ACC Basketball News & Notes: Clemson Tigers on a Roll

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We are not quite at the halfway point of the ACC season, however, the top of the league standings does not have the usual names associated with it. One team, in particular, is the Clemson Tigers who have been on a major role since league play began. They find themselves two games ahead of everyone in the loss column as play gets going on this holiday week. There is a seven-game Gap between the top team Clemson, and the team at the bottom, the Louisville Cardinal. Let’s see why Clemson is at the top.

The Tigers (15-4, 7-1) are off to their best start in 70 seasons of ACC basketball. They are ranked for the first time since Jan.18, 2021, at #19 in the AP Top 25. They are the second team to begin a season at 7-0. The other was the 2020-21 Virginia Cavaliers. Their head coach Brad Brownell recorded his 400th career win last Saturday in the win over then #24 Duke 72-64. In that game, junior center PJ Hall scored a career-high 26 points on 10-of-16 shooting. In the first half, he was the Tigers’ go-to man as he scored 18 of his team’s 30 first-half points. The Tigers have been unbeatable at home this year going 10-0 since the college basketball season started back in November. All of that came to a halt on Tuesday night as Wake Forest handed the Tigers their first league loss of the season.

Clemson is one of three teams that begin the week as a ranked team. Virginia at #10 and Miami at #17 are the other two. Three schools, Duke, North Carolina, and North Carolina State did receive votes. In the NCAA Monday’s Net report, the conference had eight teams that are among the top 60. That could bode well for the league when it’s time to make tournament selections.

North Carolina junior guard RJ Davis has been shooting much better of late from the floor. Heading into Tuesday night’s game at home vs Boston College, Davis was shooting 49.6% from the field in his last 10 games (56-for-113). He struggled in the early season shooting only 38.9% (42-for-108). Davis has also gotten better from behind the arc making 21 of his last 45 3-point shots (46.7%) after beginning the year shooting 26.2% (11-for-42). In the win over the Eagles, Davis was 6-of-13 from the field and 4-of-7 from deep. Davis also knocked down 2-of-2 from the free throw line in the Tar Heels’ 72-64 win that now has them at 13-6, 5-3 in the league.

Speaking of hot shooting, Notre Dame graduate guard Dane Goodwin has been stroking it lately. Since scoring only two points back on December 21 at Florida State, Goodwin has averaged 14.3 points per game in his last six contests. He has scored in double-figures in all six games while shooting 35-of-69, 50.7% in those outings. On Tuesday night at home vs the Seminoles, Goodwin had another double-figure game of 11 points in the Irish (9-10, 1-7) 84-71 loss. He did pull down eight rebounds in the game.

Valuing the basketball is a surefire way to increase your minutes on the floor. North Carolina State (15-4, 5-3) graduate guard Jarkel Joiner is doing just that. He has not committed a turnover in his last four games. His last miscue came back on December 22 vs Louisville with 4:31 left in the game. In his last four games, Joiner has played 143 minutes, averaging 35.8 minutes without a turnover, while passing out 17 assists. Tuesday night the streak came to an end on the road at Georgia Tech (8-10, 1-7). In the 78-66 win vs the Yellow Jackets, Joiner scored 19 points and handed out three assists but also turned the ball over four times.

Florida State’s (6-13, 4-4) sophomore forward Matthew Cleveland has been getting the job done both in scoring and in rebounding. In his last ten games, nine were double-doubles, including eight straight. Cleveland is averaging 16.6 points and 10.8 boards a game. Tuesday night vs the Irish he added to those numbers as he went for 14 points and 16 rebounds all of them on the defensive end. He added five assists and three blocks to his numbers on the night.

Georgia Tech has struggled this year, but one positive has been the bench. They lead the league in bench scoring at 23.2 points a game. They have provided 30 or more points six times this season, and have outscored their opponent’s bench in 11 of 17 games to this point. On Tuesday night, the Yellow Jacket bench could only muster 18 points in the loss at home to NC State.

The ACC Player of the Week is Wake Forest’s junior forward Andrew Carr. Last week he went for 21.5 points, 8.5 rebounds, and 2.5 steals in games vs Florida State and Boston College. Against the Seminoles, he scored a career-high 22 points. In the win at BC, Carr had a double-double of 21 points and 13 boards. Carr got this week off to a good start as he went for another double-double of 18 points and 11 rebounds in the win over the Tigers 87-77.

The Rookie of the Week is Duke’s forward Kyle Filipowski for the fifth time. Last week he averaged 23.5 points and 14.5 boards in games against Pittsburgh and Clemson going for double-doubles in both contests. Against the Panthers, he went for a career-best 28 points and 15 rebounds becoming just the third Blue Devils freshman to have a 28/15 game. Then vs Clemson, he went for 18 points and 14 rebounds. In his last four games, of which three have been on the road, Filipowski is shooting 41.7% from the floor, averaging 18.8 points and 11.5 rebounds. He is on track to be named Rookie of the Year in the ACC.

That’s a look at this week in the ACC. Next week we will be back with more from the league.