ACC Roundup – Big Night For Cal

SB Nation

In Tuesday’s ACC Action, UNC topped St. Bonaventure 85-70, Cal surprised UCLA 80-72, NC State struggled but ultimately bucked Boise State 81-70, Notre Dame handled Rutgers 68-63, Kansas got Syracuse 71-60,

FSU knocked out Cal State Bakersfield 89-59 and Wake Forest throttled Campbell, 99-51.

UNC struggled in the first half, leading just 35-33 at the break. The Tar Heels pulled away fairly quickly in the second, and that was pretty much that.

Caleb Wilson had 20 points and 12 rebounds but was frequently double-teamed and shot just 5-13, scoring 12 from the line. Henri Veesaar scored 24 and pulled down 13 boards.

Two interesting stats: UNC had 13 turnovers to 9 for the Bonnies and the Heels assisted on 13 of 28 attempts. That works out to assists on 46.4% of made baskets.

Worth noting: St. Bonaventure is coached by the well-respected Mark Schmidt.

ACC retreads Chris Bell and Dai Dai Ames led Cal to a big win over #18 UCLA. Bell scored 22 points and hit 5-7 of his threes while Ames had 14.

UCLA blew chunks at the line, hitting just 13-23 (57%). It’s a really nice win for the Bears, who move to 6-1 on the young season.

NC State and Boise State in Maui was a game of runs and ultimately, the Pack got more of them, but Bronco Dylan Andrews kept the pressure on with 26 points.

Darrion Williams had 16 to pace State and Ven-Allen Lubin had 11 points and 12 rebounds.

Despite the runs, State held Boise State to 33% on threes and 34% overall.

Notre Dame built a 19 point lead in the first half against Rutgers but the Scarlet Knights fought back and cut the lead to four late in the second half with 5:56 to play.

Notre Dame held on though, pushing the lead back to 11 before Rutgers closed late. Markus Burton had 21 on 9-13/2-4 from the floor. Backcourt mate Braeden Shewsberry had 13 and freshman Jalen Haralson continues to show promise, scoring 15.

Syracuse was without Donnie Freeman again as the Orange dropped its second straight game in Vegas at the Players Era Tournament.

As we saw against Duke, Melvin Council really can’t shoot and he was just 3-15 against Syracuse. However he did hit 7-8 from the line to finish with 14 points. His three point struggles continue: Council is hitting 15.8%.

But Syracuse shot poorly collectively, hitting 23% from deep and just 32% overall. Freeman, who missed much of last season with an injury, is really important for this team. His absence is a big deal. Kiyan Anthony has shown a lot of potential but he shot just 2-12/0-6 here.

To be clear, Florida State was erratic against Cal State Bakersfield and couldn’t buy a three in the first half.

However, to be equally clear, this is a very different sort of team than we saw from Leonard Hamilton. The intense defense is still there, but the offense, while not a thing of beauty, is nonetheless more coherent. We always felt that Hamilton’s constant shuffling of players made it hard to establish rhythm. With Luke Loucks, that doesn’t appear to be an issue anymore. We’re really impressed with his coaching so far.

Alex Steen, a D-II transfer from Florida Southern, looks like a steal. He’s starting and he’s mobile and smart. Steen got 13 points and 10 rebounds. So far, he’s averaging 10.2 points, getting 7 boards and shooting 60%.

Chauncey Wiggins got 17 and Robert McCray, who is quite bouncy, had 14. Watching this team against NC State, for one, is going to be fun.

There’s not much to learn from Wake’s win over Campbell. The Deacs won the Baptist Bowl by 48 as the Camels managed just 4-26 on their threes and 16-59 overall. Wake shot out to an 8-0 lead and never looked back.

Juke Harris continues to play well with 17 points on 6-12/5-9 from the floor. Mekhi Mason had 16. Myles Colvin, fresh off his heroics against Memphis, had a mild game with 8 points, but no one needed heroics here.

Another busy day in Feast Week play Wednesday as Syracuse plays #15 Iowa State, Notre Dame gets #3 Houston, Tommy Amaker’s Harvard visits Boston College, Virginia Tech sees Colorado State in Atlantis, Louisville welcomes turkey in NJIT to the Yum! Center and NC State gets Texas.

Louisville is likely to just run NJIT back to New Jersey – the Cards are favored by 42.5. Ouch.

Wednesday’s ACC Action