ACC Roundup - The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

In Thursday’s ACC Action, UNC nipped Portland 89-81, NC State popped Dayton 76-64 and Florida State fell to Siena 80-63.

Fair question: what’s up with UNC?

The Tar Heels are still ranked #1 and undefeated but they aren’t playing like the #1 team. Far from it.

Everyone other than JMU has given them a game so far and the schedule, frankly, has been weak. Armando Bacot is all over the place. He got just six shots in this one, which is bizarre. Why?

Pete Nance got 28 which was great, but UNC got 86 of 89 points from the starters. The bench got one rebound total.

It’s very strange and Hubert Davis is starting to repeat his first-semester concerns from last year, saying that “I want us to consistently compete and for the first five games, it’s been there for half, it’s been there for moments, but it hasn’t been there for a full 40 minutes on both ends of the floor.”

How ‘bout them Wuffies? After giving Kansas a tough game in the Battle 4 Atlantis, NC State had a chance to do something good against Dayton and delivered.

Dayton is one of those schools that is just, at its heart, a basketball school and the last few years have been really good. Both Archie Miller and Anthony Grant have done excellent jobs there and Dayton jumped out to a 19-9 lead.

But State fought back and broke the game open in the second half with a 17-0 run. State also got 22 points off of turnovers.

Jarkel Joiner had 27 to pace the Pack.

Here’s a suggestion for Leonard Hamilton and the Tallahassee bulletin board business: Thank God For Louisville.

Remember Andrew Platek? He could barely get on the floor for UNC and now at Siena, he’s a sixth year player.

He killed FSU. Platek shot 7-9 and 5-6 on threes for 20 points.

Siena started to pull away about 10 minutes in and just cruised. So as odd as UNC’s situation is, even knowing Team Hammy’s injury issues...what the heck? They weren't. Even. Competitive.

UNC was bad, but they were competitive, at least at the end. They showed heart. FSU is not showing much right now.

Friday is another busy day. Florida State has another chance to fall apart, this time against Stanford, St. Bonny’s gets a shot at Notre Dame, UNC will probably get a tougher opponent in Iowa State, fresh off a win over Villanova, UVA gets a breather against Maryland Eastern-Shore, Clemson sees Iowa in the Emerald Coast Classic, Pitt hosts William & Mary, Charleston Southern heads up to play Virginia Tech and Butler -and former Wolfpack big man Manny Bates - await NC State.

Friday’s ACC Actiion

• FSU vs. Stanford || 1:30 || ESPNN
• Duke vs. Xavier || 3:30 || ESPN
• St. Bonaventure vs. Notre Dame || 4:00 || ESPN+
• UNC vs. Iowa State || 5:30 || ESPN
• Iowa vs. Clemson || 7:00 PM || CBSSN
• W&M vs. PItt || 7:00 || ESPN+/ACCNX
• Charleston So. vs. Virginia Tech || 8:00 PM || ACCN

• UNC basketball escapes with 89-81 win over Portland at Phil Knight Invitational
• Hubert Davis on Puff Johnson’s return
• No. 1 North Carolina pulls away from Portland late, 89-81
• Joiner, NC State run past Dayton in Battle 4 Atlantis
• ANALYSIS: Five takeaways from Dayton’s loss to N.C. State
• Kevin Keatts: “That’s Some Good Basketball”
• Joiner, big second-half run propel NC State men’s basketball past Dayton
• Jarkel Joiner leads NC State past Dayton, 76-64
• Joiner, NC State run past Dayton in Battle 4 Atlantis
• Battle 4 Atlantis: Dayton falls to N.C. State
• FSU Dominated by Siena in Opening Round of ESPN Invitational
• FSU men beaten by Siena, women drop 1st game of season in OT to Oklahoma State
• Siena gives FSU taste of high energy in ESPN tourney opener