Ready for ACC play to start for real (sorry, that Pitt game doesn’t count). Vegas has us as 3.5 point favorites, 120.5 o/u, so they’re expecting a 62-59, 62-58 ugly game. Kenpom has us winning 61-59. Looking forward to finding out what our rotations narrow down to as we enter ACC play (my brain says it’ll be Caffaro + Kody primarily off the bench with the other guys getting some spot minutes, but my brain hopes we get some consistent run for the other guys. Not gonna beat this topic any further into the ground… at least until game time haha).
Think taking care of business against teams like Clemson — good, not great — might be the difference come NCAAT time between being in or out if this squad does end up on the bubble. Every ACC W counts. Early in the year still, but it’d be good to see a convincing win, even if I can’t say I’m expecting one.
Will be interesting to see how Clemson shoots it on the road. 2 road games so far. They shot 39% and 22% from 3 at Rutgers and 48% and 43% from 3 at Miami. Maybe somewhere in between tonight?
They also just beat South Carolina by 14 while shooting only 33% and 23% from 3. So they showed they can win ugly too - got to the FT line 31 times.
Any guesses on PT for Carson, Taine, and Igor? I was surprised by their lack of PT against FDU and missed if there was a reason given for that. After seeing what Taine can do against Iowa (I know he’s still inconsistent), I’m hoping we mix him in earlier and more often in ACC play
I had heard that before about Tony being down to an 8 man rotation but in his last presser he seemed to be saying he was still looking for that rotation
Clemson has shot the lights out so far, 41%+ from 3, 5th in the country. There’s definitely some inflation in there, but it’s a very good shooting team. All 5 starters are a threat from 3, then they bring Alex Hemenway off the bench at 57%.
Sophomore big man PJ Hall, a former highly rated in-state recruit, has made a 2nd year leap. He’s the team’s leading scorer (14.7 PPG). He’s also the only true big man and only rim protector in the rotation. When he’s out, there’s a huge drop off. Like UVA with Shedrick, only maybe worse.
The three starting guards all average between 10-12 points, and hit better than 40% from 3. David Collins, a super senior transfer from South Florida, is the one of the group that will get in the lane and cause problems.
Should be a good matchup for Jayden Gardner. He’ll mostly draw 6’8 stretch-four Hunter Tyson, a good player, dangerous pick n pop guy, but an average athlete who’s more of a finesse player. And because Clemson will go small when PJ Hall rests, you could see UVA match with Gardner and either Stattmann or Igor.
Experienced Clemson team, 7 of their 9 regulars are upperclassmen. Little different this year than in the past, as their strength is on the offense end.
