First there were Bell and Sidney. Then there were Smith and Hinnant. Then there were Dudley and Marshall.
Now there are Rice and Spears.
As this young season unfolds to reveal a court full of unfamiliar faces and an uncertain future, junior captain Tyrese Rice and the Robin to his Batman - sophomore Shamari Spears - have no choice but to lead this team toward whatever lies ahead.
And luckily for the fans, the two of them are doing a pretty good job so far.
The Boston College Eagles blew by Mercer on Sunday afternoon, 73-56, thanks to their latest team of double trouble. Rice led all scorers with 19 points and seven assists, and Spears earned his first double-double of the season with a 12-point, 12-rebound performance.
"We grew up together - we used to live together - so our chemistry has been going on since we were about 4 years old," Rice said after the game.
Mercer was no slouch of a team, either; this is the same Mercer that upset No. 18 USC last week. The Bears may have lost to Harvard, but they have some dangerous offensive firepower in sophomore guard James Florence and senior guard Shaddean Aaron. Many believed that this match-up had "upset" written all over it.
"Just because we have Boston College written on our jerseys doesn't mean anything," Rice said. "People want upsets. [Mercer] put up something like 96 [points against Southern California,] so we knew for a fact they could come out and score. We just tried to slow them down and tried to take away a lot of their transition buckets."
With the game knotted at 28 going into halftime and the Bears having out-rebounded the Eagles 27-17, BC needed a spark from somewhere - and they got it from Rice and Spears.
"In order for us to have any success, we're gonna have to get those types of efforts," said Eagles head coach Al Skinner after the game. "We're gonna continue to get it [from Spears and Rice]. I'm just hoping that everyone else starts to pick up on it."
2008 Woodie Awards
