Wake Forest lost, but wasn’t all that far from pulling off an upset
In Thursday’s ACC Action, Wake Forest lost to Vanderbilt, 74-51, Virginia Tech hammered Mercer, 96-67, Notre Dame smacked Mercyhurst, 83-56, Syracuse clubbed Central Connecticut, 102-49, Pitt rallied past Buffalo, 80-61, and VMI surrendered to SMU, 95-70.
It’s hard not to respect Steve Forbes as a coach, and we thought Wake Forest might sneak up on Vandy. Well, they stayed close, but didn’t pull off an upset. Vanderbilt pulled away late to get the win. But Wake Forest was competitive, and both Kevair Kennedy and Gavin Placide had solid games. Kennedy had 20 points and 5 rebounds, while Placide had 10 points and 8 rebounds.
Unfortunately, they hit 12 of Wake’s 19 made shots, as the rest of the team combined to shoot 7-29, as Vandy’s defense carried the day. Well, evening, but same thing.
Virginia Tech took control of the game against Mercer early and never let go. Amani Hansberry had 23 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists. The other thing you should probably keep track of: Ben Hammond had 5 steals in this game after racking up 7 in Virginia Tech’s win over Coppin State. That will likely slow down as the opponents get tougher, but still, that’s impressive, and obviously, he’s defending well.
Notre Dame opened with a 19-5 run and hit 15 threes en route to a solid win over Mercyhurst. The Lakers just transitioned to D-1 in 2025, so it went about as you might expect. We’ll need more data to really understand this Notre Dame team. The Irish shot really well, but, well…it’s Mercyhurst.
Gerry McNamara was not happy with Syracuse’s opener against New Haven, because he felt his team lost focus. This time, he praises his team’s intensity, execution, and ball movement.
Gavin Doty shot 7-9 for 18 points to pace the ’Cuse.
Pitt struggled against Buffalo in the first half before rallying in the second. The Panthers outscored Buffalo 48-16 in the second half. Baye Ndgongo finished with 23 points and 21 rebounds. His previous and present point guard, Naithan George, had 16 points and 7 assists.
Worth noting: former Syracuse guard JJ Starling now plays for Buffalo. He finished with 13 points on 5-13/1-6 from the floor.
VMI hung around for a bit against SMU before the Ponies ran all over them, ultimately winning by 25.
Oziyah Sellers, who once spent a year at Stanford, led the way with 21 points. High school teammates and more-or-less brothers, Jermaine O’Neal Jr. and Jaden Toombs have moved into the starting lineup, and combined for 24 points, 9 rebounds, and 5 assists.
On Friday, UMass and Boston College play in the TD Garden, Northeastern visits Virginia, Georgia Southern buses up to Atlanta to take on the Yellow Jackets, ETSU drops by Raleigh, Wofford cruises up to Chapel Hill, American jets down to Clemson, Troy cruises over to Florida State, Wagner plays another ACC team when it goes to Miami, and Oakland flies West to Stanford.
Friday’s ACC Action
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