After completing a dream season last year, Boston College has found swallowing its early Big East struggles difficult.

Eagles’ guard Ryan Sidney, however, has been struggling to digest something much more miniscule — his dinner.

On Dec. 6 Sidney was accidentally slapped across the face by Eagles center Brian Ross during the first drill of an afternoon practice. The blow, which broke Sidney’s jaw, forced team doctors to wire his mouth shut for a six-week period.

‘Dinner was pretty gross,’ Sidney said. ‘I was pretty much living off of liquefied mashed potatoes and mushed up peas and drinking them through a straw. It was worse than braces. You can’t imagine how painful it was. They run the wire through your gums and around your teeth.’

Sidney, considered one of the Eagles’ toughest players, managed to avoid missing any playing time, but head coach Al Skinner said his ability to perform was severely hampered. Sidney’s improvised liquid diet dropped the sophomore’s weight from a solid 205 pounds to a sprightly 180.

The lack of strength and energy forced the 6-foot-2 guard, who prides himself on his ability to outrebound opposing centers and forwards, to temper his aggressive play on the glass, although he still leads the team in rebounding.

Before switching to his liquid diet, Sidney held the team lead in nearly all important statistical categories. He led a team featuring Troy Bell, the conference’s Preseason Player of the Year, in scoring (21.3), rebounding (10), assists (5.7) and steals (2.8). Since the injury, his totals have plummeted. He currently averages 14.6 points, 7.3 rebounds and 3.6 assists.

‘He’s almost a skeleton of what he was before the injury,’ Skinner said. ‘He’s lost strength and of course he’s going to be tentative. If you’ve ever seen him play, he’s very aggressive, almost reckless. He can’t do that with his jaw wired shut.’

Said Sidney: ‘Getting hurt limits the things I can do. Physically I just didn’t have enough energy. Everything I did, I had to work twice as hard to do.’

Before the injury to Sidney, BC was 6-0. Since then, they’ve struggled to an 8-4 record, but have played even worse than that mediocre result. A six-point win over Arkansas State and a 10-point margin against Holy Cross can’t exactly be deemed impressive wins for the defending regular season and tournament champs.

‘The biggest thing we have to do is get Troy and I back,’ Sidney said. ‘We each have to score. Everyone else just has to come play. Me and Troy, that’s where the scoring comes from.’

After having the silver wiring removed from his swollen gums, Sidney was ecstatic to get back in the lineup against Georgetown on Jan. 12. Once the Eagles thought Sidney was back at full strength, he was gone again.

Nine minutes in, Sidney rejoined the trainers on the bench. A sprained ankle kept him on the sidelines as he watched the Hoyas dominate BC, 70-43. The defeat was the worst conference loss for the Eagles since Jan. 21, 1999, when Syracuse dropped them 90-51.

The return of the old Sidney (16 points, 12 rebounds) helped end BC’s three-game losing streak Saturday against Virginia Tech, but it may be too late for the Eagles to return to their perch of old — atop the Big East.

Are you kidding me?

— Comments from Herve Lamizana of Rutgers and Marcus Toney-El of Seton Hall lit off a verbal war between the two New Jersey high school players before their teams faced off. Toney-El said he disliked Lamizana and Lamizana said Toney-El is the reason he didn’t go to Seton Hall. The hot air was a whole lot warmer than the two were on the court. Let the record show Lamizana outscored Toney-El 1-0.

— Miami finally returned home this week after a 14-day road trip. The Hurricanes were booted out of Miami Arena by the local circus. But don’t worry, the elephants left a present for mighty Miami. The arena smelled like elephant droppings and housed as many fleas as fans during their double-overtime win over Pittsburgh.

Stats of the week

2, 11

Rutgers won only 12 games last season and three in the conference. Under new head coach Gary Waters, the team has already taken 11 games with two conference victories. Keep in mind they still have games remaining against conference doormats Virginia Tech and West Virginia as well as winnable games with Providence, Seton Hall and two against Notre Dame.

102, 0

Miami put up 102 points on a Providence team supposed to boast one of the top defenses in the Big East. The Hurricanes also have zero players averaging over 15 points — the only team in the conference to make that dubious claim.

On the shelf

— Jonathan Hargett, WVU — Potential Freshman of the Year, who Mountaineers coach Gale Catlett somehow smuggled out of Virginia, will miss two to three weeks after getting arthroscopic surgery on his knee.

Impact: Virginia Tech doesn’t have a Big East win yet and they play a possible Hargett-less WVU team Feb. 13. Is win No. 1 coming up?

— Kenny Walls, BC — Walls joined Sidney in the infirmary this week after a bout with the flu. He’s been climbing out of bed just for games so don’t expect either one of these two to be at full-strength for another week or so.

Impact: Don’t ask Skinner about playing Duke tomorrow night. He’d like his high-energy pairing ready to answer the bell in March.

On tap

No. 25 Connecticut at No. 10 Arizona, Saturday, 1 p.m., CBS

Jason Gardner and Arizona swept the ranked teams of Southern California (USC and UCLA) and now welcome Connecticut and Caron Butler.

No. 1 Duke at Boston College, tomorrow, 9 p.m., ESPN

Sure Boston College is struggling and barely seemed capable of beating the lowly Hokies, but the country’s two best point guards, Bell and Jason Williams, will be roasting each other all night on Chestnut Hill.

Published on January 22, 2002 at 12:00 pm