But suffered a key loss when Markus Burton left with a knee injury
In Tuesday’s ACC Action, Clemson knocked off Penn State 75-67, Florida State handled Western Carolina 91-57, Stanford lost to Grand Canyon 78-71, Virginia took Manhattan 74-65, BC nipped Boise State 63-61, SMU barely beat California Baptists 79-77, Notre Dame lost to Rutgers 85-84 in OT and UNC fell to Auburn in Hawaii, 85-72.
First, let’s give Notre Dame extra credit: the Irish lost Markus Burton early in the game - he scored just two points - and still took Rutgers to the wire. Matt Alloco scored 24 and Braeden Shrewsberry had 16.
Rutgers, as you may remember, has two celebrated freshmen in Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey. Notre Dame contained Bailey but Harper ran wild for 36. Good thing the Irish defend the foul line well, holding Rutgers to 67 percent. Obviously the game would not have been as close if Rutgers had hit more free throws.
No word yet on how serious Burton’s injury is, but hopefully not too bad. He’s a great player for the Irish.
We didn't watch all of the UNC-Auburn game but saw enough to know that Auburn has a lot more talent. Auburn led from wire to wire - Dean Smith is turning over in his grave as we type that - but UNC did cut the lead to 33-30 late in the first half. Shades of Dayton!
Auburn is no Dayton, however. This is an athletic, powerful team. UNC’s guards are smallish and that didn't help either.
UNC’s bigs had a better night than they did against Dayton though. Well, Jalen Washington not so much: he had two points and two rebounds. Jae’Lyn Withers had 10 points and seven rebounds though and Ven-Allen Lubin had 10 points and nine boards. Auburn’s Johni Broome had 23 points and 19 rebounds though and, as Mason Plumlee might say, that’s a man’s game.
Still, Auburn handled UNC. The Tar Heels were never a particular threat. IC Meltdown is going to be fun.
Ian Schieffelin nearly pulled a triple double with 18 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists to lead Clemson past Penn State.
Brad Brownell is a heck of a talent developer and Chauncey Wiggins might be his latest to emerge: he had 14 points including 2-4 for threes. Chase Hunter had 17 points, four boards and five assists.
There’s not a lot to say about FSU’s win over Western Carolina except for this: these games were no sure thing the last two years. The ‘Noles are back to winning the games they should win. Can it last? We’ll see. They’re 7-1 and bound to be feeling optimistic.
ESPN calls Stanford “previously undefeated” but come on, man...the Trees have played a bunch of nobodies. How bad is it? So bad that their best win is over a late-career Herb Sendek team.
Not at all surprised that Grand Canyon took Stanford down. Former Blue Devil Jaylen Blakes continues to play well with 22 points, six rebounds and five assists and Maxime Raynaud had 29 points and 11 boards. Nobody shot particularly well though, including Blakes, who shot just 6-15 overall and 1-4 from deep.
the post-Bennett era isn’t going too well at Ol’ Virginny: the Cavs have weak wins over Campbell, Coppin State and a depressed Villanova, and bad losses to Tennessee and St. John’s. A win over Manhattan broke the two-game losing streak but it wasn't a smashing success. It was a win, sure, but it wasn’t like UVA dominated the Jaspers.
A bit of interesting news: Former Blue Devil TJ Power was removed from the starting lineup and only got seven minutes. He scored just three points which is kind of standard now: he scored three against Campbell, Coppin State, St. John’s and now Manhattan.
Here’s what you need to know about California Baptist: it’s their first year in D-I and there’s no indication that they’re going to cause any fuss at all. And it was a two-point win for SMU.
Boopie Miller hit a basket with 2.1 left to give SMU the win. It’s not exactly a moment of glory though.
A couple of local ACC notes: on Monday, UNC football coach Mack Brown allowed as how he planned to return next season. On Tuesday, his boss, UNC AD Bubba Cunningham said someone else would be prowling the sidelines of Mass Murderer Stadium next season. Brown’s fate was probably sealed when UNC gave up 70 points to James Madison - at home.
And if you ever read Peter Golenbock’s awful book Personal Fouls, that ended Jim Valvano’s NC State program, you may remember Quentin Jackson. The former Wolfpack point guard’s personality came through loud and clear, and in particular his talent for needling teammates. It worked on the late Charles Shackleford, but Shack had a comeback that apparently could shut Jackson down: he’d say “shut up, Helmet Head.”
In a strange way, that’s totally awesome.
Well, Helmet Head - er, Jackson - has been up to no good: also a former NC State assistant, was found guilty last January of “a bank fraud and wire fraud scheme that totaled nearly $300,000 in fraudulent Paycheck Protection Act (PPP) COVID-19 loans,” according to WRAL.
One his co-conspirators is looking at up to 30 years in prison. No word yet on Jackson’s fate, but let’s hope no one in the Big House calls him Helmet Head.
Wednesday’s ACC Action sees Louisville play Indiana, Virginia Tech gets South Carolina, Cornell gets another chance to irritate Syracuse, Charleston Southern ventures west to take on Georgia Tech, UNC plays Michigan State in Hawaii, SMU faces Washington State and Cal plays Mercyhurst.
Who the hell is Mercyhurst? Oh, wait - it’s a first-year D-I team. Got it. In the Cal Classic. Got it. With Air Force and Sacramento State. Yep. That’s pretty classic, alright.
Wednesday’s ACC Action
