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ACC Roundup - A Not So Great Friday

With some exceptions

By JD King
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Monmouth v Virginia
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - NOVEMBER 11: Jayden Gardner #1 of the Virginia Cavaliers shoots past Myles Foster #5 of the Monmouth Hawks in the second half during a game at John Paul Jones Arena on November 11, 2022 in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Photo by Ryan M. Kelly/Getty Images

There’s a lot of basketball to be played yet but the ACC didn't exactly tear it up Friday night.

Only Duke and Virginia had big wins.

Virginia beat Monmouth 89-42 and did so in a dominant fashion. Monmouth shot just 39 percent overall and had 21 turnovers.

Virginia’s leading scorers were all newcomers playing off the bench: Freshman Isaac McKneely had 15, fellow freshman Ryan Dunn finished with 13 and transfer Bennett Vander Plas had 10,

UNC took out Charleston 102-86 but Charleston led for much of the game, with the Tar Heels not pulling away until the last nine minutes. We’re not sure how or why yet, but Charleston kept Armando Bacot nearly irrelevant in the first half. He made up for it later, finishing with 28, but just six rebounds.

Leaky Black came through big with 15 points on 6-6 from the floor. RJ Davis had a quiet but effective night with 11 points on 4-8 from the floor.

Pete Nance was brought in to replace Brady Manek, but so far he’s a step down. He got six against UNC-W (1-3/0-1) and seven against Charleston (2-5/0-2).

It’s still early so reserve judgment on Nance.

Hubert Davis doesn’t use his reserves as freely as Roy Williams did: Seth Trimble got 11 minutes, Tyler Nickel got eight, and both freshmen played more than sophomores D’Marco Dunn (eight) and Dontrez Styles (four).

Wake Forest handled Georgia without too much trouble, winning by 10 but they controlled the game thoroughly. Georgia just came back in garbage time.

Daivien Williamson had 24 and transfer Tyree Appleby, who played for Georgia coach Mike White, had 22.

That’s looking like a pretty solid backcourt and Williamson, for one, is pleased: “I talked about that this summer and it’s so much fun to play alongside a guy like that who can handle the ball. He puts me into positions to score a lot and he’s always telling me to be ready to shoot. When you have a guy like that it instills a lot of confidence.”

That’s about it for the impressive wins, though NC State beat Campbell 73-67, Miami took care of UNC-G, sort of, 73-67 and BC knocked off Detroit Mercy, 70-66.

The Eagles showed some heart, coming back late with a 7-0 run after getting a tough challenge from the Titans, who still have Antoine Davis. He didn’t have a huge game against BC, with just 15, but his team was in position to win. BC just showed more heart.

On the downside, Pitt lost to West Virginia, 81-56, Florida State lost to Johnny Dawkins and Central Florida 68-54 and Clemson lost to South Carolina 60-58.

Pitt just didn't play well enough to win, letting the Mountaineers shoot 53 percent and coughing up 19 turnovers. They are without the injured John Hugley, but even so, that’s not a good loss.

Central Florida was in control of the game from midway through the first half and just basically cruised.

We’re not used to saying stuff like that about Leonard Hamilton teams, but now 0-2, they’re clearly struggling.

Good news for the ‘Noles: Caleb Mills is back.

Bad news: Hamilton only went seven deep, basically, and Naheem McLeod started but only got six minutes.

Clemson had the most painful loss of the day, losing to hated in-state rival South Carolina 70-68, on a last-second buzzer beater by Chico Carter Jr.

However, there is very good news for Clemson: PJ Hall is back and scored 15 in 22 minutes. They would be in for a long season without him; with him, they could be pretty challenging.

Two games on Saturday as Wright State visits poor Louisville and Georgia Tech hosts Georgia State.

Both ACC teams could easily lose and Georgia Tech is playing on the road.

Saturday’s ACC Action

  • Wright State @ Louisville || 1:00 pm || ESPN/ACCNX
  • Georgia Tech @ Georgia State || 7:00 pm || ESPN+

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