ACC Roundup - Longhorns Clip Heels At The Buzzer
Most likely growing pains but still a shout back to last season
In Wednesday night’s ACC action, Florida State took out North Florida 86-58, Clemson crushed South Carolina State 75-38 and UNC fell to Texas 69-67.
In this game, the young Tar Heels learned what Duke learned from Michigan State, or at least both teams should learn: you can’t let up and you can’t back down.
We don’t mean to knock RJ Davis. He’s 18, more or less, and he’s still a baby basketball-wise. He’s starting, he played 33 minutes, and he scored 11 points - which is 11 more than most of us will ever score in a college game.
But when the game was on the line, Davis played weak defense and Longhorn Matt Coleman took full advantage, abusing UNC’s freshman star to hit the game winner.
For UNC’s frosh guards, it’s been a brutal baptism. They’re talented though so at some point it’s going to click.
Like at Duke though, it may take a bit.
Florida State has taken a while to get going - this is just Game 1 - but Scottie Barnes is going to be a factor. He’s a prototypical positionless player. You can see a nice play here and also note that he finished with six rebounds, six assists and eight points which doesn’t sound like a lot but keep in mind that his greatest gift is supposed to be defense.
He was a bit erratic in this game but consider yourself on notice: the guy is going to be good. Florida State forced 24 turnovers and we’d bet he played a role in that. He has the potential to be truly special.
Clemson is 3-0 with the easy win over South Carolina State. Hunter Tyson had a nice game with 13 points and six boards.
Aamir Simms, who got some support for pre-season ACC Player of the Year, scored eight points in this game but that’s better than the four he managed against Mississippi State before fouling out in eight minutes. The good news?
Clemson won without him.
They’ll need more from him going forward.
Four games are on tap for Thursday with NC State playing UMass Lowell in the Mohegan bubble, VMI visiting the Hokies in Cassell, Syracuse hosting Greg Paulus’ Niagara team and BC joining the Pack in the Mohegan bubble with the night cap against Florida.
Small thought: Paulus is keenly aware of Jim Boeheim’s system. Not only did he grow up in the area, he spent his grad year playing quarterback for the Orange. He knows what the weaknesses are and he has a good idea of how to attack them. Does he have the players to do it? We’ll see.
Also it wouldn’t shock us if BC knocked off Florida.
Wednesday’s Results
- Texas 69 UNC 67
- Florida State 86 North Florida 58
- Clemson 75 South Carolina State 38
Thursday’s Games
- NC State vs. UMass Lowell || 4:30 || ESPNU
- VMI vs. Virginia Tech || 8:00 || ACCN
- Niagara vs. Syracuse || 8:00 || ACCNX
- Florida vs. BC || 9:30 || ESPN
- No. 22 FSU basketball opens season with win over North Florida
- Florida State Basketball pulls away for easy season-opening win
- Clemson Rolls South Carolina State 75-38 in Home Opener
- Florida State men’s basketball gets its first victory of the season
- Notre Dame’s Home Opener Delayed Again After Saturday’s Game Canceled
- Analysis: UNC growing pains are tougher than expected for Tar Heels’ freshman backcourt
- No ‘Maui’ title for UNC, but a step in the right direction — and away from last season
- Heartbreaker! Texas sinks UNC in Maui Invitational championship on Matt Coleman’s shot
- No. 17 Texas 69, No. 14 North Carolina 67: Matt Coleman ices Tar Heels to win Maui Invitational