ACC Roundup – NC State Slips By VCU And Two Blowouts

SB Nation

In Monday’s ACC Action, NC State survived VCU 85-79, Pitt blew by Bucknell 84-50 and Clemson cruised by North Alabama 81-61.

VCU has developed a reputation as a place to find coaches on the rise. Just look

at who they’ve had coach there since 1998:

Mack McCarthy, Jeff Capel, Anthony Grant, Shaka Smart, Will Wade, Mike Rhoades, Ryan Odom and now, Phil Martelli, Jr.

That’s a pretty good track record.

Martelli spent two years at Bryant after his former boss and predecessor saw his career implode after the university allegedly imposed a leave of absence, during which he was accused of a hit-and-run accident, after which he resigned.

Martelli got the job and turned in a 43-25 two-year record which, at Bryant, is really good.

He parlayed that into his job at VCU, where he is currently 2-2 and the losses were narrow.

So he’s looking good as VCU looked solid in Raleigh, where the Rams met Will Wade, who first came to prominence with the Rams.

State is ranked for the first time in a while and the #25 Pack had a good challenge, winning by just 6 points. The game was pretty tight but Darrion Williams had 28 points and Tre Holloman 25. Ven-Allen Lubin had 11 points and 9 rebounds.

Paul McNeil had a dreadful shooting game with 0 points in 28 minutes, although he did get 9 boards, which is great for a guard. Freshman Matt Able had 12 off the bench.

State made life harder than it had to be with 17 turnovers but the Wolfpack survived and will play Seton Hall next Monday, then Auburn on Wednesday and Kansas on Saturday. We’ll know a lot more about Will Wade’s program by Saturday.

Bucknell had a pretty good run for a few years, even upsetting Kansas in the 2005 NCAA tournament and Arkansas in 2006, but the Bisons are off that historical high and back to their more usual level.

Pitt crushed them accordingly. Barry Dunning came off the bench to hit 7 threes and racking up 23 points. Pitt shot 52% on threes, 51% overall. The Panthers out rebounded the Bison 42-29 and forced 16 turnovers.

It was too much for Bucknell to overcome. It was a solid win for Pitt as the ACC/SEC Challenge looms, where Pitt will see Texas A&M.

Clemson’s Brad Brownell has a reputation as a defensive coach and despite overhauling his roster, the Tigers delivered on that here. North Alabama shot 25% from deep and 37% overall.

Brownell moved Ace Buckner and Carter Welling into the starting lineup for Jestin Porter and RJ Godfrey and apparently it worked out well. Welling, who has been solid off the bench, had 13 points and 9 rebounds. Buckner had 8. Godfrey had 16 off the bench and Zac Foster 14. It wasn’t much of a contest but was probably a useful tuneup for the Tigers as they prep for West By God Virginia on Friday and Alabama next week.

On Tuesday, Navy visits UNC, UT Martin is at Florida State, Hampton treks up to play Boston College, Georgia Tech hosts Georgia Southern, SMU welcomes winless Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Monmouth checks in with Syracuse, Stanford flies out Louisiana and the Presbyterian Blue Hose will be at Cal. None of them look particularly compelling but we’ll see.

Tuesday’s ACC Action