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BC Comes Up Short Again, Falls to Miami for Fourth-Straight Loss

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(Photo Courtesy of BC Athletics)

Boston College basketball may be toward the bottom of the ACC standings—15th, to be exact—but that didn’t mean Miami head coach Jai Lucas was going to take the Eagles lightly on a snowy Saturday afternoon in Boston.

“If you look at Boston College, they’ve been in almost every game,” Lucas said after the game. “They’re right there.”

He’s right. The Eagles have been in almost every game this year, as BC has lost 10 games by 10 points or fewer. That trend continued against the Hurricanes.

Donald Hand Jr.’s 20 points and Boden Kapke’s 18 proved not enough, as the Hurricanes (18–5, 7–3 ACC) capitalized on BC’s late-game struggles. The Eagles (9–14, 2–8 ACC) couldn’t execute down the stretch and fell to Miami, 74–68, for their fourth-straight loss.

Hand put the blame on the players themselves rather than the coaching staff after the game.

“It’s not the coaching staff, it’s us,” Hand said. “The coaches can’t play for us on the court. We’ve got to be better in those situations. We have to learn from mistakes, and we haven’t been doing that.”

While Hand was extremely efficient—shooting 6-of-9 from the field and nailing four 3-pointers—he had a costly turnover with two minutes remaining that resulted in a Miami fast break, putting the Hurricanes up five, a lead they wouldn’t surrender.

Fred Payne, meanwhile, finished with 11 points but struggled from the field, shooting just 5-of-18.

BC head coach Earl Grant didn’t think Miami’s defense was necessarily the main reason for Payne’s struggles.

“I don’t know if it’s necessarily all Miami,” Grant said. “Some of it is Miami’s size and length. I thought Fred was trying to be aggressive early, but he was forcing some things, and he didn’t need to.”

While BC’s late-game execution once again came up short, the Eagles also endured multiple scoring droughts throughout the second half, scoring just nine points over a 10-minute stretch.

“It was in the middle of the second half where we had a couple bad possessions and turnovers,” Grant said. “It’s hard to play a perfect game.”

After Miami took a 50–40 lead with 12 minutes remaining, the Eagles clawed their way back. Freshman Caleb Steger was inserted into the game about a minute later and knocked down two quick 3-pointers to keep BC afloat.

“We needed somebody to knock down a shot,” Grant said. “And we went to him.”

But it wasn’t enough, as BC couldn’t get over the hump despite taking a lead with 5:31 to go on a Hand fadeaway jumper. Miami responded, re-took the lead, and never gave it back.

“I don’t think there’s any one person to blame,” Grant said. “It’s a team. You’ve got to keep chopping away at it—keep chopping wood, carrying water.”

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Boston College lands one of nation’s top rebounders in Brandon Benjamin, along with former Charleston forward Colby Duggan

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Boston College received two more transfer commitments this weekend in Brandon Benjamin and Colby Duggan. Benjamin and Duggan join Money Williams, Ernest Shelton and JB Frankel as the fourth and fifth transfers to commit to Luke Murray and BC this offseason. The Eagles now have seven players on their roster, including international signing Zak Smrekar and Jack Bailey, the only BC player from last year not to enter the portal.

Benjamin, a 6-foot-8 forward from Newark, N.J., played his only collegiate season last year at Fairfield University. The rising sophomore was named to the 2025-26 MAAC All-Rookie Team and All-MAAC Second Team after averaging 14.2 points, 10.2 rebounds and 1.6 blocks while shooting 56.5% from the field. Benjamin ranked first in the MAAC and eighth in the country in rebounds per game and second in the country in offensive rebounds per game (4.25).

“What made me pick BC first was the coaching staff,” Benjamin told ZAGSBLOG on Sunday. “It really felt like family. I will bring my high motor, plus rebounding, finishing around the rim and taking guys off the dribble. [I also bring] my catch-and-shooting, pick-and-pop, my winning impact and my versatility with guarding 1-5 with the ability to block shots.”

