ACC Roundup - Break Up The Deacs!
A big win for Wake Forest and one that took some guts too.
In Saturday’s ACC action, Louisville crushed the EKU Colonels 99-67, Miami downed Alabama A&M 88-74, Georgia Tech lost to Kentucky 67-53, Notre Dame handled UCLA 75-61, Syracuse fell to Georgetown 89-79 and Wake Forest surprised Xavier 80-78.
That’s a huge win for the Demon Deacons. In the last couple of years, the Deacs basically collapsed down the stretch in competitive games. Last year though they nearly knocked off Duke at Duke and while Xavier is a lesser upset, it’s still a great win.
Chaundee Brown had 26 for a career high and Brandon Childress was clutch down the stretch with 10 points in the last five minutes, including clutch foul shots.
Even more impressive: the Deacs pulled this off without big man Olivier Sarr, currently in the concussion protocol.
To win a game against a ranked team with significant adversity? You really couldn’t ask for a better situation than that.
We couldn’t be happier for Wake Forest and we hope it continues. Watching a proud program flounder is not fun.
We thought Georgia Tech would exceed expectations against Kentucky and might pull off a shocker. Well one out of two ain’t bad.
It was a very close game at halftime but in the second, Kentucky took over and Wildcat D outperformed Yellow Jacket D.
Tech played without Jose Alvarado again but he’s due back before too much longer. Also transfer guard Jordan Usher debuts this week.
Georgia Tech will have reinforcements but they still have to win. However, look back at how bad they were in Pastner’s first year. They’re not great and offense is a big problem. But they are better.
Here’s a stat to remember: This is the worst start Jim Boeheim has ever had at Syracuse.
Keep in mind that he traditionally schedules very weak teams early. This year?
It’s been a bit tougher honestly. Syracuse has lost to Virginia, Oklahoma State, Penn State, Iowa and Georgetown and now is 5-5.
Georgetown, as previously noted, is having major issues having lost four players to transfer and three of those leaving under a cloud of criminal accusations.
Still, after being upset by UNC-G, which isn’t as bad as it sounds since Wes Miller has been doing a bang-up job there, the Hoyas have won three straight. Pretty impressive under the circumstances.
Buddy Boeheim had 25 for the ‘Cuse while Mac McClung had 26 for Georgetown. NC State transfer Omer Yurtseven has always been foul prone and that’s a really big deal for Georgetown with such a tight rotation. He had to play 34 minutes in this one and not surprisingly had four fouls.
UCLA and Notre Dame aren’t what they were in their epic game in 1974. Far from it. Neither is rated and the Bruins are just 7-4, hardly a Woodenesque start.
Notre Dame won, as you might expect, and the best news is that the offense is regaining its old swagger.
Mike Brey runs a beautiful offense. The Irish pass until you’re off balance and then strike for easy open shots. Everyone tries do that but when it works for Notre Dame, it’s really beautiful to watch.
And their three point shooting is coming back too. When the Irish are hitting threes they're a really tough out.
John Mooney had another double-double - no surprise at this point - and Prentiss Hubb added 20. TJ Gibbs tossed in 15.
Notre Dame hit 15-39 from three point range.
Louisville got back on track against Eastern Kentucky winning by 32 and shooting 63 percent overall. We don't know what Louisville’s single-game record for free throws is but 22-23 can’t be too far off. The Cards also had 22 assists on 34 made shots.
And the Cards defended well too, holding EKU to 36.5 percent overall and 33.3 percent from behind the line.
Miami beat Alabama A&M but it wasn’t as easy as we expected: the ‘Canes were up just five with 3:50 left.
Transfer Kameron McGusty ran off seven points of a 10-0 run as Miami pulled away again.
It was closer than it should have been but exam games frequently are. And Jim Larranaga was forced to miss this one with back spasms.
On Sunday, BC welcomes the other Blue Devils - Central Connecticut - to town, Virginia Tech takes on 3-7 Gardner-Webb, State plays UNC-G on the road, Wofford visits UNC to try to take the Heels down again and South Carolina heads over to Clemson for the annual grudge match.
We don’t expect much out of the first two but State is taking a real risk. UNC-G is well coached and has already beaten Georgetown and gave Kansas a solid game, too. They’re a tournament-level program now - not just team but a program. Tough game for the Pack.
Wofford is rebuilding with a new coach so a win is unlikely but who knows? This UNC team is more limited than we can remember other than the Doherty Interregnum. This game will be played in Carmichael which should bring back good memories, like say a noisy gym.
And both Clemson and South Carolina seem to have returned to traditional mediocrity so that should be a competitive game.
Sunday’s ACC Action
- Central Conn @ Boston College || 1:00 || ACCNX
- Gardner-Webb @ Virginia Tech || 1:30 || ACCNX
- NC State @ UNC-G || 3:00 || ESPN+ || ESPN+
- Wofford @ UNC || 4:00 || ACCN
- South Carolina @ Clemson || 5:00 || ESPN2
Saturday’s Results
- Louisville 99 Eastern Kentucky 67
- Kentucky 67 Georgia Tech 53
- Wake Forest 80 Xavier 78
- Georgetown 89 Syracuse 79
- Miami 88 Alabama A&M 74
- Notre Dame 75 UCLA 61
- Georgia Tech gets out-defended in losing to Kentucky
- UK wins despite inconsistency: ‘Young team. We don’t really know each other yet’
- UK’s Ashton Hagans played like a ‘pro,’ but he can get so much better
- Tougher competition lies ahead and Kentucky’s ‘up for the challenge’
- Kentucky guards sink Georgia Tech, but are there new questions about UK post play?
- Here’s what John Calipari had to say after Kentucky’s victory over Georgia Tech
- Who is SU hosting on final weekend before early signing day?
- Buddy Boeheim knew by his dad’s mood when SU was playing Georgetown
- Wake Forest rides Chaundee Brown’s career-high 26 points, Brandon Childress’ clutch closing stretch to knock off No. 23 Xavier
- Wolfpack braces for UNCG challenge
- Miami basketball has poor defensive effort in win over Alabama A&M
- Jim Larranaga sidelined by back spasms, missed
- McGusty leads Miami past Alabama A&M 88-74
- Noie: Prentiss Hubb needed a game like this, so did Irish
- Notre Dame rolls past UCLA
- UCLA loses in ugly fashion to Notre Dame