ACC Basketball News & Notes: Holiday Break Before League Play

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It is not unusual for teams to take some time off at this time of the year. With final exams and the holidays here, coaches and players need a bit of a breather before the real season, league play begins. The ACC has some teams playing through and some taking some time to enjoy this time of the year. Everyone knows that once Christmas is over, it will be time to get back after it. Here is some news as the Christmas holiday approaches.

The league has increased by one the number of teams that appear in the Associated Press Top-25 poll. Virginia is at #2, Duke is at #12, Virginia Tech at #24, and Miami joins in at #25. Virginia is one of only seven teams across the country that is still unbeaten as the holidays approach. ACC big men are dominating the rebounding stats earlier in the year. Three players, Jesse Edwards of Syracuse (third with 114), and Kyle Filipowskii of Duke are tied with Miami Norchad Omier (fourth with 110) in the top 5 in the country in taking care of the backboards. The league also has 10 of the 50 candidates that are on the Wooden Award Watch List. That leads all of college basketball. Duke and North Carolina are tied with Kentucky for the most players on the list at three. The next closest conference to the ACC has seven on the watch list.

The big game on the schedule takes place on Saturday, as #5 Houston heads to #2 Virginia. The Cavaliers (8-0,0-1) are finishing up a 10-day break for final exams. This will be the biggest non-conference test of the year for Virginia. They do own two wins over teams ranked in the top 20 in Baylor and Illinois.

As always, when you talk about a Virginia team you start with defense. The Cavaliers are number one in scoring defense at 57.88 points a game, second in scoring margin at +14.25, second in field goal percentage defense at .394, second in rebounding defense at 31.25 a night, and second in blocked shots with .42 in eight games (5.25). It has been a trademark of a Tony Bennett team that to beat Virginia you must score the basketball.

Speaking of defense, that’s exactly what Virginia Tech did last Sunday in their game vs Oklahoma State. The Hokies (10-1, 1-0) forced 17 turnovers, the most since Louisville turned the ball over 18 times in a game back on March 1, 2022. Tech also recorded 11 steals in the game, which is a team-high for this season. The Hokies are third in turnovers margin at +2.91 (96 in 11G). They are the best in assist to turnovers ratio at 1.65 (158 assists to 96 turnovers) and they shoot the ball very well too, leading the league in field goal percentage through 11 games .486 (319-for-656).

North Carolina State’s sophomore guard Terquavion Smith has been an assists machine for the Wolfpack (8-3, 0-2). He has led the team in assists for 10 straight games. He leads the conference in assists at 5.5 per game. In 11 games to date, Smith has 51 dimes. In 32 games a year ago for State, he had 67 assists. The Wolfpack lead the league in scoring offense at 81 points a night, and in steals with 103 in 11 games for an average of 9.36 a contest. They are second in turnover margin at +3.27. Jack Clark leads the league in steals with 23 in 11 games for an average of 2.09 a night.

The Syracuse Orangemen (6-4, 0-1) have started to play better hoops of late. They have won three straight thanks to the play of Edwards who has averaged 20 points, and 10 rebounds during the winning streak. They are also playing better team defense during the streak limiting their opponents to 64.7 points in the three-game span. They are number one in field goal percentage defense at .393 (245-of-624), and number one in blocked shots at 53 in 10 games (5.30). Edwards is the top shot blocker in the league with 27 in 10 games (2.70).

The ACC Player of the Week is Miami guard Isaiah Wong. In a 2-0 week for the Hurricanes, Wong went for 29 points, six rebounds, and seven assists. In the win over Cornell, Wong scored a career-high 36 points, which is the most by a power conference player this year. The ACC Rookie of the Week is Orangemen guard Judah Mintz. In a 2-0 week for Syracuse, Mintz averaged 13 points, three steals, and seven and a half assists in wins over Oakland and Georgetown.

That’s what the league had to offer this week. Next week we will be back with more from the ACC.