Duggan, a 6-foot-7 forward from Monson, Mass., averaged 9.3 points, 2.4 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 19 games for Charleston last season after missing the first part of the year with an injury. He spent the previous two seasons at Campbell University and averaged 15.7 points and 3.3 rebounds on 34% shooting from 3-point range during the 2024-25 season.

“He competes on both ends of the court at all times,” former Charleston head coach and current USF head coach Chris Mack said. “He’s a warrior. He’s a winner. Defensively, Colby doesn’t back down. He guards well in the post and on the perimeter. Offensively, he led the conference in scoring and is just scratching the surface of what he can be as a mismatch.”

Benjamin should slot into the starting lineup as the power forward or a small-ball big thanks to his impressive rebounding ability, while Duggan comes to BC as a depth piece off the bench.

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Former Merrimack sharpshooter Ernest Shelton commits to Boston College

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Guard Ernest Shelton announced his commitment to Boston College early Thursday night. The former Merrimack Warrior became the fourth transfer to commit to head coach Luke Murray and the Eagles, joining Zak Smrekar, Money Williams and JB Frankel. Shelton was named to the 2025-26 All-MAAC first team while helping lead the Warriors to a MAAC regular-season championship.

Shelton played two seasons at Gannon University in Erie, Pennsylvania, on the opposite side of the state from his hometown of Philadelphia, before transferring to Merrimack last offseason. The 6-foot-5 guard averaged 15.9 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.2 steals while shooting 34.6% from behind the 3-point line.

“[Shelton]’s a shooter,” Merrimack head coach Joe Gallo said. “Every time it comes out of his hand, you think it’s going in.”

Shelton knocked down 99 3-pointers for Merrimack last season and was among the top 40 in the country in 3-pointers made per game (2.9). He set a career high last season with nine 3-pointers in a game against Boston University and made five or more 3-pointers in six games.

The sharpshooter is a breath of fresh air for a Boston College program that finished last in the ACC in 3-point percentage last season.


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Boston College lands Zak Smrekar, Money Williams, and JB Frankel, first three transfer commitments of Luke Murray era

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Boston College received its first three transfer commitments of the 2026 transfer portal cycle on Thursday in Zak Smrekar, Money Williams, and JB Frankel. Smrekar, Williams, and Frankel are the first three players to commit to BC since Luke Murray was named head coach on March 26 and join Jack Bailey as the only three players currently on the Eagles’ roster.

Smrekar is a 19-year-old, 6-foot-7 guard from Slovenia and was the first to commit to Murray. He played for the club Krka Novo Mesto in the Slovenian ABA for three seasons and averaged 9.8 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 15 games in the 2025-26 season. Smrekar also played for Slovenia in the 2025 FIBA U19 World Cup and averaged 16.1 points, 4.7 rebounds and 3.7 assists in seven games.

Williams is a 20-year-old, 6-foot-4 guard who played the last three seasons for Montana. The Oakland, California, native was named to the 2025-26 All-Big Sky First Team after averaging 20.6 points, 4.3 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game on 49.8% shooting from the field. Williams scored a career-high 40 points against Northern Colorado in the Big Sky Tournament, along with tallying six other 30-point games last season.

“I can’t come up with enough words to praise Money Williams properly,” Montana head coach Travis DeCuire said in October 2025. “When you talk about the young man that he is off the court, the young man he is when you bring him in the office, and you have real conversations with him and look him in the eye and talk about things that are hard to talk about.”

Frankel is a 21-year-old, 6-foot-3 guard who is not moving far, as he played the last three years at Northeastern. He started 13 of 30 games for the Huskies last season and averaged 5.9 points, 2 rebounds, and 1.9 assists. The New York City native scored a season-high 13 points in a road win against Harvard.

Coach Murray will have to continue to build up the Eagles roster, but with three guards being picked up, look for the Eagles to hone in on finding their starting forwards and big men.

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