They’ve been bruised, battered, banged up and beaten down by sickness. Boston College still got on its plane Tuesday in Providence and will try to play Wednesday anyway.

It hasn’t been the season the Eagles had thought it would be. They went to the Paradise Jam and lost two games. Swingman Rakim Sanders has missed every game this season with an ankle injury. Leading scorer Joe Trapani had the flu. 

While he said Tuesday he’ll be ready for Wednesday’s game against Michigan in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, Boston College coach Al Skinner said Trapani was still in bed Monday recovering.

All along, the injuries and two-game suspensions to Corey Raji, Cortney Dunn and Sanders to start the season left Boston College short-handed.

“It’s changed everything,” Skinner said. “It changed rotations, some of the things the way we wanted to play, we had to make some adjustments, and that’s part of the reason we didn’t play well down in the Virgin Islands. We’re trying to do this on the run and it just didn’t work out well for us.”

The biggest issue in the Virgin Islands was Boston College’s defense. In losses to St. Joseph’s and Northern Iowa, the Eagles (4-2) allowed more than 80 points a game. They allowed both teams to shoot 47 percent or better from the field, including a 64.8 percent shooting game for Northern Iowa.

Offense, though, hasn’t been an issue for Boston College. The Eagles have scored less than 70 points once this season.

When Boston College plays well, it is usually because of Trapani, a 6-foot-8 forward who leads the Eagles in scoring at 15.8 points a game and is second in rebounds at 7.5 a game.

He has the ability to shoot and cut through the line, the type of player Michigan has struggled with at points in the young season.

“I try to mix it up a little bit,” Trapani said. “Be multi-dimensional I guess. If my shot’s not going, I tend to go inside and get rebounds, just trying to do things if my shot isn’t falling.”

What he does for Boston College is he forces defenses to spread out to account for his skill set. When teams focus on him, Skinner said he has enough vision to make the right pass to find a teammate.

In some ways he’s a player who would fit well in what Michigan coach John Beilein likes to run. It’s why the Wolverines recruited Trapani when he decided to leave Vermont after the 2006-07 season.

Instead, Trapani, a Connecticut native, chose to stay closer to home.

“He shoots the ball and he can score around the basket,” Skinner said. “He’s pretty versatile. He’s effective in what we do. He benefits from the fact that he can play without the basketball and still achieve a result.”

Michael Rothstein covers University of Michigan basketball for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at (734) 623-2558, by e-mail at michaelrothstein@annarbor.com or follow along on Twitter @mikerothstein.