ACC Roundup - Pitt, FSU Show Heart And Effort & Miami’s Slide Continues
As themes start to fall into place for the ACC season.
In Sunday’s ACC Action, Pitt fell to Wisconsin 81-75, Miami lost to VCU 77-70, FSU clocked UMass 92-59, Cal handled Sacramento State 83-77 and Boston College smoked Old Dominion 82-52.
There have been some bad losses in the ACC early but Pitt was credible against #19 Wisconsin. John Tonje, who hit for 41 against Arizona the other night, had 33 against Pitt, including 25 in the second half. He keeps that up he’s going to get All-American talk soon.
One bad development for Pitt: Damian Dunn went out two minutes into the game with an ankle injury. He didn't come back. It was a tough loss for Pitt, but the Panthers fought the entire game and nearly overcame losing Dunn. As long as he’s okay, on balance it could be a long-term positive.
You can’t say that about Miami’s weekend: the ‘Canes went 0-3 in the Charleston Classic, losing to Drake, Oklahoma State and now VCU.
Jim Larranaga has done a great job with Miami but the Hurricanes have issues this year and they’re not going away anytime soon. The defense is an issue, so is rebounding and offense, which is Larranaga’s strong point, is really bad.
Look, VCU is a solid team but Miami should have been more competitive. We’re not sure why Matthew Cleveland only played 11 minutes and scored just two points, but unless he’s injured, he’s better than that.
Jalil Bethea got 19 minutes, which is better, but this is a game he could have taken off in. Didn’t happen.
And after Charleston Southern, the schedule takes a brutal turn with Arkansas, Clemson and Tennessee one after the other.
FSU clobbered UMass to move to 6-1, which is a nice change from the last couple of seasons. Still, UMass, just 1-5, isn’t much of a test.
Malique Ewin paced the ‘Noles with 17 points and seven rebounds. Jamir Watkins had 14.
It’s a similar story for Cal. The Bears are now 5-1 but have played no one of consequence. There’s really not much to learn from Sacramento State, other than this game should not have been this close.
Okay, that’s not entirely true: Jovan Blacksher Jr., DJ Campbell and BJ Omot all are still out and losing three starters would hurt anyone. So we did learn a bit about Cal’s heart.
Andrej Stojakovic led the way with 20 points. Freshman Jeremiah Wilkinson played well again, coming off the bench for 16 points.
Cal beat ODU in the first round of the Cayman Islands Classic Sunday and the good news there is that Donald Hand continues to get his game back. You’ll recall that he injured himself and sat out most of his freshman year. So far he’s averaging 17.8 ppg and against ODU, he put up 12 points, 10 boards and four assists.
Feast Week starts off with Michigan taking on Virginia Tech, Clemson playing San Francisco, BC dealing with Missouri State and UNC playing Dayton out in Hawaii.
Monday’s ACC Action
- Michigan vs. Virginia Tech || 6:00 || FS1
- Clemson vs. San Francisco || 6:30 || CBSSN
- Missouri State vs. Boston College || 7:30 || Nope
- Dayton vs. UNC || 11:30 || ESPN2
- 3 quick takeaways from the Badgers 81-75 win over Pitt: John Tonje’s takeover propels comeback
- John Tonje shows he is one of best transfers with 33 points in Wisconsin’s win over Pitt
- Pitt suffers 1st loss, falling to undefeated No. 19 Wisconsin in Greenbrier Tipoff
- 3 quick takeaways from the Badgers 81-75 win over Pitt: John Tonje’s takeover propels comeback
- Pitt men’s basketball drops first game of season, falls to No. 19 Wisconsin
- Miami finishes abysmal Charleston Classic performance losing to VCU
- Miami Basketball: Canes lose third straight to VCU, 77-70
- Florida State routs UMass men’s basketball at Mohegan Sun
- UMass suffers brutal defeat to Florida State
- Sluggishness leads to decisive loss for UMass against Florida State
- UMass basketball: Minutemen dominated by Florida State at Mohegan Sun for 5th straight loss
- Florida State continues torrid star with rout of UMass
- Cal Withstands Sacramento State
- Cal staves off Sacramento State for third straight win
- Still Far From a Polished Team, Cal Tops Sac State, Improves to 5-1