ACC Roundup - Irish Nip Panthers & NC State Stuff Returns

Tough loss for Pitt Wednesday as the Panthers had a lead late but couldn’t hold it, falling to Notre Dame 68-67.

Prentiss Hubb hit a fadeaway J with seven seconds left but if Femi Odukale hadn’t missed a late free throw it might have gone into overtime.

Jon Hugley had 18 points and six boards while Notre Dame’s Nate Laszewski’s fade continues: he scored just five, had six boards and nearly fouled out.

The Irish are heating up with three straight wins, including one over Kentucky, and if Duke actually makes it to South Bend this weekend, Notre Dame should have a real shot at an upset.

NC State stuff never seems to stop: three hours before game time in the Holiday Bowl, UCLA pulled out, citing, of course, Covid. And State was livid. Check out Dave Doeren, the 21st century version of Stormin’ Norman Sloan: “Felt lied to, to be honest. We felt like UCLA probably knew something was going on, didn’t tell anybody on our side. We had no clue they were up against that. I don’t feel like it was very well handled from their university. It would have been great to have had a heads-up so two or three days ago we could have found a Plan B. Disappointing.”

So lots of anger. Apparently they’re hoping to find a replacement but it’s kind of late. Even mild-mannered beat reporter David Thompson was frustrated, tweeting this: “God, I’m so tired of all this sh*t. I think I speak for all media when I say I just want to do my damn job and cover live sports.”

• Panthers come apart late defensively in 68-67 loss to Notre Dame
• Notre Dame sinks shot in final seconds as Pitt drops ACC opener
• Pitt basketball | Panthers suffer third one-point loss of season
• Holiday Bowl canceled hours before kickoff, robbing NC State of postseason success (again)
• COVID issues with UCLA’s football team forces Holiday Bowl to cancel NC State’s game
• UCLA bowed out of Holiday Bowl hours before kickoff due to COVID issues