ACC Roundup – Everyone Won On Tuesday

SB Nation

In Tuesday’s ACC Action, Florida State took care of UT Martin 87-73, Boston College beat Hampton 63-52, Georgia Tech nipped Georgia Southern 68-66, SMU pounded Arkansas-Pine Bluff 106-60, Syracuse got

by Monmouth 78-73, Stanford smacked Louisiana 93-66, Cal topped Presbyterian 67-57 and UNC sank a gutty Navy team, 73-61.

And all we can say to that last one is: poor Hubert Davis.

UNC is in relatively good shape, though missing Seth Trimble with an arm injury, and has found an exciting new star in Caleb Wilson. The Tar Heels are undefeated at 5-0. Yet to judge by X posts after the game, a close game at home with Navy brought back all the doubts about Davis.

Is that fair? Probably not. Is it to be expected?

Almost certainly.

Caleb Wilson finished with 23 points, 12 rebounds, 4 steals and 3 blocks. Luka Bogavac, who is starting for Trimble, had 16.

Navy shot just 30% overall but on the bright side, had just 6 turnovers against a much more gifted team. They’ll remember this game for a long time.

Incidentally, this was UNC’s 2,400th all-time win.

FSU improved to 3-1 with the win over UT Martin. Rookie Cam Miles led the way with 17 points and Robert McCray added 16. The ‘Noles had 19 steals and while it’s early, this team has had double-digit steals three games out of four, and that’s not bad. Five players got at least three apiece. The Skyhawks wound up with 26 turnovers, all of which speaks well of Luke Louck’s defense.

BC is back in black at 3-2 with the win over Hampton. Only Fred Payne and Boden Kapke were in double figures with 14 and 10 points respectively, and the Eagles didn’t exactly soar with 19% three point shooting and 39% overall, but it was enough.

Georgia Tech has budding Twin Towers in Baye Ndongo and Mouhamed Sylla, who combined for 32 points and 21 rebounds, and it was barely enough to overcome the 22 turnovers the Yellow Jackets coughed up.

Interestingly, Georgia Southern has a Spudd Webb on their roster. He’s apparently no relation to the original Spud Webb of NC State fame and at 6-4 is about a foot taller to boot.

Turnovers are the theme of the day and SMU forced 17 against the Golden Lions. Arkansas-Pine Bluff shot just 4-26 on their threes, 23-67 overall and even tanked at the foul line, shooting just 10-18 there.

Just 0-6, they had no business playing this game other than a paycheck.

The Mustangs shot 44% from deep and 57% overall. Jaron Pierre led the way with 23.

JJ Starling is back for Syracuse after injury and while the ‘Cuse was in control for most of the game, Monmouth cut the lead to 2 with just :36 left.

Nonetheless Syracuse won and is 4-0 and came into this game, according to ESPN, “allowing 46.7 points per game and no more than 50 in a game this season, leading Division I basketball in scoring defense, opposing field goal and 3-point percentage.”

That’ll be tougher to maintain – in fact it was against Monmouth – but it’s still impressive.

Not impressive: the Orange hit just 19-33 free throws. Fortunately, Donnie Freeman hit two late to preserve victory.

Meanwhile, out West, Stanford dispatched the Ragin’ Cajuns with relative ease. Emerging star Ebuka Okorie was outstanding again with 26 points on 6-10/3-5 from the floor. He also hit 11-13 from the line. Okorie is averaging 25.3 ppg. Chisom Okpara added 22 on 7-10/1-3 from the floor.

Cal won, so on the one hand, it’s not entirely embarrassing and maybe the Blue Hose are better than you think, but on the other, they flew across the country and were in the game until the end, down just 5 with 2:38 to go. It’s kind of a letdown after nearly taking Kansas State last Thursday on the road.

John Camden had 20 points, Lee Dort had 15 and Chris Bell had 14. Cal shot 51% overall and 35% on threes and still struggled. It’s not a good sign.

Only two games on Wednesday as Bryant visits undefeated Virginia Tech and Bellarmine checks in at Notre Dame.

Wednesday’s ACC Action