The ACC-Big Ten Challenge ended badly for the ACC as we thought it might. However we thought UNC and Virginia would likely win.
Here are Wednesday’s finals:
- Maryland 72 Notre Dame 51
- Purdue 69 Virginia 40
- Ohio State 74 UNC 49
- Penn State 76 Wake Forest 54
- Georgia Tech 73 Nebraska 56
- NC State 69 Wisconsin 54
We spotted early on that Cole Anthony was being asked to do too much offensively and he needed help.
He didn’t get it against Ohio State.
Other than Anthony’s 15, UNC only scored 34 points.
At home!
Now in fairness Armando Bacot only played seven minutes before being injured, but still. This may be the least gifted UNC team we’ve seen since Matt Doherty was busy ruining the program. It’s hard to fathom that they’re this bad right now.
But let’s just go down the list.
We didn't think it was possible for Purdue to really whip Virginia but whip they did. It was the worst loss UVA took since the legendary UMBC upset.
Still, 29 points? The nation’s greatest defensive program lost by 29? We’re sure Purdue was still pissed about last March but good God. Virginia didn’t even match Carsen Edwards’ output (42) from that Elite Eight matchup.
Three point shooting goes a long ways towards explaining the outcome: Purdue scored 27 on threes, Virginia had nine.
Penn State beat Wake Forest 76-54 but it wasn’t that close. Penn State had a 30 point lead at least twice. The less said the kinder.
Notre Dame got hammered too. Mike Brey said “[t]hat was varsity versus the JV tonight. We were the JV. The varsity toyed with us tonight. Hopefully we can rebound because we have a league game on Saturday, but I’m really impressed with them. The sky’s the limit for them.”
Despite being manhandled by Maryland, Notre Dame did have one solid performance: John Mooney had 17 points and 12 boards. However, guards TJ Gibbs and Rex Pflueger were shut out.
On the bright side, Georgia Tech and NC State both won.
Tech won without point guard Jose Alvarado which is encouraging. Michael DeVoe had 26. Moses Wright had 18 points and nine boards and three blocks. You have to embrace the ride to be a modern Tech fan but it’s starting to look like the highs might finally even out the lows.
We’ll admit we haven’t paid a lot of attention to State’s Jericole Hellems and apparently Wisconsin hasn’t either. Well it’s time.
Holmes had 23 against the Badgers and he was efficient too, hitting 8-13 overall and 4-6 from deep.
State looked like a very promising team Wednesday and by the way the Pack outscored UNC by 20 and Virginia by 29. The game was close until halftime but in the second, State pulled away.
State fans went after Wisconsin’s Brad Davison consistently. Why? Because he’s a master flopper and it cost State a chance to beat Wisconsin last year.
There’s a new rule this year which some suspect Davison may have inspired.
Didn’t much matter. State played well and now has a big man or two and a more full team than Kevin Keatts has had so far in Raleigh. This should be fun to watch.
The takeaway from the Challenge for ACC teams? Man, are offenses depleted.
Virginia managed just 40, UNC a mere 49, Notre Dame 51, Wake Forest and Syracuse 54, Louisville 58, Clemson 60 and FSU and BC 64.
NC State got to 69, Pitt to 71 and Duke to 87.
The most haunting situations are at Syracuse and UNC though. Syracuse used to be a great power. It’s hard to argue that it is now. That’s a decaying program.
UNC’s offense is probably just down for a year but it is unquestionably down. The Tar Heels haven’t hit 80 points all season, not even against Wilmington or Gardner-Webb. No free biscuits anytime soon. If you can’t make 80, 100 is probably completely out of reach.
And one other interesting development: As we’ve noted, Roy Williams is closing in on Dean Smith’s all-time win record though virtually no one is talking about this.
He still is, but it may take a bit longer. Smith racked up 879 while Williams is now at 877.
UNC will face Virginia on Sunday which could be a fascinating game (4:00/ACCN) and which might not top 75 points total.
Next would be Wofford which should be a win. And then it’s Gonzaga.
Ol’ Roy might not get ‘er done until after New Year’s but we’ll see. Even if he’s delayed, it’s coming.
And it just occurred to us why no one is talking about it: because he’s going to move past Dean’s win total and NCAA championship total.
Until he does you could argue that Smith was a better coach. After? Not necessarily (but he was).
A piece of Chapel Hill iconography is about to be replaced and not everyone is going to be happy about it.
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