Boston College 78 Maine 62: Five Takeaways

1. Big improvement in defensive intensity. Boston College looked like a completely different team today in terms of their defense. Now, it was against Maine so take it with a grain of salt, but the team looked like they had a fire lit under them. They were hustling, playing aggressive and held the Black Bears to just 23 first half points. BC had 15 steals on the day, along with six blocks.

2. Maine had no answer for CJ Felder & James Karnik. The Eagles played exceptionally well inside against Maine. BC scored 44 of their 78 points in the paint. When the Eagles were able to get the ball down low to their big men, Maine didn't have a chance. Karnik finished the game with 10 points and seven rebounds, while Felder had fourteen and five.

3. Three point shooting continues to be a problem. The Eagles continue to struggle from beyond the arc, today shooting just 28% from three. No one on the team hit more than two on the day, as this was a major issue. They were able to adjust to this by just destroying Maine in the paint, but against teams that matchup better--which could be the entire ACC, the Eagles are in big trouble.

4. Much better game from Jay Heath. It has been a very tough start of the season for Heath who looked overwhelmed against Syracuse the last time out. He looked much more confident today, and showed some moxie on the defensive side of the ball as well. He is going to need to continue to build off what he did today, as he is going to be integral if BC is going to find success in ACC play.

5. Wynston Tabbs needs to be the point. During the broadcast Malcolm Huckaby brought up that Boston College is much better when Tabbs is the primary ball handler and sets the plays. This is going to have to be the next evolution of Tabbs, because it seems his prime instinct is to the go to scorer. If he is going to be a facilitator as well, this may take a little while as he reaches out of his comfort zone. But he did have one play where he gave up a low percentage shot in order to get the ball to James Karnik for an easy dunk.

Boston College plays again on December 30th against NC State.

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