ACC Roundup

UNC clobbered Robert Morris, 103-59, and it was a pretty thorough beat-down. The Heels outrebounded the Colonials 49-31 and had 20 offensive boards.

UNC made 36 baskets and had 29 assists. Robert Morris had 18 turnovers and shot just 36% for the game.

After the game, Roy Williams said that this team might become his best offensive rebounding team ever.

Maybe so, but there's a bugaboo still hanging around: UNC was just 4-16 from three-point range. Not surprisingly, three were by Marcus Paige (the other was by Joel Berry).

Kennedy Meeks had 21 points and 12 boards; Brice Johnson finished with 23 points and eight boards. They combined to shoot 16-22. Toss in freshman Justin Jackson who shot 6-10 and the frontline finished 22-32.

Playing without Durand Johnson (suspended for the year) and Cameron Wright (injured), Pitt struggled briefly with Samford before a modest 63-56 win. The Panthers put together an 18-3 run in the first half to get some distance but never more than nine points.

Samford, incidentally, has eight freshmen and was picked last in the Southern Conference. Still  outrebounded Pitt 33-31.

Next up is a trip to Hawaii with some powerhouse teams. But if they don't play better, they might struggle with Hawaii or Chaminade first.

Notre Dame blew Navy out of the water behind a great all-around game by Jerami Grant: he had 17 points, five boards and 10 assists.

It's pretty early, but Zach Auguste is averaging 19.5 ppg.

Notre Dame's boxcore reveals an oddity: the Irish start four guards and one forward; on the bench Mike Brey has seven forwards and one guard.

Syracuse played Hampton, and while Hampton is not normally on the same level as the 'Cuse, that's a school with basketball tradition.

The score was 48-42 with a shade under eight minutes left - not good.

But also an opportunity to build, and Syracuse did, running off 10 straight points.

Next up for Syracuse is new-look Cal with new coach Cuonzo Martin. A Gene Keady/Purdue product, Martin prefers a tough, physical game. Jim Boeheim can be reasonably sure that his team will get a punch in the mouth.

Virginia clobbered Norfolk, no great surprise. Check this out though: in the first two games, the 'Hoos are just killing it from behind the line: try 15-28, or 53.5%.

Justin Anderson is 7-10 to date.

Not that coach Tony Bennett wants too much of that, telling the Charlottesville Daily Progress that “It would be a mistake if we fell in love with the 3-point shot. With good basketball, the ball has to rotate. The ball has to touch the paint off the dribble, off the post-up. I think that is a strength of ours. Guys do fall in love with [3’s], that’s for sure, but you need to be mindful of it.”

Not surprisingly, BC got the first loss of the ACC's young season, losing to UMass, 71-62.

BC led at the half but UMass had a 21-5 run to go up eight.

The Eagles were whistled for 31 fouls, had 18 turnovers and shot just 35.1%. On the bright side, BC had 43 rebounds.