ACC Roundup – Near Miss By Syracuse Against Houston

In Monday’s ACC Action, Louisville hammered Eastern Michigan 87-46, NC State got a reality check from Seton Hall, 85-74 and Redford fell at SMU, 89-72. And in the Players Era Festival, Notre Dame lost to Kansas 71-61 and Syracuse nearly pulled off a major upset, losing to Houston 78-74 in overtime.

Making this more impressive, Syracuse was without Donnie Freeman, who is out for a bit with a lower body injury.

Free throws killed Syracuse: the Orange shot an embarrassing 12-29 (41.3%), which is truly awful.

However, even though they lost here, the ‘Cuse should gain a lot of confidence from this loss, even if Kelvin Sampson was angry at his team, saying this: “We’re not good enough to look ahead. You saw the way we played [Monday]. I see it every day. Some days we’re better than others. This is not last year’s team. I’m not saying they can’t be eventually, but they’re certainly not now. Look at the mistakes we make.”

Jayhawk Flory Bidunga had a big game against Notre Dame, racking up 18 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists and 5 blocks. Bryson Tiller kicked in 17 points and 9 boards of his own to give KU a level of dominance that the Irish could not match.

Markus Burton played well with 24 points on 9-18/0-3, but no one else shot well and two starters managed just 2 points each.

In Louisville’s win over Eastern Michigan, Aly Khalifa had 11 points (4-6/3-4), 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 blocks in 19 minutes, which is pretty nice to get from a bench player.

Virginia transfer Isaac McKneely had 17 including 5-9 on threes. Mikel Brown didn’t play all that well, not that it mattered, finishing with 11 points on 4-12/1-5.

The ‘Ville held Eastern Michigan to 2-15 on their threes and 16-57 overall.

You can’t say that Will Wade’s NC State honeymoon is over, but took a beating from Seton Hall. After the loss, Wade said that Seton Hall was just tougher. Here’s some supporting evidence: Seton Hall’s starting guards had 25 rebounds. That’s just kind of mind-boggling.

Darrion Williams had a decent game with 12 points and 6 rebounds. Ven-Allen Lubin finished with 16 points and 9 rebounds. Matt Able had 15 points.

Radford was probably not going to beat SMU but they did reasonably well. Speaking of NC State, former Wuffie Dennis Parker had 18 and former Clemson guard Del Jones racked up 16.

Overall though, SMU held Radford to 28% on threes and 33% overall. Boopie Miller had 25 points and 10 assists.

Corey Washington and Jaron Pierre had double-doubles too with 21 points and 12 rebounds for Washington and Pierre finished with 15 points and 13 boards. Samet Yiğitoğlu just missed with 8 points and 10 boards.

It’ll be a busy Tuesday with eightteams in action. Our bet for the best games: Rutgers vs. Notre Dame and Syracuse vs. Kansas. The Jayhawks developed more injury issues in the win over Notre Dame, which is worth keeping an eye on.

Tuesday’s ACC Action

• Rutgers vs. Notre Dame || 1:00 || TNT

• NC State vs. Boise State || 2:30 || ESPN2

• Syracuse vs. Kansas || 3:30 || TNT

• St. Bonaventure vs. UNC || 6:00 || FS1

• Cal State Bakersfield at Florida State || 7:00 || ACC Extra

• Campbell at Wake Forest || 7:00 || ACC Extra

• UCLA vs. Cal || 10:00 || ESPN

• Sampson critical of UH after close call vs. Orange

• Sharp, Uzan power No. 3 Houston past Syracuse in OT

• Golden opportunity slips in Syracuse’s loss to Houston

• Syracuse went toe-to-toe with No. 3 Houston in a fight worthy of Las Vegas

• SU lost to Houston without its leading scorer. Nobody made excuses

• FREAKISH: Flory Bidunga LEADS Kansas Jayhawks Past Notre Dame

• Jayhawks hold off Notre Dame for 71-61 victory in Players Era debut

• Two KU basketball players suffered injuries vs. Notre Dame. One may miss some time

• 3 Observations From Kansas Basketball’s Much-Needed Win Over Notre Dame

• Flory Bidunga’s 18 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists and 5 blocks lead Kansas past Notre Dame 71-61 –

• No. 6 Louisville flies past Eastern Michigan

• No. 6 Louisville uses defense, 3-pointers to tackle Eastern Michigan

• Louisville’s Pat Kelsey praises Aly Khalifa, Khani Rooths after win

• What Pat Kelsey, Louisville Players Said After 87-46 Win vs. Eastern Michigan

• Do you believe in magic? Khalifa does, and his trickery helps Cards roll 84-46

• Pack Falls to Seton Hall in Opening Round of Maui Invitational

• NC State falls to Seton Hall 85-74 in Maui Invitational

• Will Wade on NC State’s loss to Seton Hall: ‘They were tougher than we were’

• MAUI OUCHIE: What went wrong in NC State’s 85-74 loss to Seton Hall?

• Miller, Washington, Pierre post double-doubles to lead unbeaten SMU past Radford 89-72

• Boopie Miller one of three with double-doubles as SMU handles Radford

• Unbeaten SMU rides scoring depth into clash vs. reeling Redford