Dennis Clifford defends North Carolina's John Henson during their game on Jan. 7 in Chapel Hill, N.C. (AP)

During the early part of the season, when Boston College was getting blown out by the likes of Holy Cross, UMass and Harvard, Steve Donahue frequently talked about how he needed to show patience and maintain a positive approach with his absurdly young team.

“I think it is harder at times,” he acknowledged last week. “As the leader of this program, I can’t allow what’s going on on the court affect our daily approach. I just can’t stand negativity permeating what we’re doing this year. And I make sure, these [assistant coaches] have been great, but most of us have had really good success over the last four years, and we just don’t want this to get in our guys’ heads with our approach. Early on, we probably had moments in games where we’re not used to seeing things that happen where we probably — the assistants and even myself, I have moments where I allow it to get to me.

“I think you’ve got to prepare yourself and really focus in on the teaching part of the game, understand that there’s going to be mistakes But it just can’t affect our positive approach, day in and day out.”

Since those comments, the Eagles have won two straight ACC games, including Saturday’s 61-59 victory over Virginia Tech. The Eagles are 2-1 in the ACC (7-10 overall), and while no one is about to mention them as contenders to battle Duke and North Carolina for the league title, they are showing signs that they are better than a last-place team, which was what they were predicted in the league’s preseason media poll — and what they appeared to be a month ago.

The players are appreciative of Donahue’s efforts to maintain an even keel, even when it seemed like the ship was floundering.

“He’s been very patient,” said freshman center Dennis Clifford, who on Monday was named ACC Rookie of the Week after averaging 15 points and 5.5 rebounds in last week’s two wins. “There were a couple of times definitely toward the beginning of the season when I thought he was going to freak out. But it really helped us when he stays calm. Because that showed us what we should be on the court. It’s really a great example.”

Added fellow rookie Ryan Anderson: “He’s always patient with us. But like he always says, ‘We want to be good in a couple of years, we want to be good today, we want to be good tomorrow.’ So, we’re patient with the process, but at the same time we’re working hard every day to be good.”

Donahue was perhaps most pleased with how his team reacted after its most recent blowout loss, to North Carolina in the ACC opener on Jan. 7. But he’s not ready to acknowledge the Eagles have turned a corner.

“It’s not going to [always] be like this,” he said after Saturday’s win. “We’re going to have days where we’re scratching our head. We’re going to be up and down. This is real good. We reacted well to Carolina, and even, if you think about it, [the double-overtime loss to] Rhode Island. That was a down. We rebounded and we’ll consistently get better, but you’re still going to hit the bumps in the road.

“I would like the truth serum in both [Clifford and Anderson] to say how patient I’ve been. I appreciate that they did that. I think more like pushing them, in particular Ryan, because I think he has a lot of talent. Ryan plays a little like a high school kid sometimes — and I don’t mean that in a bad way. I think he just plays with a pace that he’s got to increase it. I just think he’s got a chance to be really, really good. He’s got great IQ, he’s going to be a really strong kid. The energy and the pedal to the metal, just the sense of urgency has got to get better. So, if anybody had a right to say coach is pushing his patience, it’s him.

“But everybody else, it’s been a fun group to coach. Every day they come, they’re ready to go, they want to learn. And I mean that about following the [scouting report], they follow the scout as good as any team I’ve ever had. Whether it’s good enough, it’s not. But I’m watching; we’re pushing guys to their weak hand, we’re doing the ball screen action the proper way. They did everything like that consistently. Now, you’re seeing some results because they’re just getting more experience.”

At the end of the first half of the Virginia Tech game, freshman point guard Jordan Daniels scored the final five points of the period — a 3-pointer with 32 seconds left and then a runner at the buzzer — to give the Eagles a two-point lead. Donahue pointed to that as a prime example of the team’s maturation process.

“Early in the season, one of our weaknesses was the end of the halves and the beginning of the second,” he said. “That’s kind of what young teams [do] — you’re going really long, you’re playing OK, then you just run out of gas with two minutes left. I thought that was a huge step, because that game could have gotten away from us a little bit right there. … I think it’s another step in just watching these guys grow individually and collectively.”

Late in the game, the Eagles had a couple of shot clock violations as they struggled to find an open shot in their offense. This has happened before, but Donahue is willing to accept that as part of the growing process.

“The shot clock violations are not the worst thing that can happen at times,” he said. “It’s way worse than what we were doing a month ago, and that was just with eight seconds just kind of losing our mind and throwing the ball to our opponents and then they’re going in transition. I think we’ve learned like, hey, shot clock happens, it happens. That’s what we are in our development. We’re not god enough to continually push the ball for 40 minutes and get great looks. So, we’ve got to take a little baby step here and there, and I know this group will continue to work on taking care of the ball and getting better shots.”

Added Donahue: “These guys are just very intelligent players. [It's] a matter of experience until you start seeing really good basketball consistently.”

Next up for the Eagles is NC State, Thursday night in Raleigh, N.C. The Wolfpack, under first-year coach Mark Gottfried, are 13-5 overall and 2-1 in ACC play. Gottfried has taken note of BC’s improvement.

“They’re much different now and really in the last few weeks than they were early,” Gottfried said. “When you watch tape of them and watch some of the early games, you can almost throw those out. It’s a different team.”

HARVARD BECOMES THE HUNTED

Harvard is hoping its rough patch is in the past, as the Crimson lost to Fordham and had to come from behind in wins over struggling Monmouth and Dartmouth teams before coming out and hammering George Washington on Saturday at a sold-out Lavietes Pavilion.

The 15-2 Crimson — 24th in the most recent ESPN/USA Today coaches poll but not ranked in the AP Top 25 since the Fordham loss — return to Ivy League play Saturday when they travel to Dartmouth.

Junior guard Brandyn Curry said he’s noticed a change in teams’ attitudes when they take the floor out against the Crimson.

“There’s definitely a difference the way teams are coming at us now,” Curry said. “They’re coming out a lot tougher. Teams like Fordham, Monmouth came out really hard against us. It’s because of all the press that we’re getting, all the attention. A lot of people don’t like that. We’ve got a huge target on our back.”

Curry said the Crimson can handle the pressure and high expectations.

“We don’t get caught up in all the press and what everybody’s talking about,” Curry said. “We just worry about us, every day. We know every game we play from now on is going to be a challenge.”

HERRION IN SPOTLIGHT AT MARSHALL

Folks from Central Massachusetts had to be chuckling  upon hearing of Tom Herrion‘s exploits Saturday. The Oxford, Mass., native (and Merrimack alumnus), now in his second season as coach of Marshall, drew a flagrant foul on Central Florida’s Isaiah Sykes by flopping all over the floor after Sykes bumped him while running down the sideline. The referees, no longer able to ignore Herrion’s histrionics, finally reviewed video of the incident and assessed the foul. Marshall hit one of the two free throws and went on to win an intense game by a point, 65-64.

The video of the incident has been removed from YouTube, but here’s something else that will help you appreciate the emotion of the game. Following the postgame handshakes, Marshall center Orlando Allen had to be physically removed from the court after apparently being incensed by something a UCF player said. Herrion then took the microphone and fired up the 8,379 fans by thanking them for creating “the best environment in college basketball in America.”

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