ACC Roundup - Bahama Drama For UNC
A tough overtime loss and an injury to boot
In Thanksgiving Day ACC Action, BC fell to Loyola of Chicago 71-68, Virginia Tech knocked off Boise State 82-75, NC State nipped Jerry Stackhouse’s Vandy 84-78 and Villanova outlasted UNC in overtime 83-81.
This was an interesting matchup partly because both coaches are following legends and both have had some struggles.
Hubert Davis is following Roy Williams and the shadow of Dean Smith while ‘Nova coach Kyle Neptune struggled last year after taking over for Jay Wright, finishing 17-17.
In his one other year as a head coach, at Fordham, he finished 16-16, so going into this season he was at .500 for his career.
Davis’s struggles are well known. Is he past them?
Well, the jury is still out, but the potential of this year’s team appears to be much higher than that of last year’s.
It just wasn’t enough to beat the Wildcats Thursday in the Battle 4 Atlantis as the Wildcats prevailed in overtime.
Davis is still tinkering with his lineup; this time he moved Jae’Lyn Withers into the starting lineup, but it didn't help much, at least offensively as Withers scored just two points.
Davis used 11 players but basically had an eight-man rotation. He started two known qualities in Armando Bacot and RJ Davis and Cormac Ryan is as well although we mostly know him from Notre Dame. The other two starters were Harrison Ingram, who transferred from Stanford and Withers, who of course was at Louisville previously.
Davis very much wants to modernize UNC’s offense and he made big strides when Brady Manek was shooting threes two seasons ago. Last year he didn’t have the snipers he wanted, but Ingram and Ryan are going to be big helps. Ingram hit 4-5 threes. Although Ryan hit just 2-5, he hit a critical three late in regulation to tie the game 68-68 (It doesn’t seem very serious, but Ryan injured his ankle against ‘Nova).
Interestingly, although Bacot is rebounding well as always, in the last two games he’s shot 3-8 for 10 points and 4-10 for eight against Villanova. He grabbed eight boards against Northern Iowa, which is better than average, then 18 against ‘Nova, which is damn good.
A major problem for UNC in this game was fouls and the foul shots they produced as Villanova hit 32-36 to UNC’s 16-23. Ingram, Withers and Elliot Cadeau all fouled out.
Another statistic that jumps out: why did Davis take 22 shots? That’s basically a third of UNC’s total. To think that people were mad at Caleb Love for taking too many.
Freshman Dennis Parker is an interesting prospect for NC State, largely because his parents are formidable people and they raised him carefully. He’s very likely to come close to his potential and his potential is pretty high.
Parker hit 7-10 for 18 total points and also grabbed nine boards to help lead the Pack past Vanderbilt in Las Vegas.
DJ Burns had 13 points, nine rebounds, three steals and four assists to help move the Pack to 4-0.
State will move on and play BYU after the Cougars laid a beatdown on Bobby Hurley’s Arizona State Sun Devils, 77-49.
Virginia Tech had a hard time shaking Boise State and remember this is the second straight ACC opponent for the Broncos, with Clemson being the first (the Tigers won 85-68).
Hunter Cattoor and Lynn Kidd each had 19 while Sean Pedulla finished with 18 points, six rebounds and seven assists.
Remember Tyler Nickel, who couldn’t get off of UNC’s bench last season?
He had 14 here.
The Hokies are now 4-1 but they really haven’t played anyone of note so it’s tough to get a sense of where this team is. However, a healthy Cattoor - remember they fell apart last season without him - makes a huge difference.
Finally, Boston College fell to the Fighting Sister Jeans in the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame Classic, thus finishing fourth.
Quentin Post, who's having a terrific season so far, had 25 points and nine rebounds.
Unfortunately, he didn’t get much help as Devin McGlockton was the only other Eagle to make double figures.
Jaeden Zackery had his second straight mediocre game, hitting just 1-6 and finishing with just four points.
In fact, other than Post and McGlockton, the others combined to shoot just 7-23. Loyola also outscored BC from behind the line, 39-12.
On Friday, UNC gets Arkansas in the consolation game in Atlantis. Wake plays Charleston Southern, Pitt gets Oregon State in the Barclays Center, Virginia Tech squares off with Iowa State, Alcorn State visits Clemson and NC State takes on BYU in Vegas.
- Saturday’s ACC Action
- Arkansas vs. UNC || 1:00 PM || ESPN2
- Charleston Southern @ Wake Forest || 1:00 PM || ESPN+/ACCNX
- Oregon State vs. Pitt || 3:00 PM || ESPN2
- Iowa State vs. Virginia Tech || 5:30 PM || ESPN2
- Southern Indiana @ Duke || 6:00 PM || ACCN
- Alcorn State @ Clemson || 8:00 PM || ACCN
- NC State vs. BYU || 10:00 PM || ESPN2
- Behind Eric Dixon’s career game, Villanova basketball upsets No. 14 UNC in the Bahamas
- Foul Trouble, Physicality Takes Toll In North Carolina’s Loss To Villanova
- What Hubert Davis said after North Carolina’s loss to Villanova
- North Carolina’s Hubert Davis stunned by Villanova weapon after Battle 4 Atlantis loss
- UNC basketball’s Cormac Ryan injured in Tar Heels’ loss to Villanova
- Recap: Boston College Men’s Basketball Loses to Loyola-Chicago, 71-68
- BC Drops Second Straight; Falls 71-68 to Loyola Chicago
- Loyola Chicago rallies late to top Boston College
- Grittiness On Display For Virginia Tech In Boise State Win
- Broncos still confident, encouraged despite 82-75 loss to Virginia Tech in ESPN Invite opener
- Virginia Tech bounces Boise State after sluggish start
- Virginia Tech Basketball: Sean Pedulla leads Hokies past Boise State
- NC State Overcomes Vanderbilt 84-78
- Parker, Taylor lead NC State over Vanderbilt 84-78 at Vegas Showdown
- NC State basketball holds off Vanderbilt, 84-78, at Vegas Showdown to remain unbeaten