ACC Basketball News & Notes

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We are just a little over two weeks away from the start of conference play. Here’s what going on.

The ACC Player and Freshman of the week is Duke’s, R.J. Barrett. In a pair of non-conference wins, Barrett averaged 28.5 points, 11 rebounds, and five assists. So far in his young career at Duke, Barrett has already had nine 20 point games and two thirty point games.

Barrett and teammate Zion Willamson are ranked one and two in the league in scoring. Williamson is averaging 20.4 a night.

Duke also leads the nation in blocked shots at seven and a half a game. The Blue Devils have had four games of ten or more block shots. They rank number one in the country.

Gonzaga will be making their first-ever trip to Chapel Hill this Saturday to take on the Tar Heels. UNC has a two and one record in meeting with the Zags. One of those matchups took place in the National Championship game of 2017 won by North Carolina.

Junior, John Mooney, of Notre Dame leads the ACC in double-doubles with five and in rebounds (9.7). Mooney already has six 10 rebound games which also leads the league. His scoring average has more than doubled as well going from 5.6 a game last year, to 11.6 this year.

Boston College’s starting backcourt is off to a great start. Junior Ky Bowman has 18 straight double figures games, an ACC best. He also has nine games of 20 or more points.

His running mate, freshman Wynston Tabb, is the only freshman in the nation to average 14.9 points. 4..8 rebounds, 2 9 assists, and 1.3 steals per game. The last BC freshman to put up better than 14.9 points a night was Craig Smith (19.0 in 2002-03).

These two are part of the reason that Boston College is off to their best start since 2010-11 at seven and two.

Pittsburgh freshman, Xavier Johnson, is the first Panther rookie to open a season with 10 consecutive double-figure scoring games. He ranks 10th in scoring at 16.8, third in assists at 4.9, and eighth in free throw percentage at .820.