CHESTNUT HILL - Ryan Anderson was the first player on the court Sunday before the Boston College Eagles' home game against the Bryant Bulldogs, taking a bunch of shots from all over the floor. Anderson is still trying to work his way back from a right ankle injury that he suffered a couple of weeks ago.
"I sprained my ankle two weeks ago," Anderson said. "I played on it in the Baylor game and it was feeling pretty good and then I played on it in the Dayton game and made it feel worse. I was in a walking boot for a couple days. It's slowly getting back. ... Last game, it wasn't really feeling that well. This game I'm probably like 75 percent, so it's getting better."
Anderson's injury took a noticeable bite into his production. After putting up tremendous performances in each of the Eagles' first two games -- he scored 29 points and grabbed 17 rebounds in a season-opening win against FIU and had 25 points in a loss to Baylor -- Anderson was held to 14 points against Dayton and did not play against Charleston due to his injury. In the Eagles' win over Auburn last time out, Anderson had just three points and did not make a field goal.
Nevertheless, Anderson says his shot is coming back -- slowly, but surely.
"It's a day by day process with my shot," he said. "Coach [Steve Donahue] has given me a lot of things to work on. Some days it feels good, some days not so good. It's kind of a repetition thing and it keeps getting better."
Anderson is till the Eagles' leading scorer and rebounder -- by far -- averaging 17.8 points and 9.5 rebounds, and that's still impressive considering the dip in his numbers over the last two games.
Said Anderson: "It's a constant thing when all your friends and family are going to look at the numbers for you, but to me it's just -- even though I had three points I didn't make a shot last game -- I helped us get a 'W'. I felt kind of bad after the Charleston game, I felt like even if I was at 40 percent that I could have helped us get a win.
"That's really what I'm about right now. Helping this program get wins."
After Sunday's game, the Eagles head out on the road to face the Penn St. Nittany Lions before returning home to play seven homes games in a row, a cluster of games that Anderson and company are looking forward to.
"We're definitely looking for that stretch," Anderson said. "You don't want to look ahead to any games, but we definitely looked at the month of December as a chance for us to get a lot of confidence going into ACC play. With the whole winter break thing, it's just nothing but basketball, so hopefully it's the time we can kind of focus and kind of come together."
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