Basketball
Eagles 3-point Shooting Woes Continue in Conference-Opening Loss to Georgia Tech
Boston College basketball came into Saturday’s game against Georgia Tech shooting just 29 percent on 3-pointers, good for 338th in the country.
The Eagles (7–7, 0–1 ACC) showed no signs of improvement from behind the arc against Georgia Tech (10–5, 1–1), shooting just under 14 percent on 3-pointers while continuing to take 3s late into the game despite their struggles. BC subsequently collapsed as the second half went on and fell to the Yellow Jackets 65–53.
Head coach Earl Grant emphasized that he is still committed to seeing his team take 3-pointers, despite shooting just 4-of-29 from behind the arc on Saturday inside McCamish Pavilion during the Eagles’ first conference game of the season.
“The 3 is worth more,” Grant said. “So it’s easy math. You can make three or four 3s. If you make four 3s, that’s 12 points. Got to make six 2s to do that.”
Grant did, however, acknowledge that his squad may have taken too many 3-pointers.
“We may have shot maybe five or six too many tonight, but we also had some good looks. Wish we’d have knocked a few more shots down.”
BC received no help from its second-leading scorer, Fred Payne, who finished the game with just two points in garbage time. Payne was coming off a 22-point performance in a win against Le Moyne.
Donald Hand Jr., BC’s leading scorer, also struggled. While he finished with 13 points, he shot just 2-of-13 from the field. Payne, meanwhile, shot 1-of-13.
“I think we weren’t poised at times,” Grant said. “And I thought we were being aggressive and attacking, but sometimes we were being forceful in times when we didn’t need to be, and we needed to wait and let things develop… Again, Georgia Tech has something to do with it, with their length, but you know, that’s a tough night for two of our better players.”
Despite being down for most of the game, the Eagles briefly took the lead off a Hand 3-pointer that put BC ahead 41–40 with 10:51 remaining. BC continued to hold a small lead for another three minutes, as the duo of Boden Kapke and Jayden Hastings overwhelmed the Yellow Jackets.
Kapke, one of the few bright spots for the Eagles on Saturday, finished with 13 points on 6-of-12 shooting, while Hastings finished with nine points.
But once again, BC reverted back to shooting 3-pointers late in the game, and Georgia Tech retook the lead and never looked back.
The Yellow Jackets also took advantage of BC’s inability to defend the fast break. Georgia Tech finished with 23 fast-break points compared to BC’s zero.
“We knew they were a fast-break team,” Grant said. “We knew we had to take some of the easy baskets away. And I thought the first half, the way we started, they were living in transition, and it really hurt us.”
Kowacie Reeves Jr. led the way for the Yellow Jackets, finishing with 16 points while orchestrating their offense all game. Chas Kelley, a former BC guard who transferred to Georgia Tech this past offseason, played 21 minutes and finished with zero points.
Basketball
Boston College lands one of nation’s top rebounders in Brandon Benjamin, along with former Charleston forward Colby Duggan
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.
Basketball
Former Merrimack sharpshooter Ernest Shelton commits to Boston College
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.
Basketball
Boston College lands Zak Smrekar, Money Williams, and JB Frankel, first three transfer commitments of Luke Murray era
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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Basketball5 months agoBoston College lands one of nation’s top rebounders in Brandon Benjamin, along with former Charleston forward Colby Duggan
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