ACC Basketball News & Notes: Rough Challenge for the League

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Nothing like a little friendly challenge to get the college basketball blood boiling. Such was the case this week as the Atlantic Coast Conference squared off against the Southeastern Conference in a series of roundball games spread out over two days. This was the second year of the ACC/SEC Challenge, and for the ACC it was not a good one. The final tally was SEC 14 ACC 2. The only wins by the league were by Duke and SMU. A tough result to swallow if you are a fan of this league.

Heading into the challenge, the conference had some good news to report. Three teams were winners in holiday tournaments that took place over the Thanksgiving week. Boston College won the Cayman Island Classic, Clemson took the Sunshine Slam in Daytona Beach, FL., and SMU won the Acrisure Invitational in Palm Springs, Cal. In the polls, the league had three teams ranked. Duke is at #9 in both the AP & USA Today polls. Pittsburgh is at #18 in the AP and #19 in USA Today, North Carolina is at #20 in the AP and #22 in USA Today. In the first NET ranking of the season, five teams were in the top 30. Duke at #4, Pittsburgh at #5, Clemson at #18, UNC at #26, and Louisville at #30.

This week’s ACC Player of the Week is Louisville guard Chucky Hepburn. In three games in the Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament, Hepburn averaged 20 points and set a new tournament record with 16 steals. In their win over #14 Indiana, Hepburn had seven steals in an 89-61 victory.

Georgia Tech freshman guard Jaeden Mustaf had quite a week for himself. In two games played, he would score a combined 34 points and post career-highs in games vs Charleston Southern (16 points) and Central Arkansas (18 points). He shot a combined 11-for-22 from the field and was 11-of-12 from the free-throw line.

It is not very often that a freshman leads the Tar Heels in scoring in any given game. Such was the case in a game last week vs Michigan State. Drake Powell led the team with 18 points which was a season high. He was 7-9 from the field, 4-6 from deep. He is the first UNC player to lead the team in scoring since Caleb Love did it vs Florida State in the semi-finals of the 2021 ACC tournament.

In Clemson’s win over FAMU last Friday night, forward Ian Schieffelin was a force on the backboards grabbing 15 of them. It was his third straight game with at least 13 rebounds. At the moment, Schieffelin is averaging a double-double of 12.5 points per game and 11.6 rebounds a night.

The Pittsburgh Panthers are off to a great start at 7-1. With their OT win vs Ohio State, the Panthers are ranked for the first time since week 16 of the 2022-23 season. It is also their highest ranking since week 12 of the 2013-14 season. Their loss on the road at Mississippi State by a 90-57 score on Wednesday night will change their ranking come next week.

The ACC Rookie of the Week is a duo this time around. First, there is California guard Jeremiah Wilkerson who had 25 points on six 3-pointers on Wednesday night in a win over Sacramento State. In his last three games, Wilkerson has scored a combined 64 points. The other is Syracuse’s Donnie Freeman. In Wednesday night’s win over Cornell, Freeman went for a double-double of 23 points and 12 boards. The points were a career-high for him.

Next week, believe it or not, we will look back on the first weekend of conference play across the league.