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ACC Roundup - Everyone Wins For A Change

Good night for the league

By JD King
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COLLEGE BASKETBALL: DEC 10 NC State at Miami
 CORAL GABLES, FL - DEC 10: NC State forward DJ Burns, Jr. (30) shoots a jump shot in the second half as the Miami Hurricanes faced the NC State Wolfpack on December 10, 2022, at the Watsco Center in Coral Gables, Florida.
Photo by Samuel Lewis/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

In Tuesday’s ACC Action, Florida State beat South Carolina Upstate 80-63, NC State pounded the Paladins 92-73, Boston College got by Stonehill 63-56 and UNC stormed the Citadel 100-67.

The first thing you should say about games like this - meaning exam/holiday games - is not to take them too seriously.

That said, let’s take a look.

As we’ve noted before, a major difference between Hubert Davis and Ol’ Roy Williams is how Davis uses his bench. He’s pretty skimpy (however, that may mean he has no choice).

In this game though, which was functionally over 10 minutes in, Davis used a lot more players than he typically does. Tyler Nickel, who has played minimally, got 18 minutes and jacked up 10 shots, finishing with 16 points.

Dontrez Styles got 16 minutes. A total of 12 guys got minutes, including, for the first time this season, highly promising Jalen Washington.

The big freshman from Indiana suffered an injury last season and his absence really has hurt UNC as Armando Bacot has no backup. He played for only six minutes but he’s very talented and could be a major factor for UNC in a few weeks.

Break up the ‘Noles!

Florida State moved to 3-9 with a win over South Carolina Upstate.

Like Louisville, FSU has struggled mightily, but unlike the Cardinals, they’re showing signs of life: Florida State has now won two straight and gave both #1 Purdue and #2 Virginia really tough games.

It’s still not an ideal situation for Leonard Hamilton, who likes a deep rotation, but he did get to use eight guys for at least 10 minutes each, so things are moving in a generally positive direction.

FSU held Upstate to 33.3 percent and 25 percent from deep. Still a lot of work to do, but it’s moved from catastrophic to merely bad and struggling.

Tough stretch though with St. John’s, Notre Dame and Duke coming up.

State dispatched the Purple Paladins with ease. Terquavion Smith shot 9-17 for 24 points and Casey Morsell tossed in 17 while Jack Clark added 15.

Trouble patrol: big men DJ Burns, Ernest Ross and Ebenezer Dowuona combined for seven points. They did however get five, two and five rebounds respectively, so that’s not too bad. Dowuona picked up three fouls in eight minutes.

The Pack has some work to do to make up for the loss of Dusan Mahorcic.

Finally, Boston College broke a four-game losing streak, beating Stonehill 63-56. Jaeden Zackery scored 16 and CJ Penha added 15. BC took control early and never really let Stonehill get all that close until the end.

Penha is a limited player athletically, but like Duke’s Ryan Young, knows how to use his body. He’s going to hurt someone this season.

Two games on Wednesday as Appalachian visits Wake Forest in the Joel and Western Kentucky is the latest to take a whack at the the Louisville piñata. A solid basketball program most years, the Hilltoppers go into the Yum! Center at 8-1.

Wednesday’s ACC Action

  • Appalachian State @ Wake Forest || 7:00 || ACCN
  • Western Kentucky @ Louisville || 9:00 || ESPN2

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