Boston College Beats Wagner 76-50 as Luke Murray Era Opens; BU Tops Northeastern

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. — Boston College opened the Luke Murray era with a 76-50 win over Wagner on Tuesday night, Nov. 3, 2026, at Conte Forum. Money Williams scored 22 points and Armoni Zeigler added 14 as the Eagles led for 95% of the game and pushed their lead to as many as 27 points, according to the ESPN box score.

Murray, a former UConn assistant who helped the Huskies win back-to-back national championships, made his debut as Boston College’s head coach after replacing Earl Grant, the Associated Press reported. The win came on a busy opening stretch for college basketball in Boston: Boston University beat Northeastern 93-85 on Monday, and Harvard beat MIT 73-45 the same night.

How Boston College pulled away from Wagner

The game was tight early. Boston College led 21-14 midway through the first half before an 11-0 run, with Zeigler and Brandon Benjamin helping push the margin to 32-14, according to the AP recap. The Eagles took a 38-23 lead into halftime.

Wagner cut the deficit to 50-38 with 10:05 remaining, but Boston College answered and pulled away again. The Eagles outscored Wagner 38-27 in the second half, matching their first-half total of 38 points.

Williams did much of his damage at the line. He shot 5 of 11 from the field and made 11 of 15 free throws, adding five rebounds and four assists in 37 minutes. Zeigler made 6 of 9 shots. Zak Smrekar had 12 points and three assists, and Benjamin finished with eight points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Ernest Shelton made 3 of 6 from 3-point range for nine points.

Kareem Watson led Wagner with 13 points, and Taj Bryant and Cam Estevez scored 10 each. Estevez needed 17 shots to get there and missed all six of his 3-point tries. A crowd of 3,752 was listed at Conte Forum.

By the numbers: where the Eagles won it

The box score shows a game decided by shooting and transition. Boston College made 25 of 51 shots (49%) while Wagner made 17 of 56 (30%), a gap of 19 percentage points. Wagner took five more shots than BC but scored 26 fewer points.

From 3-point range, Boston College made 7 of 17 (41%) and Wagner made 3 of 15 (20%), worth a 12-point edge from beyond the arc alone. The Eagles also had 34 points in the paint to Wagner’s 24, 14 fast-break points to Wagner’s 5, and 12 assists to Wagner’s 5. Wagner did win the offensive glass 13-7, but Boston College still won the total rebounding count 36-34, and the Eagles had 11 turnovers to Wagner’s 13 (TBR calculations from the ESPN box score).

The chart shows how different the three Boston-area openers were. Boston College and Harvard both shot about 12 to 19 percentage points better than their opponents. BU and Northeastern were nearly even, at 54% and 53%, and the Terriers won it at the free-throw line, where they made 23 of 30 to Northeastern’s 17 of 23.

BU beats Northeastern 93-85; Harvard routs MIT

On Monday night at Case Gym, Azmar Abdullah scored 21 points with seven rebounds as Boston University opened its season with a 93-85 win over Northeastern. Kyrone Alexander added 19 points and seven rebounds, and Sam Hughes went 7 of 11 from the field for 15 points, according to the AP. BU led for 88% of the game and by as many as 17. Rashad King led Northeastern with 21 points, Dorian Grosber had 18 and Brayden Young added 13.

Across the river at Lavietes Pavilion, Harvard beat MIT 73-45. Tey Barbour led the Crimson with 18 points on 6-of-8 shooting, including 4 of 6 from 3-point range, and Robert Hinton scored 12. Harvard forced 20 MIT turnovers, scored 18 points off them and held MIT to 29% shooting, according to the ESPN box score.

What’s next for Boston’s college teams

Boston College hosts UMass on Friday. BU visits Brown on Friday, and Northeastern plays at Virginia the same day, according to the AP. The Eagles’ football team is also home this weekend; see our preview of Boston College’s game against Florida State and its bowl chase. On the ice, BC and Northeastern split an overtime-heavy series last weekend, covered in our Hockey East roundup.

Sources

• ESPN box score: Wagner at Boston College, Nov. 3, 2026
• AP via ESPN: Luke Murray’s Boston College era opens with 76-50 win over Wagner
• AP via ESPN: Boston University beats Northeastern 93-85 as Azmar Abdullah scores 21
• ESPN box score: MIT at Harvard, Nov. 2, 2026

Additional sources

• ESPN box score: Northeastern at Boston University, Nov. 2, 2026
• Wikimedia Commons: Conte Forum photo (FranDoe16, CC BY-SA 4.0)