The Louisville Cardinals play the first of a two game road trip at Boston College on Wednesday Night. Louisville extended its win streak to six games on Saturday with an 80-62 win over Clemson at home. Louisville is 17-3 overall and 8-1 in the ACC. Boston College is 10-10 and 3-5. The Eagles have lost four of their past 5 games.
Louisville leads the all time series 7-4. Louisville is 2-2 in games played at Boston College. BC won 66-59 last February in Chestnut Hill. Five players who played in that win over Louisville will suit up on Wednesday. That includes Nik Popovic who scored 16 points and grabbed 9 rebounds in the victory.
Altogether, there are many new faces on this Boston College squad. None have been more important than grad transfer Derryck Thornton. The former Duke and USC guard leads the Eagles in both scoring (12.4 ppg) and assists (3.6). Freshman Jay Heath is the second leading scorer at 12.2 points per game.
As a team, it has been a tough season offensively for Boston College. The Eagles rank among the nation’s worst shooting teams in every category. They struggle to rebound and frequently turn the ball over as well. The team defense has been a brighter spot so far this season. BC averages nearly nine steals per game and turns over their opponent at an elite rate.
Louisville has avoided the bad loss all season. Odds are that they’re going to get picked off on the road in conference play at least once. Nearly every team does it at some point in the season. That being said, this is not a good Boston College team. Louisville took a truly bad loss there last season and a loss on Wednesday night would be equally as bad for its resume. Louisville came out this past weekend and put together arguably its most complete performance of the ACC season. Those are the types of performances that will be expected in these types of games moving forward,
In regards to the lineup, there has been much speculation about if and when David Johnson will be inserted into the starting five. Coach Mack inserted Fresh Kimble into the lineup earlier this month and has been going with the same five during most of conference play. He has routinely subbed in Johnson after the first media timeout the past few games. Ultimately, it does not matter who starts the game. Johnson has carved out a role on this team and figures into the lineup moving forward. With the emerging play of Samuell Williamson as well, we’ve seen a nine man rotation that seems to be working.
As a result of Florida State’s loss on Tuesday night, Louisville is the only team in the ACC with one loss. On Wednesday, the Cards have another opportunity to take advantage of the struggling ACC and maintain their lead atop the conference. We should expect them to do exactly that.
The game tips at 9:00 p.m. ET and will be televised live on the ACC Network.
Prediction:
Louisville 77 Boston College 57
