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Duke Basketball: Boston College’s hopes ride on shoulders of Ky Bowman

By Kevin Connelly

DURHAM, NC - JANUARY 07: Head coach Jim Christian talks to Ky Bowman #0 of the Boston College Eagles during the game against the Duke Blue Devils at Cameron Indoor Stadium on January 7, 2017 in Durham, North Carolina. Duke won 93-82. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)
DURHAM, NC - JANUARY 07: Head coach Jim Christian talks to Ky Bowman #0 of the Boston College Eagles during the game against the Duke Blue Devils at Cameron Indoor Stadium on January 7, 2017 in Durham, North Carolina. Duke won 93-82. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images) /
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The Boston College Eagles will try and upset the Duke Basketball team, riding the shooting and playmaking abilities of star guard Ky Bowman.

The Boston College Eagles came into this season with the small hope of making the NCAA Tournament due to the outstanding play of its point guard Ky Bowman.

Last season Bowman averaged 17.6 points, 6.8 rebounds, 4.7 assists, and 1.5 steals while shooting 42.2% from the field as the Eagles finished the year at 17-14 and 7-11 in the ACC with a trip to the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament, followed by a first round exit in the NIT.

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This season it looked like the Eagles were ready to take the next step but Boston College was stunned in the third game of the season at home against IUPUI, 79-69.

However, the Eagles would regain its footing, defeating last year’s Cinderella, Loyola-Chicago, and Minnesota, while only falling to Providence by five in overtime.

Following the loss to the Friars, the Eagles would then rattle off three games in a row, the most impressive coming on the road against DePaul, but Boston College would then lost at home to Hartford in overtime, 79-78.

The loss came at the worst possible time for the Eagles as ACC play awaited them as BC would lose four straight to start ACC play against Virginia Tech, Virginia, Notre Dame, and Louisville.

Boston College would regain its footing at home against the No. 11 Florida State and Wake Forest as its lone two wins in conference play, but the Eagles would then drop two straight at home to Syracuse and Notre Dame to drop to 2-6 in the ACC and 11-9 overall.

The road doesn’t get any easier for the Eagles, traveling to Durham to take on the No. 2 Duke Blue Devils on Tuesday night and heading north for a rematch with the Orange on Saturday afternoon.

This Boston College team starts and stops with Bowman.

He is the top non-Duke scorer in the ACC at 20.8 points per game, while also averaging 7.8 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 1.3 steals, shooting 44.3% from the floor and 37.0% from 3-point range.

Wynston Tabbs, Jordan Chatman, and Nik Popovic also averaging double figures for the Eagles with Tabbs and Chatman both averaging 13.9 points per game while Popovic is just below them at 13.8 points.

Bowman leads the team in scoring and assists, but he isn’t the teams leading rebounder by a tenth of a rebounds as Steffon Mitchell averages 7.9 rebounds per game compared to Bowman’s 7.8.

It will be a very tall task for Boston College to come into Cameron Indoor Stadium and compete with the Blue Devils, but Ky Bowman will have to be the focal point of the Eagles offense.

Tipoff time is at 7:00 pm ET and the game is televised on ESPN.

Stay tuned to Ball Durham on Twitter, @Ball_Durham, and here at our website, balldurham.com, for complete coverage of the Duke Blue Devils vs. the Boston College Eagles. 

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