WASHINGTON — Boston College coach Jim Christian stood near midcourt Tuesday afternoon at the Verizon Center, chatting with counterpart Leonard Hamilton of Florida State before their first-round game in the ACC tournament.
Hamilton could certainly relate to the predicament of Christian, whose Eagles went 0-18 in regular-season play this season. It was during the 1993-94 campaign that Hamilton was the coach of a Miami team that went 0-18 in Big East Conference play.
“I just told him to hang in there,’’ Hamilton said. “He is doing a lot of things the right way. He is doing a great job. He runs an offense that is very difficult to defend. His kids are fighting everybody tooth and nail. It is just a matter of time until he turns that thing around.’’
The turnaround will have to wait until next season, as BC (7-25) trailed by 9 points at halftime and faded in the second half because of foul trouble in an 88-66 setback to the Seminoles before 7,302 at the NBA home of the Washington Wizards.
The Eagles ended the year with 19 losses in a row, with their last win coming at home in overtime on Dec. 30 to New Hampshire. Florida State (19-12) advances to face sixth-seeded Virginia Tech on Wednesday.
“It is very emotional in there,’’ BC center Dennis Clifford said of the locker room. “Guys don’t want to see it end, especially like this. I think that is all I can say about that.’’
It was an emotional end for Clifford, a senior who fouled out with 9:28 left after scoring 15 points with nine rebounds. He played his best basketball down the stretch, averaging nearly 14 points in the last nine games.
Asked what he would miss the most, Clifford got tears in his eyes and paused for nearly 30 seconds before responding. “Going out to eat,’’ he managed to say.
“I don’t care if we lost 1,000 games, I could not be prouder [of Clifford]’’ Christian said. “This is not easy. These are kids. They played hard every single night. That is where the beginning of the next stage is.’’
Eli Carter led the Eagles with 21 points, 17 in the second half. He also was stung by foul trouble and picked up his fourth foul early in the second half and played just 29 minutes. Matt Milon came off the bench and scored 12 points for BC.
Devon Bookert had 15 points off the bench for FSU, and starters Dwayne Bacon and Malik Beasley each had 13.
“With Dennis in foul trouble it was tough for us,’’ said Christian. “When we cut it to 9 I thought our kids were competing pretty hard. We had some bad passing turnovers. They have a lot of quality depth up front. Booker comes in and impacts the game in a lot of ways. They did a good job of making Eli work . . . kind of like you do in football with the running back.’’
The Eagles made 16 turnovers, allowed nine offensive rebounds and allowed Florida State to make 9-of-16 3-point shots.
“They just wasn’t weren’t going to lay down and give up,’’ Bacon said.
“There are a ton of things you have to evaluate,’’ said Christian, who concluded his second season. “The guys got to play a lot of minutes. They have to [realize] what they have to do at this level. There are a lot of different ways to learn. There are a lot of things that get exposed’’ with so many minutes from freshmen.
