After winning the opening tipoff, the Eagles found themselves in a grinding, back-and-forth battle with Detroit Mercy. Some early looks from three were not falling, and the Eagles were struggling to score in the half-court offense. Even more concerning for the Eagles, however, were the back-to-back injuries to freshman Prince Aligbe and Donald Hand Jr., who both left for the locker room with 12 minutes left in the first half. Aligbe would not return.
Following the injury timeout, though, the Eagles finally got some momentum going. Cincinnati transfer Mason Madsen hit two threes and some nice defense from Chas Kelley forced a turnover, giving Boston College a 6-0 run to stretch the lead to four.