ACC Roundup – Tough Loss For Louisville

As the holiday doldrums continue around the league

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In Tuesday’s ACC Action, Louisville fell at Tennessee 82-63, UNC dismissed East Tennessee State 77-58, Dayton beat Florida State 97-69, Clemson got by South Carolina 68-61, Miami stung FIU 98-81 and Georgia Tech slipped by Marist, 87-76.

Louisville had to go without star freshman Mikel Brown, who was out with a back issue. However, the Vols played without Cade Phillips, who is out for the season with a shoulder problem.

For Tennessee, former Duke star Vernon Carey’s little brother, Jaylen, is really

coming on. He had 12 points, 10 rebounds and three assists in this one. Ryan Conwell led the ‘Ville with 22. After his big game against Memphis, Kasean Pryor didn’t scratch in this one.

ETSU hung with UNC for most of the first half before falling behind in a run spanning the end of the first half and the beginning of the second. In other words, a typical post-exam period game.

Henri Veesaar had a career high with 26 points on an outstanding 10-11 from the floor. We thought it would be Caleb Wilson, who was also very good with 20 points and eight boards of his own, but it was Veesaar who killed the Bucs.

The other three starters, however, totaled just 14 points between them. You might have thought that Hubert Davis would get some minutes in for freshman Derek Dixon, who has been impressive lately, but he only got 14 minutes.

Other news here: Seth Trimble could be back Saturday against Ohio State.

Here’s all you need to know about FSU’s loss to Dayton: the Flyers were 40-47 from the line and five Seminoles fouled out, including three starters. One more finished with three. The ‘Noles shot just 36% overall.

This is Florida State’s fifth loss in a row. Total bummer, dudes.

Clemson’s Ace Buckner’s father, Greg, had a proud night, as his kid racked up 19 against rival South Carolina, including 15 in the second half (uncle Andre played at Duke and had a memorable run-in with UNC coach Brad Doherty).

Clemson, not surprisingly, played solid defense, holding the Gamecocks to 37.3% overall and just 15% from behind the line.

Carter Welling, also coming off the bench, racked up 16.

Former Duke recruit Shelton Henderson racked up 30 points on 10-12 from the floor and 10-11 from the line. They needed it too. FIU played Miami to a 43-43 first-half tie before the ‘Canes pulled away, shooting 61.3% in the second half.

Jai Lucas wanted better defense after the last game against UL Monroe. Did he get it?

Well, not so much: 5-4 FIU shot 32% from behind the line and 48% overall. Not a vintage defensive performance, but they have time to fix it.

Finally, Marist played Georgia Tech close for about 16 minutes of the first half before the Yellow Jackets got it going. Tech ended up shooting 58% from the floor, including 8-11 on their three point attempts. All five starters finished in double figures.

Those starters, incidentally, didn’t include Baye Ndongo, who hasn’t played since the ACC/SEC Challenge. Apparently he has a knee issue. Jaeden Mustaf also sat out but we’re not sure why.

Lamar Washington played well at the point, which is great for Tech since they’ve struggled to replace Naithan George. He had an impressive 10 assists. Mouhamed Sylla shot 7-10 for 14 points and had 8 boards.

More exam/holiday games on Wednesday as Longwood visits Wake Forest, Mercyhurst drops in on Syracuse, Pitt hosts Binghamton, NC State gets Texas Southern and UT Arlington goes West to face Stanford.

Wednesday’s ACC Action