Keep an eye on Wake too.
In Tuesday’s ACC Action, UNC plays Florida in Charlotte in the Jumpman Invitational, #25 Clemson has a grudge match with the Gamecocks in Columbia, Winthrop visits Florida State, James Madison buses down to Wake Forest and the young men of Merrimack go west to challenge Jaylen Blakes and Stanford.
Both Florida and UNC have had solid production from their backcourts but the Tar Heels have not shot the three very well, Seth Trimble excepted. Transfer Cade Tyson was supposed to help but he hadn’t been very productive prior to Saturday’s win over LaSalle.
The front court has been a real problem as Hubert Davis has struggled to replace Armando Bacot. UNC started Ven-Allen Lubin Saturday as Jalen Washington got just eight minutes and only three points and Jae’Lyn Withers played just 12. James Brown, who was hotly recruited, played just five minutes.
We don't know much about Florida’s bigs, but we do know this: they have quite a few. The Gators are also undefeated, by the way.
Clemson and South Carolina is a rivalry that goes back to the Southern Conference days and survived South Carolina’s departure from the ACC in 1971. We’d expect Clemson to finish the season with a much better record than the Gamecocks but it’s a rivalry game and therefore unpredictable.
Winthrop is a modest opponent for Florida State, but winning here would put the ‘Noles at 9-3. Keep in mind that FSU had several starters out this weekend with an apparent illness. Depth could be a factor here.
Wake should beat James Madison, which lost promising coach Mark Byington to Vanderbilt. Preston Spradlin took over and that guy was impressive at Morehead State. So we’d keep an eye on this one.
Finally Merrimack is off to Stanford. Could the Warriors pull off an upset? Seems unlikely.
It’s not that Stanford is that great. They’re not atrocious but certainly not great. However, they have a solid big man in Maxime Raynaud, who is putting up 22.1 ppg, 11.3 rebounds and a block. He’s a pain.
And Duke transfer Blakes is getting 16.3 points, 3.5 boards, 5.5 assists and 2.2 steals. He’s not shooting that well from deep - 25 percent - but 48 percent overall. If he keeps this up, he’s going to have an All-ACC argument, which is pretty cool.
Tuesday’s ACC Action
