Boston College Far From Great Against Florida : College basketball: Gators dominate, 91-65. Connecticut outlasts Duke, 90-86, in second game.

Boston College Coach Jim O’Brien stared blankly at the game statistics and recited the ugly details of the Eagles’ 91-65 loss to No. 8-ranked Florida in Tuesday’s Great Eight opener at The Palace of Auburn Hills.

There was the score, of course. The 16 missed Boston College free throws. The 19 turnovers. The 32.8% shooting from the field. The dreadful one-of-11 shooting from the three-point line.

“Other than those things,” O’Brien said, “it wasn’t a bad night.”

It was a great night for former Crenshaw star Kevin Ollie, who scored 24 points, including six consecutive free throws in the final 20.4 seconds, to lead No. 16 Connecticut to a 90-86 victory against No. 6 Duke in the second game.

Boston College (1-1), the miracle worker of last season’s NCAA tournament, was in trouble even before facing the Gators (2-0). Earlier in the day, O’Brien announced that star freshman guard Chris Herren would undergo season-ending surgery next Tuesday to repair ligament damage in his left wrist. Herren, injured in the Eagles’ season opener against Cal Poly San Luis Obispo last Friday, was the most prized recruit in Massachusetts, a McDonald’s All-American and the centerpiece of O’Brien’s rebuilding effort.

With him, the Eagles were expected to finish as high as fifth in the Big East Conference and perhaps squeeze into the NCAA tournament. Without him--as well as the four four-year starters departed from last season’s 23-11 team--Boston College is likely to have many nights like Tuesday.

The Eagles could have used Herren against Florida. They could have used anybody, especially because Danya Abrams, the lone returning starter, got into foul trouble early, played only 20 minutes and scored only six points. Instead, freshman guard Antonio Granger was the only Eagle in double figures, with 12 points.

“We were obviously not ready to play against a team of this caliber this early in the year,” O’Brien said.

No such problems for the Gators. Florida, which beat the Eagles by eight points in last season’s East Regional final, had more trouble with Stetson in its home opener than it did with Boston College. The Gators led by 18 points at halftime and saw the lead swell to as many as 31 with 13:59 to play.

By then, a Palace crowd of 17,264 had lost interest and Gator Coach Lon Kruger had played everyone.

“This was an opportunity to identify some things we did very well,” Kruger said.

If nothing else, Kruger experimented freely with his backcourt combinations, something of a priority now that shooting guard Craig Brown is gone.

Beefy Dametri Hill, the nearly 300-pound center suspended for one exhibition game and the opener against Stetson because of missed classes, returned to the starting lineup and scored 19 points. Forward Andrew DeClercq added 18 points and six rebounds.

In the second game, Duke senior guard Kenny Blakeney missed three of four free throws in the last 36.8 seconds and also committed a crucial intentional foul late in the final period that allowed the Huskies (2-0) to maintain a slim lead over the Blue Devils (2-1).

Duke, playing as many as three freshmen at a time, whittled the deficit to 84-81 with 21.2 seconds and 86-83 with 11.6 seconds remaining.

“With 21 seconds left I was nervous,” Connecticut Coach Jim Calhoun said. “With 11 seconds, I was very nervous.”

Not to worry. Duke center Cherokee Parks, who had 24 points and seven rebounds, was sitting on the bench. He received his fourth foul with 4:40 to play, then was hit with an unsportsmanlike technical foul, which is also a personal foul, for arguing the call.

Duke’s Erik Meek also fouled out late in the game and starting guard Jeff Capel soon followed.

“I don’t want to resign myself to losses,” Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “The fact is we have a young perimeter. I am not down on my team at all.”

The same goes for Calhoun.

“I’m going to have a nice plane ride home,” he said.