ACC Roundup - UNC, Georgia Tech Pick Up Wins

In Wednesday’s ACC Action, Clemson fell at Georgia Tech 83-65 and UNC got past Wake Forest 80-73.

We thought that Wake Forest would compete but we also thought that UNC’s big guys would kill them inside.

Well not quite, at least not in the first half. It took awhile.

Wake held its own on the boards, with UNC getting 38 total to Wake’s 36 and each team grabbing 10 offensive boards.

What did surprise us was who cleaned up. For UNC it was Caleb Love with 20 points; for Wake Forest, both Isaiah Mucius and Daivien Williamson had 27.

Williamson, a transfer who followed Steve Forbes from ETSU, has only played nine games at Wake Forest and only scored in double digits four times previously.

And Mucius has had some good games but 7-12 on threes? Didn’t see that coming.

UNC heated up in the second half though and Wake Forest couldn’t keep up. Bacot had 14 after the break and his success helped open up things up for others, including Love, who had 12 second-half points.

Bacot finished with 18 points and six boards. Garrison Brooks had 10 points and seven boards.

Wake Forest, in many ways, is the most impressive team in the conference. Certainly not by wins, but by how much they’ve improved and we think they’re coming as close to reaching their (limited) potential as anyone in the ACC. It would be unorthodox, but there’s an argument for Steve Forbes to be ACC Coach of the Year.

We thought Clemson would be much better than they were against Georgia Tech, especially after getting crushed by Virginia.

Nope.

They got crushed again by the Yellow Jackets. And while Brad Brownell said after the Virginia game that Clemson’s Covid pause had a bad effect, they can’t use that this time since Tech had their own.

On the bright side it was a game for about seven minutes.

Clemson just got killed by turnovers, racking up 20.

And Clemson also couldn't stop Georgia Tech - the Yellow Jackets shot nearly 60 percent, nearly breaking the school record for threes. Michael DeVoe hit all six of hist threes and as a whole, Tech shot better from deep (61.5 percent) than overall (57.4 percent).

Georgia Tech should play Virginia on Saturday and that will be an interesting test.

No games until Saturday when seven games were originally scheduled with Pitt and BC already postponed.

ACC Standings

• Sizzling second half lifts Tar Heels past Wake Forest
• With ACC basketball in flux, Duke and UNC are no longer the league’s elite
• UNC defeats Wake Forest, giving the Demon Deacons their sixth consecutive ACC loss
• Ga Tech routs No. 20 Clemson 83-65; 3 players score 20
• Georgia Tech Routs No. 20 Clemson 83-65
• Georgia Tech 83, No. 20 Clemson 65
• Clemson Basketball Struggles at Georgia Tech
• College basketball: Georgia Tech 83, Clemson 65
• After pause, Georgia Tech lowers boom on No. 20 Clemson