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The Eagles controlled the first few minutes against Vermont Monday night. It was all downhill from there.
Al Skinner's squad did not play up to its No. 14 ranking, and the coach was understandably frustrated as his team struggled shooting and rebounding. The underrated Catamounts came out hard against the Eagles, though Boston College was on its heels from the get-go.
Vermont came down ready to prove that they are a tournament-worthy team, stunning BC 77-63.
Bringing a tough and gritty approach to the game, Vermont gave the Eagles their first real test of the season.
BC fared well in its first game versus New Hampshire, but Vermont proved to be a significantly better team than its fellow America East school.
"I don't think we came out and showed them the respect we should have, and they came out and earned our respect," said Skinner after the game.
Boston College was outmatched in the frontcourt at the start, as UVM coach Mike Lonergan opened the game with 6-11 senior center Chris Holm, 6-8 sophomore forward Colin McIntosh, and 6-8 senior forward Martin Klimes.
Holm dominated the boards all night, pulling down 10 boards and contributing 15 points on the offensive end. He out-muscled and outmatched juniors John Oates and Tyrelle Blair throughout the game, making Sean Williams' absence quite noticeable.
Of his senior center Lonergan said, "I challenged him at the shoot around today and I don't think he was too happy about it. I said, 'You should try to be an all-league player.'"
UVM controlled the inside and scored off rebounds, pulling down 48 boards, while the Eagles only had 39.
BC struggled on the offensive end of the court, as well, only shooting 30.2 percent from the field and 21.7 percent from beyond the arc.
Additionally, the Eagles turned the ball over 15 times, giving UVM fast-break opportunities and a chance to build a sizeable lead.
The backcourt trio of senior Sean Marshall and sophomores Marquez Haynes and Tyrese Rice accounted for 11 of the team's 15 turnovers.
Rice chipped in 14 points, but Marshall only added eight.
"All game long we didn't handle the ball well, and our shot selection and ball handling was the difference in the ball game. If our perimeter people don't play better than they played tonight, we aren't winning any ballgames," said Skinner about the backcourt.
The one bright spot for the Eagles was the play of senior Jared Dudley, who led all players with 19 points and 14 rebounds.
Dudley took an optimistic view after the game: "It's a loss, and you can take it two different ways. You can regroup and go on and beat a good Providence team, or you can practice terrible for a week, go lose, and be 1-2 and go fishing. If we reel off seven wins in a row, am I going to be thinking about Vermont? No."
UVM, which runs a similar offense to the flex that the Eagles employ, found success throughout the game, shooting 49 percent for the game and 45.5 percent beyond the arc.
Skinner was quite displeased with his team's effort.
"It didn't matter who we played tonight - that's clear. I don't want to take anything away from Vermont; they played a good ballgame and they did what they had to do, but we weren't beating anybody tonight, not the way we played."
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