ACC Roundup – Clemson Gets A Good Win & UVA Falls To Butler

Some real ups and downs on Sunday

Summarized by AI ⓘ

What is the story about?

In Sunday’s ACC Action, Clemson nipped Georgia in overtime, 97-94, Miami smoked Delaware State 97-41, Georgia Tech took out West Georgia 82-66, Butler slipped by Virginia 80-73, BC lost to Tulane in OT 93-90 and Pitt fell to Quinnipiac, 83-75.

First question: who the hell is Quinnipiac?

Just kidding, sort of. Quinnipiac is well known due to its polling institute and we hear that name a lot. Basketball wise?

Not so much.

We saw some clips though and were surprised at how athletic they looked. Brand-wise,

it’s not a good look for an ACC team to lose to Quinnipiac, but in the new environment, it’s also possible the athletic department found a sugar daddy, somewhat like High Point, who is willing to spend heavily. We have no clue.

From all accounts, Pitt was lethargic. The Bobcats shot 65% on threes (11-17) and 57% overall. Freshman Roman Siulepa had a nice game for the Panthers with 20 points on 9-12/0-1 shooting.

It’s just a forgettable outing. Perhaps Pitt can do better against Ohio State and Texas A&M, the next two opponents.

To be clear, Georgia is probably not an elite SEC team this year, but the Bulldogs are competent and tough and that makes this a great win for a reconstructed Clemson.

The Tigers had a 10 point lead with 14:11 to play before the Bulldogs started to rally.

This one went to overtime and Clemson was just a little better there. Jestin Porter had 18 points while Efrem Johnson had 12 points and 7 rebounds. It helped that Georgia’s Somto Cyril fouled out near the end of regulation. By the way, the Catchings family tree continues to spread. Kale Catchings spent a year at Duke. His brother, Kanon, is at Georgia. This is now a three generation basketball family. Grandfather Harvey was in the end, Kale and Kanon’s mom Tamika is an NBA legend and the family’s influence on the game just keeps expanding.

Brad Brownell continues to tweak his starting lineup, going with Carter Welling, Jake Wahlin, RJ Godfrey, Porter, and Dillon Hunter.

Of course Miami beat Delaware State. These teams are not on the same level at all. Malik Reaneau had 24 points and 10 boards while Tre Donaldson racked up 21 and neither missed a shot other than one foul shot. Toss in 19 turnovers by the Hornets and it was a foregone conclusion that Miami would romp.

They’ll get a sterner test on Thanksgiving from BYU and then from Ole Miss. Those games will tell a lot about this team.

Georgia Tech struggled for a while against Western Georgia before getting some separation about halfway through the second half, moving ahead for good at 49-48 with 12:27 to play and Western Georgia never threatened again.

Virginia has looked very impressive in Ryan Odom’s first few weeks in Charlottesville, but Butler got the best of them Sunday for the ‘Hoo’s first loss.

The Bulldogs held Thijs De Ridder to just 10 points, which is much less than he’s been putting up. Dallin Hall fouled out in just 11 minutes.

Butler killed UVA from the line, getting 20-29 to Virginia’s 7-15. It’s the first setback for Odom’s program. Next up is Queens followed by Texas in the ACC/SEC Challenge, Dayton and soon after, Maryland.

Finally, BC and Tulane went to overtime before the Green Wave washed over the Eagles. Boston College shot a bit better, hitting 10-27 on their threes (37%) and 26-63 overall (41%). Donald Hand hit for 27 and Chase Forte got 22. Fred Payne managed 15 but missed a potentially tying 3 point heave.

On Monday, NC State squares off with Seton Hall in the Southwest Maui Invitational, Notre Dame sees Kansas in the Players Era Festival where Syracuse will take on #2 Houston. Louisville gets Eastern Michigan and Radford visits SMU.

Kansas incidentally will play UNC, Duke, Notre Dame, Syracuse and NC State by December 13th.

Monday’s ACC Action