As the Panthers are now 7-1 and increasingly confident
In Friday’s ACC Action, Dartmouth surprised BC 88-83, Wake Forest took Minnesota 57-51, Pitt slipped by Ohio State in overtime, 91-90, NC State lost to BYU 72-61, Virginia beat Holy Cross 67-41, Louisville fell to Oklahoma 69-64 and Clemson walloped 86-58.
Dartmouth may have been a classic trap game for BC after coming back from the Caymans after playing four games in six days.
Dartmouth hit 17-31 on threes and BC had no counter. Only Joshua Beadle hit more than one three (two in his car). The Eagles did get to the line 27 times, hitting 20, but it wasn’t enough. Tired legs, tough night.
Here’s something we wouldn't have expected: Wake won despite Hunter Sallis shooting 1-11 and scoring just four points. The Deacons hit just 1-15 behind the line (6.7 percent) and Minnesota wasn’t a whole lot better. It was an ugly game, but winning ugly games shows something. Tre’Von Spillers and Cameron Hildreth carried the team but Efton Reid also had 10 points and eight rebounds.
Pitt had a thriller with Ohio State. Down 12 in the second half, the Panthers came back and won in overtime on a buzzer beating three by Zack Austin off a smart pass by Jalen Lowe. We could be wrong, but Pitt is building towards something good.
Ohio State shot nearly 70 percent in the first half!
Good news for the Panthers: Papa Kante is finally a factor: he had 12 points and four rebounds.
With the win, Pitt is now 7-1.
BYU took it to NC State, zoning the Pack and forcing them to shoot outside, which they couldn’t. This sums it up: senior starters Dontrez Styles and Brandon Huntley-Hatfield shot 3-13 and managed just six points. State shot just 37 percent for the game.
Former Duke forward TJ Power came off the bench again for Virginia but didn't score in 14 minutes. He did have three rebounds and two assists though.
Most of Virginia’s scoring came from guards Andrew Rohde (13), Dai Dai Ames (16) and Isaac McKneely (13). Are the offensive problems fixed? We’ll see: Florida is up next.
Louisville lost to Oklahoma in the Battle4Atlantis championship, but keep it in perspective: Louisville, after two disastrous years, sniffed a championship. That’s huge progress.
The Cards hammered Oklahoma on the boards, 44-23, including a massive 21-4 advantage in offensive boards. Wow!
But OU made it up at the foul line, getting a 10-point advantage.
Still, this is great progress for a program that was flat on its back last spring. Chucky Hepburn had another solid game with 12 points, eight rebounds, four assists and three steals.
Bad news: Kasean Pryor suffered an apparent knee injury.
Clemson had no trouble with Florida A&M, which is good, but then again it’s 1-5 FAMU.
Chase Hunter had 16 and Chauncey Wiggins chipped in 15 to pace the Tigers. Ian Schieffelin was a bit off with just five points but he did rack up 15 boards. Jaeden Zackery had 13 while Viktor Lahkin got 12.
Duke transfer Christian Reeves got six points in seven minutes. He also had three boards and an assist.
There’s a familiar name on FAMU’s roster: Shakir O’ Neal. Yes, his dad is named Shaquille.
Shaqir is a bit more mortal: he had 10 points in 22 minutes. He’s also a good bit smaller thanks massive dad at 6-8 and just 200 lbs.
Four games on Saturday as Notre Dame continues a rugged stretch, this time playing #21 Creighton.
One last note: we usually don’t do football here but Georgia Tech and Georgia played an eight overtime classic Friday, with Georgia winning 44-42. Wow!
Saturday’s ACC Action
