 Forward Darnell Jackson lead the Jayhawk offense with 25 points in Kansas' decisive 85-60 victory over the Eagles.
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In what could be considered the 2008 version of the Boston Massacre, the Boston College men's basketball team suffered a crushing 85-60 defeat at the hands of the Kansas Jay Hawks Saturday afternoon at Conte Forum. The Eagles (10-3) were simply out-matched and out-played by the Jay Hawks (14-0), who are currently ranked No. 3 in the country.
Up until the eight-minute mark of the first half, the Eagles seemed to be able to stick with the Jay Hawks. Going into a media timeout, the game was tied at 22. This is when the real Kansas basketball team came out. The Jay Hawks went on a 25-7 run to close out the first half and showed the Eagles what a top-caliber team can really play like.
Guard Tyrese Rice led the Eagles with 18 first-half points, but he was haunted by the Jay Hawks tenacious defense, which forced him to commit five turnovers. Rice received little help from the rest of the squad, with forward Rakim Sanders's seven points as the next highest total.
Things did not go much better for the Eagles to begin the second half. Kansas forward Darnell Jackson scored four quick points to help build the Jay Hawk lead to 53-30. Rice then committed his fourth personal foul with 16 minutes to go in the game, forcing him to the bench along with what seemed to be the Eagles' last chance of any sort of comeback.
Sanders was not about to let the game slip away that easily though, and he led a short-lived BC comeback to bring the 25-point deficit back down to 14. But, yet again, Kansas turned up the intensity and put the Eagles back in their place. Jackson, center Darell Arthur and guard Sherron Collins quickly followed with three Sports-Center-highlight reel-worthy plays to bring the Jay Hawks lead back up to 20 and seal Kansas's victory.
Following his 18-point performance in the first half, Rice was held to only two second-half points. Sanders picked up the slack, finishing with a team-high 21 points, but just as in the first half, the rest of the team could not pick up the slack.
"Kansas is a pretty good basketball team and I think what we learned this afternoon is how hard we have to play for the [entire] period of time we are going to be on the floor," said BC head coach Al Skinner.
2008 Woodie Awards
