In Monday’s ACC Action, #14 Miami fell to #1 Florida, 77-67, Louisville beat Chattanooga, 84-70, Clemson handled Stetson, 85-72, Syracuse dismissed New Haven, 74-58, Pitt took care of Rider, 95-57, NC State knocked off Campbell, 83-64, SMU chased off Southern, 85-72, Cal hammered Adams State, 115-86, Wake flew away from Maryland Eastern Shore, 83-62, Florida State trashed Florida A&M, 112-69, and Stanford grounded Eastern Washington, 74-65.
Oh, and UNC just did get by Western Carolina, 80-72.
Last
time out, UNC needed overtime to beat Charlotte. We’re starting to understand why Dean Smith never wanted to play in-state teams.
UNC needed a late 13-2 run to pull this one out, partly because the Catamounts controlled the boards, 41-32, and doubled UNC on the offensive glass, 13-7.
Next up for UNC is Wofford, and there’s some history there, too.
Miami gave Florida a good game, and definitely hung around, but every time they got too close, Florida would push the lead back to around 10 points.
But Miami learned they can compete with the #1 team in the country. Next time might be different.
#11 Louisville was cruising against Chattanooga but took its foot off the gas in the last 10 minutes or so. All five starters finished in double figures. Obinna Ekezie, so impressive when Louisville played at Kansas, took only one shot here (and hit it). Former UNC guard Seth Trimble started and played well, scoring 13.
NC State did well in Justin Gainey’s coaching debut, building a 65-30 lead before coasting to the win. Campbell shot just 37 percent overall and 23 percent from deep, while State shot 54 percent overall, and 44 percent from behind the line.
Campbell is not on the same level, so let’s see how the Pack does against a better team. That probably won’t occur until the ACC/SEC Challenge, when State faces Gainey’s old boss, Tennessee’s Rick Barnes.
We have a lot of respect for Clemson under Brad Brownell. That guy knows what he’s doing. Stetson is not really a powerhouse, so who knows what this means. However, Ace Buckner had 20 points. He showed some real promise last year, so you might want to keep an eye on him.
We’re not going to try to comment on every game, but there are a couple of things worth mentioning.
First, Massive Marcis Ponder had a nice debut, as the 7-0/285 lb freshman finished with 15 points and 11 rebounds, five of them offensive. He also shot 5-6, and no threes. Don’t look for many, either.
Second, check out Gavin Doty for Syracuse: he finished with 14 points, 13 rebounds, and 3 assists. Not bad!
However, Gerry McNamara was “disgusted” by his team’s play. On a more serious note, we’re sorry to learn that he just lost his dad.
Finally, Jeff Capel’s Pitt squad forced 17 turnovers against Rider. Baye Ndongo had 12 points and 6 rebounds, while old Georgia Tech running mate Naithan George had 8 points and 8 rebounds.
Four ACC schools open play on Tuesday night, and here’s who’s playing whom:
- Coppin State vs. Virginia Tech || 7:00 PM || ACCNX
- Hampton vs. Georgia Tech || 7:00 || ACCNX
- Wagner vs. Boston College || 7:00 || ACCNX
- Drexel vs. Virginia || 7:30 || ACCN
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