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Don’t get it twisted. Boston College is a “dangerous” team, no matter what the record says.

At least Syracuse head coach Felisha Legette-Jack thinks so. Yes, the Eagles may have entered Thursday with four wins in 24 games. Yes, they may have been winless in their 11 Atlantic Coast Conference matchups thus far. But they had absolutely nothing to lose.

“They’re a desperate team,” Legette-Jack said at Wednesday’s pregame media availability. “I have a lot of respect for Coach (Joanna Bernabei-McNamee) and what she’s done in the past, and she’s going to get somebody.”

The issue, then, was ensuring Legette-Jack wasn’t the “somebody” Bernabei-McNamee would inevitably get. Because, as respectfully as possible, the Eagles were not someone that SU could afford to lose to. BC — approaching the basement of the NET rankings at No. 248 — would have been a Quad 4 loss, even though the Orange were on the road.

With seven games left until postseason play, and SU projected as a No. 8 seed in Charlie Creme’s latest ESPN Bracketology projections, every win counts. Every loss does, too, and they count double when they’re Quad 4.

Avoiding that fate was paramount to Legette-Jack. So, her Syracuse (19-4, 9-3 Atlantic Coast) squad delivered Thursday, blowing out Boston College (4-21, 0-12 Atlantic Coast) 93-59 in Conte Forum. Dominique Darius tied a career high with 10 assists to secure her first-career double-double, while Uche Izoje dominated the paint with 18 points and nine rebounds, and the Orange held their lead for nearly 38 minutes.

“We never take a team for granted,” SU guard Madeline Potts said postgame. “We always treat every team the same, no matter what level they are.”

Picture it now: Erin Houpt, BC’s 5-foot-6 sharpshooter, snags a pass from Athena Tomlinson. She carefully lines one up and fires from deep. The ball left her hands, hitting nothing but nylon, eliciting a swish sound as it hurtled out from the bottom.

That triple gave the Eagles an early 3-0 lead, not even a minute into the contest. It would be the last time that BC held an advantage in this matchup.

Izoje — after one of her worst performances of the year against Miami — quickly erased any memory of that 3-for-12 day, getting SU on the board first with a floater.

“I thought she learned some lessons: how to make a mistake, get back down on the floor, talk to her teammates, box out,” Legette-Jack said Wednesday, referring to Izoje’s performance against the Hurricanes. “I think that she’s gonna be an even better player moving forward.”

After Izoje cut the deficit to 3-2, Sophie Burrows got involved by stuffing a layup from Lily Carmody — the Eagles’ leading scorer — to create a fast break opportunity. Shy Hawkins began streaming down the court, unguarded, and Darius lofted a pass from the other end. It fell right in her path, and her layup fell right into the rim to make it 4-3.

As much as Boston College tried to make this game competitive with its 3-point shooting, it just wasn’t enough to trouble SU. The first quarter ended with the Orange up 21-16, and the only thing keeping the game close was BC’s 4-for-10 first-quarter shooting performance from 3.

When Syracuse began to match it in the second frame, the game got out of hand quickly. Left wide open on the right wing, Jasmyn Cooper sank her first triple since Nov. 7, 2025, just two minutes into the second quarter. The shot pushed Syracuse’s lead to 26-16, double-digits for the first time all game.

It wouldn’t get within single digits again. The next possession, Laila Phelia followed with her second 3 of the game. The game was beginning to slip out of Bernabei-McNamee and BC’s reach. But the point of no return, arguably, was an inbound play with a little under four minutes left until halftime.

Darius stood on the sideline, ready to inbound with BC’s Kaia Henderson, offering her ample space. Darius clapped her hand on the ball, triggering Izoje — who stood at the top of the key — to dart toward the paint. Unpressured, the Syracuse guard lofted the ball up near the rim, allowing Izoje to leap up, snag it and bank in a layup to make it 35-19.

It was Darius’ seventh of her nine first-half assists.

“She’s a firebug,” Legette-Jack said postgame, referring to Darius. “She just really understands the value of what we’re talking about.”

That play, as ridiculous as it seemed, proved a point: There was nothing BC could do to stop the Orange. Syracuse entered the half with a healthy 42-21 advantage, having completed a dominant 21-5 second quarter, and it didn’t get any smaller from there.

Two Phelia free throws made it 44-21. A Hawkins fast break layup on SU’s next possession extended the lead to 46-21, and after BC’s Jocelyn Grier had the audacity to answer it with a floater, Phelia came right back at her with a corner 3 to make it a 26-point game. It wouldn’t get within 20 again. SU’s bench — outside of Journey Thompson — was emptied in the fourth.

“Everyone got to score, which was really cool,” Potts said. “We all worked well together, and it was just like a put-together game that we’ve been working towards.”

Legette-Jack remembers the last time her team entered Conte Forum. It was Jan. 19, 2025, and the Eagles walked away with a 92-51 victory — the worst loss of Legette-Jack’s tenure.

She remembers the last time her team played BC, too. How, on March 5, 2025, her Orange squad watched a 19-point lead evaporate like it was nothing, and Boston College ended her team’s postseason aspirations by knocking them out of the ACC Tournament.

Syracuse has big goals to accomplish, ACC Tournament and NCAA Tournament runs to look forward to. But Legette-Jack knows the Eagles don’t quit. She knew that, if her team wasn’t focused on playing as a collective unit and tackling the task at hand, an already-dangerous BC squad would become even more dangerous.

Her team understood the assignment. Check the scoreboard.

Published on February 5, 2026 at 7:51 pm
Contact Mauricio: mjpalmar@syr.edu | @mpalmarDO