ACC Basketball News & Notes: Clemson is at the Top

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Conference basketball was on display last weekend as the Atlantic Coast Conference took a break from non-league play. The bulk of the schedule will resume on New Year’s Eve and continue until March. The Clemson Tigers (9-1, 1-0) have won six in a row and are on top of the league standings. Let’s look at how things are going.

Two programs are ranked in both the AP Top 25 and the USA Today polls. Duke is at #4 in the AP and #6 in the USA Today and Clemson is at #16 in both polls. The same two teams are ranked in the top 10 of the KenPom poll. Duke is at #1, Clemson is at #6. The Blue Devils are also #1 in KenPom in adjusted defensive efficiency at 89.2%.

One reason for the Tigers being on top of the league standings has been the play of senior forward Ian Schieffelin who is this week’s ACC Player of the Week. He averaged 13 points, 16 rebounds, and 3 assists in wins over #4 Kentucky and their league opener vs Miami. He had double-doubles in both games bringing his total to five for the season. That is the sixth best in the nation. Schieffelin is #1 in rebounding in the nation averaging 12.5 a game.

The California Golden Bears (6-3, 0-1) have made it a point to use the entire roster through their first nine games. They have played as many as 9-10 players per contest and 10 players are averaging 15+ minutes a night. Eight of those players have had at least two double-doubles in that span. In their first game as a member of the league. they ran into a shot-blocking buzzsaw known as the Stanford Cardinal (8-2, 1-0). They finished with 13 blocked shots in their win over the Cal Bears. It is the most blocked shots since they recorded 19 in a game on January 25, 2007, vs USC. Cardinal center Maxime Raynaud had five of those blocks which led the team. Raynaud is having quite the start to the season for Stanford. He is #1 in the nation in double-doubles with eight, #1 in the league, and eighth in the county in scoring at 22.1 points per game, and he is tied for fourth in the nation in rebounding at 11.3 a game.

The Georgia Tech defense has been good recently. Over their last four games, they have held their opponents to under 40% from the floor. They have done so in six of the last nine games. In their 3-point loss to UNC last Saturday, they held the Tar Heels to 39% shooting (23-of-59).

Miami (3-6, 0-1) senior guard Nijel Pack is moving up the charts of the all-time list, in Division I. He is currently 17th in scoring at 1,733 points, fifth in 3-pointers with 309, and 12th in 3-pointers per game at 2.58. In the Hurricanes’ 10-point loss to Clemson last Saturday, Pack went scoreless in 31 minutes, 0-for-7, with all seven shots being 3-point shots.

In Wake Forest’s (8-3, 1-0) league opening win at home vs Boston College on Saturday, they turned the Eagles over 14 times. That is the 18th straight game the Demon Deacons have forced 10 or more turnovers in a game. So far in the 11 games played, WF has caused 167 turnovers which leads the ACC.

North Carolina (5-4, 1-0) junior guard Seth Trimble scored 19 vs the Yellow Jackets on Saturday. He has now scored in double-figures in eight of the nine games played. In his first two years with the Tar Heels, Trimble reached double figures seven times. The 19 points on Saturday led his team to the win.

Next week it is back to non-league play in the ACC.