ACC Roundup - UNC, Wake Win On The Road
And a fun slate Wednesday night too.
In Tuesday’s ACC Action, UNC took out Pitt in the Pete, winning 70-57 and Wake Forest survived Boston College, 84-78.
It’s been a while since UNC beat Pitt and ACC road games are always valuable currency.
The Tar Heels did it behind excellent games from Armando Bacot, who had 16 points and 10 boards, and RJ Davis, who hit for 15.
Bacot also topped 2,000 points for his UNC career, which is impressive even if he got an extra year to do it.
UNC pounded Pitt on the boards, 51-41 and really kept the Panthers off the offensive boards.
UNC shot surprisingly bad though, just 29.4 percent on threes and 23-63 overall. Pitt was worse though at 17.2 percent from deep and 30.9 percent overall.
Blake Hinson has been on a tear but he was held to 11 on 4-16 from the floor and 2-11 overall.
Interesting stat: Pitt’s collection of skinny bigs did reasonably well against Bacot. Federiko Federiko (6-11/225) did have four in 15 minutes but Guillermo Diaz Graham (7-0/220) had just two in 25 minutes and brother Jorge (6-11/210) just one in 12 minutes.
Carlton Carrington had 20 to pace the Panthers, who now fall to 0-3 in the conference.
Up in Beantown, as we expected, it was a very competitive game. BC led for a good chunk of the first half and into the second before Wake pushed its way back in. It was 66-65 with 6:36 left before the Demon Deacons got some separation, building a ten-point lead at 77-67 with 3:24 to play.
The Eagles did push back but not enough to actually catch up. They cut it to 79-78 but it was too little too late and they did not lead again.
For Wake Forest, Efton Reid had 13 points and 14 rebounds and his former Gonzaga teammate Hunter Sallis had 21. Cameron Hildreth added 18 while Kevin Miller kicked in 17.
Andrew Carr only hit one shot but it was a three with :12 seconds left to go and it put Wake up by four, 82-78.
It was a tough, gritty win and sounds like a great growth game for Wake. And the Deacs have now won eight straight.
BC lost obviously but the Eagles are 9-4 and they play hard enough that you can’t rule them out like you could over the last few years.
It’s a busy Wednesday with Louisville at Virginia, Georgia Tech going down to Florida State, NC State taking on Notre Dame and in what’s likely to be the best game of the night, Clemson visits Miami.
Lots of sub-themes here: Virginia was awful at Notre Dame. Will they be awful again? And can the Irish bottle lightning again? Kenny Payne survived 2023. How much longer will he coach the Cardinals? Can they turn it around? And as always with road games...will NC State get ice cream?
Wednesday’s ACC Action
- Louisville @ Virginia || 7:00 || ESPN2
- Georgia Tech @ Florida State || 7:00 || ACCN
- Clemson @ Miami || 8:00 || ESPN
- NC State @ Notre Dame || 9:00 || ACCN
- No. 8 UNC men’s basketball defeats Pittsburgh on the road, 70-57
- No. 8 UNC rebounds from slow start to overcome Pitt, 70-57, on the road
- Pitt Falls to 0-3 in ACC Play with Ice-Cold Loss to No. 8 North Carolina, 70-57
- Poor shooting prevents Pitt from upset against No. 8 North Carolina
- Pitt mailbag: Taking a close look at the Panthers’ mens hoops issues and their tough road ahead
- Bacot reaches 2,000 points as No. 8 North Carolina pulls away from Pitt in a 70-57 win
- Harrison Ingram, rebounding stand out in UNC basketball’s win at Pitt
- Late three propels Wake Forest to gritty win over Boston College
- Behind Missed Free Throws, Eagles Fall to Wake Forest 84–78 - The Heights
- Markus Burton - A gifted Irish freshman