What a game that was!
In Monday’s ACC Action, Michigan took down Virginia Tech 75-63, Clemson beat San Francisco 70-55, Boston College got by Missouri State in overtime 76-74 and Carolina had an absolute epic against Dayton, winning 92-90 in one of the best games of the young season.
What can you say here but: wow! That was a great, great college basketball game.
Dayton was absolutely sensational for much of it, building a 21 point lead in the second half. Then UNC mounted what the announcers said later was the second biggest comeback in school history, and that’s saying a lot, given the program in question.
The last part of the game was basically punch vs. counterpunch and that didn't really end until Nate Santos took a jumper with his toe on the line with mere seconds left in the game.
A three would have tied it. It was ruled a two.
This was a truly great game. If you didn’t see it, try to find it somewhere. It’s one of the most compelling games you’ll see this year. Just tremendous.
By the way, this game had one of the weirdest fouls you’ll ever see: Elliot Cadeau and a Dayton defender both leaped at more or less the same time, collided in mid-air and fell in a heap. Foul was called on Cadeau, much to his frustration.
One other note: of UNC’s 92 points, 67 came from RJ Davis (30), Seth Trimble (27) and Cadeau (10). Trimble was also UNC’s leading rebounder with 10. That’s tremendous, but he’s 6-3. The Tar Heels will need more from their bigs than they got here.
Not tremendous: Virginia Tech’s loss to Michigan. The Hokies shot just 34.5 percent overall and a mere 23.6 percent from behind the line. They also had 19 turnovers.
Former Blue Devil Jaden Schutt scored just two points, hitting 1-7 overall and 0-3 from behind the line.
Michigan of course is now coached by Dusty May, formerly of FAU. He’s a solid coach obviously and was in high demand after taking FAU to the Final Four.
With the loss, Virginia Tech falls to 3-3 and there are going to be questions about this team until they prove themselves.
Two Wolverine names worth mentioning: Phat Phat Brooks, just because that’s cool, and Justin Pippen, son of you-know-who.
Clemson was down at the half to San Francisco but rallied to win by 15. Ian Schieffelin had a typical Ian Schieffelin game with 18 points and 13 boards.
Ultimately, the Tigers held the Dons to 33.3 percent on threes and 39.2 percent overall.
And Christian Reeves? The Duke transfer got two points in seven minutes. He also got six rebounds in those seven minutes which is truly impressive.
BC needed OT to beat Missouri State but a win is a win and the Eagles are now 5-1.
We’ve been tracking Elijah Young for a while. He was an afterthought recruit who looks like he might turn into a really good player. He had 13 points and four rebounds and also hit the winning three.
Donald Hand continues to play well with 18 points and eight rebounds and Fred Payne came off the bench to hit for 18 of his own. He’s coming along nicely.
Tuesday is busy with nine games, as you’ll see below. A few quick points: UNC and Auburn should be a ton of fun...Cooper Flagg and Rutgers’ star freshmen Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper will all be in Vegas but in overlapping games...Stanford might actually get a test...Penn State vs. Clemson should be good too...
Tuesday’s ACC Action
