the night, according to Murray, was BC’s rebounding success.

The Eagles came away with 42 total rebounds, including 23 on the defensive side, to Maryland Eastern Shore’s 20.

“That’s been sort of a sticking point for us through our first couple games,” Murray said. “Even the games that you guys didn’t see, we rebounded well against Seton Hall, but we did not rebound well against Providence, and so it was nice to see us be [plus-23] on the glass.”

Hunger said after the game that he was challenged to play a bigger part in this realm, and while he only finished the night with four rebounds, something that obviously doesn’t show up in the box score is his essential box outs in the paint, which allowed his teammates, such as Brandon Benjamin (6 rebounds) and Armoni Zeigler (9 rebounds), to get a cleaner reach on the ball.

“I was the one who was definitely challenged to rebound,” Hunger said. “We definitely gotta get better at that. Keep rebounding, just keep boxing out, and yeah, I think it was a better job today. But we gotta play against some bigger dogs, so just be ready for that.”

Through all of BC’s first three games, Benjamin has been particularly effective on the glass, and he certainly brings a Dennis-Rodman-esque style of play to the floor, which Murray half-jokingly acknowledged after the game.

“I would love to see that comparison,” Murray said. “He’s like the greatest rebounder of all time. But yeah, I mean, Brandon is an incredible offensive rebounder throughout his whole career, going back to Bergen Catholic and St. Thomas Moore, all the way through.”

“It’s nice to see him continue to improve as a defensive rebounder, one because he needs it individually for his own game, but then our team is in desperate need of guys that can really go up and grab traffic defensive rebounds.”

The Eagles are back in action Sunday afternoon, as they take on New Hampshire at 1:30 p.m. ET at Conte Forum.

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