Boston College Men's Basketball Drops Tight Game to Miami, 74-68
In this story:
After falling to No. 4 Duke on the road at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Tuesday, Boston College men’s basketball returned to Conte Forum on Saturday afternoon to kick off a three-game homestand.
Although they hung tough throughout the matchup, the Eagles eventually fell to Miami by a score of 74-68.
Final. pic.twitter.com/TBI2VLGrnu
— BC Men's Basketball (@BCMBB) February 7, 2026
It was a back-and-forth opening to the game, with Miami ahead 11-10 at the first media timeout. The Hurricanes held a 9-4 advantage early on before BC responded with a 6-0 run to take its first lead of the game.
Malik Reneau, who came into the matchup leading the Hurricanes with nearly 20 points per game, scored at will early on. With Miami leading BC 20-16 at the under-12 media timeout, he had a game-high nine points.
The Eagles trailed by just three at the under-eight media timeout with Boden Kapke posting a team-high nine points. After the timeout, though, the Hurricanes went on a quick 6-0 run, which prompted BC head coach Earl Grant to use a timeout of his own.
With BC trailing by double digits late in the first half, Fred Payne went on a personal 6-0 run to bring the Eagles within four points. Payne was the only Eagle in double digits against Duke, putting up 14 points.
The opening half ended with a flurry of scoring as the Hurricanes took a 34-33 advantage heading into the break. Donald Hand Jr. made some buckets to close the half and scored nine first-half points. The Eagles only recorded three turnovers.
Hand Jr.’s three-point shot was on display against the Hurricanes. His third three-pointer brought BC within three points with 14:13 left. He’s struggled with his shot all year, coming into the afternoon shooting less than 22 percent from three-point range.
"He was really good," said Grant. "He was efficient, he didn't force much, he only took nine shots to get 20 points and that's kind of more of who he needs to be for us. We need him to build on that."
Miami pushed its lead to 10 with 11:55 to go in the game after a 7-0 run. The Eagles found themselves in a scoring drought that lasted over two and a half minutes.
Caleb Steger came off the bench in the second half and provided an impact with his shooting. His second three-pointer of the half got the Eagles within four points before Reneau responded with an and-one layup on Kapke.
Hand Jr. hit his fourth three-pointer of the game, followed by a transition layup from Fred Payne, which brought the deficit to just one point with 6:05 left.
Shelton Henderson turned in a strong performance down the stretch, ending the game with 19 points. His and-one layup with just 2:49 remaining gave the Hurricanes a three-point lead.
Fred Payne brought BC within four points with just over a minute remaining on a three-pointer, but Ernest Udeh Jr.’s dunk put the exclamation point on the matchup.
"I thought Miami was able to deliver in timely moments with Reneau," Grant said. "You've gotta give him some credit, he did a good job taking his team to the promised land."
The Eagles will be back in action on Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET against Stanford. The game will be shown on ESPNU.
Read More:
Brendan Mogan is studying communication and journalism at Boston College. He has worked as a staff writer for The Heights, the independent student newspaper, since spring 2023. There, he has covered women’s basketball, baseball, volleyball, and more. Brendan works as a writer in the USA Basketball Writing Program, covering its youth teams in tournaments such as the FIBA U19 Men’s World Cup. He joined Boston College Eagles On SI in 2025.