ACC Basketball News & Notes: In-Season Tournaments on the Menu

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As is usually the case during the Thanksgiving holiday week, college basketball takes to playing in-season tournaments across the country. Success has already been made as the Boston College Eagles were winners in the Cayman Island event. The ACC has several teams involved in these tournaments. It is a good way to get ready for what is ahead, mainly league and postseason action. Let’s see how things are progressing this week.

As the week began, the league had only two teams still undefeated. Stanford at 6-0 and North Carolina State at 5-0. What is interesting is that neither of these teams are ranked. Yes, the league does have three teams in the AP/USA Today Polls where Duke is at #11 in AP and #10 in USA Today, North Carolina is at #12 in AP and #11 in USA Today, and Pittsburgh is #25 in USA Today.

Across the tournament landscape. The North Carolina Tar Heels found themselves down 21 points to the Dayton Flyers of the A-10 with 17:36 left in the second half Monday in Maui. Well, the Tar Heels found some Maui magic and came all the way back to take the game from Dayton. The comeback tied for the second largest in school history. It also equals the largest second-half comeback in the program’s history.

One reason why the Stanford Cardinals are unbeaten at this stage could be the play of senior forward Maxime Raynaud. He is averaging a double-double with 22.8 points per game and 12.8 rebounders. Both numbers lead the league. He is the only player that has six double-doubles so far this year. His rebounding numbers also lead the country.

The SMU Mustangs are adjusting to life in the ACC just fine. The success on the football field is transferring over to the hardwood. The team is averaging 89.7 points per game, which is second in the league and 13th in the nation. As a team, they are shooting 48.4% from the field which is fifth in the league, and 38.2 from 3-point range which is fourth in the conference.

The Pittsburgh Panthers are ranked in the USA Today Poll at #25. They have not been ranked in this poll since week 17 of the 2022-23 season. They are also just outside the Top-25 of the AP poll at #27. Pittsburgh is ranked based on a 5-0 record at home. They return to action on Friday when they go on the road to face Ohio State.

NC State is 5-0 for the first time since going 6-0 back in 2018-19. Senior guard Marcus Hill has been the team’s leading scorer over the last couple of games. Last Friday in a win over William & Mary, he had 19 points. The Wolfpack got back to playing on Thursday in the Rady Children Invitational vs Purdue. His streak of being the leading scorer came to an end in the game scoring only five points (2-of-7, 1-of-2 from deep) in 21 minutes as Purdue handed NC State their first loss of the year.

Duke is finding out a lot about themselves during a stretch. They are playing six games where four teams are ranked in the AP Poll and were at least Top-4 seeds in last year’s NCAA Tournament. Tuesday night, the Blue Devils lost by five to the Kansas Jayhawks 75-70. Tyrese Proctor led the way for Duke with 15 points.

It was a rough weekend for the Miami Hurricanes in the Charleston Classic as they lost all three games played there. There was a bright spot as graduate center Lynn Kidd posted a double-double in Sunday’s loss to VCU by a 77-70 score. He recorded 14 points and 10 rebounds.

Clemson senior forward Ian Schieffelin on Monday night put together his second double-double of the season and his 14th of his career. His 18-point, 13-rebound effort came in a win over San Francisco in the Sunshine Slam in Dayton Beach, Florida in a 70-55 win by the Tigers.

The ACC Player of the Week is Raynaud of Stanford. In a couple of games, both wins, he went for 27.5 points and 12.5 boards. He had double-doubles in both wins. He already has four double-doubles for Stanford.

Cooper Flagg of Duke is the Rookie of the Week. He averaged 17 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, two blocks, and 1.5 steals. Other than that he didn’t do much. Flagg had a double-double vs Kentucky against Wofford going for eight points, nine rebounds, six assists, three steals, and two blocked shots. Flagg is the Rookie of the Week for the second straight week.

Next week we look at the second annual ACC/SEC Challenge.