ACC Bi-Weekly Roundup: Games played 11/5-11/19
Some big performances already, including freshmen proving their mettle
Thanks for reading the Her Hoop Stats Newsletter. If you like our work, be sure to check out our stats site, our podcast, and our social media accounts on Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. You can also buy Her Hoop Stats gear, such as laptop stickers, mugs, and shirts!
Haven’t subscribed to the Her Hoop Stats Newsletter yet?
Bi-Weekly Roundup:
With just over two weeks of a new season under our belts, it’s definitely not time to make any sweeping conclusions about any of the 18 ACC teams. That said, we’ve seen a few notable things from teams that decided to challenge themselves in their non-conference schedules.
Nearly all of the challenging non-conference games so far fell into one or more of three categories: neutral-site, true road tests and/or rivalry.
Starting with neutral-site games, the entire women’s college basketball season tipped off in Paris, as then-No. 17 Louisville faced then-No. 5 UCLA. The Cardinals lost by seven in a game that saw 13 lead changes and seven ties. While they didn’t come out on top, Jeff Walz’s team, with its nine new pieces, looked solid. Standouts included Miami transfer Ja’Leah Williams, who put up 11 points, seven rebounds and nine assists, and highly-touted freshman Tajianna Roberts, who led all scorers with 21 in her first collegiate game.
Four other ACC teams played big opponents in neutral-site games over the past two weeks, two at the Ally Tipoff in Charlotte. NC State took on Final Four foe and reigning national champion South Carolina, losing 71-57. The Wolfpack came out of the gate strong, but Dawn Staley’s crew came out after halftime on a different level and led most of the rest of the game by double digits. Similar to Louisville, it was an NC State freshman leading the team in scoring, as Zamareya Jones tallied 16 on 4-for-7 shooting from beyond the arc.
NC State struggled with South Carolina’s size, as the Wolfpack’s rebuild of their frontcourt is very much a work in progress. Mimi Collins and River Baldwin have graduated and Boston University transfer Caitlin Weimar, who was supposed to be the experienced post presence, is out with an injury that required surgery. The Gamecocks outrebounded the Wolfpack by 15, including an 11-3 advantage on the offensive glass.
In the other game in the Queen City, Virginia Tech lost to Iowa, leading 3-0 to start the game but never leading again. Carleigh Wenzel and Rose Micheaux combined to go 11-for-23 (47.8%), while the rest of the Hokies went just 10-for-36 (27.8%). The Hawkeyes outrebounded the Hokies by 17 and won the points in the paint battle by 20.
The third “neutral” site game was in Greensboro, an hour from UNC’s campus, where the then-No. 14 Tar Heels took on No. 2 UConn, falling 69-58 in a game that was not nearly as close as the final score indicated. After the first frame, Huskies’ star Paige Bueckers was single-handedly outscoring the Tar Heels 16-14. UNC turned the ball over in the contest 15 times, uncharacteristic for a team averaging 10.3 turnovers entering the contest. Postgame, Tar Heels head coach Courtney Banghart was clearly frustrated with some of the sloppy plays by her team early in the game that turned into UConn points.
Finally, SMU took on Minnesota in the Briann January Classic in Tempe, Ariz. The Mustangs fell in a tight game that saw eight ties, nine lead changes and never saw the margin get above seven until the 6:24 mark of the final quarter. Nya Robertson and Chantae Embry shined for SMU in the game, scoring 28 and 15, respectively, on combined 17-for-34 shooting, but the rest of the team went just 4-for-17. Relatedly, the Golden Gophers won the bench points battle by 34 and the second-chance points one by 20, the latter thanks to a 21-9 margin on the offensive glass.
Prior to its game against Minnesota, SMU took on host Arizona State, falling 80-73. That game was a much more balanced effort for the Mustangs, as four players scored in double figures, led again by Robertson, who had 25
Two ACC teams decided to take on former conference foe No. 11 Maryland, as Duke traveled to College Park, and in the one big exception to our neutral/road/rivalry big game pattern, Syracuse welcomed the Terps to the JMA Wireless Dome. The Terrapins prevailed against both the Blue Devils and the Orange, beating the former by five and the latter by 11.
Both Duke and Syracuse gave up big runs of 9-0 and 10-0, respectively, and were never quite able to recover.
Syracuse gave up the 10-0 run midway through the 2nd quarter after building a 10-point lead. While they got it back within four with 3:53 to play, Maryland was able to answer every Orange point down the stretch.
The Terrapins’ run against the Blue Devils was the opening nine points of the contest. Duke head coach Kara Lawson said postgame that she thought Maryland’s “experience, their physicality, their size really was a difference-maker, particularly in the first half for sure… we just didn't have enough to climb out of the deficit in the second half.” Four Blue Devils scored in double figures, led by freshman Toby Fournier’s 13, who also finished one rebound shy of a double-double.
Lawson has never been afraid to challenge her squads with tough road games: “I just pick all the places that are hard to win. I just have a list of all the places that are hard to win and that Power 4 people won’t go to. Go ahead, take a look at my history, we played at Florida Gulf Coast, at Toledo, at Columbia, at Richmond, at South Dakota State, we’re playing at South Florida. We’re playing all the places that people are scared to go because they’re scared they may lose. I’m scared I may lose, too, but I ain’t afraid to play it.”
The game in Brookings against South Dakota State on Sunday was a single-digit margin for all but 49 seconds, as the Jackrabbits gave the Blue Devils all they could handle, leading as late as the 2:29 mark of the third quarter and tying it up with 7:38 to go. Summit League Preseason Player of the Year Brooklyn Meyer proved especially troublesome for Duke, leading all scorers with 25, two ahead of the Blue Devils’ Jadyn Donovan, who added 15 rebounds.
Other road wins over Power 4 or perennially strong mid-majors over the past two weeks were Cal’s big win over Gonzaga, which snapped the Bulldogs’ 37-game home win streak and Notre Dame’s blowout victory over Purdue.
Unfortunately, the ACC found itself on the wrong end of some blowouts as well, as Virginia fell 95-51 to Oklahoma and Pitt fell 82-54 to WVU.
In closer road losses, NC State fell to TCU in Fort Worth, 76-73. While NC State never led after the 4:01 mark of the second quarter, it kept the margin in the low single digits for all but 39 seconds of the third and most of the fourth, including getting it within one with under a minute to play before Aziaha James’ 3-point attempt off a steal rimmed out. Taylor Bigby then slipped past the NC State defense for a game-sealing layup. While it was Bigby with the closer, the Wolfpack’s lack of size again reared its head. Six-foot-seven Sedona Prince put up 31 points and 16 rebounds and the Horned Frogs won the points in the paint battle by 14.
Earlier, Florida State traveled to Urbana-Champaign and fell to current No. 22 Illinois, 83-74. The Fighting Illini never trailed, won the first quarter by 10, and went on runs of at least 8-2 to start the first three quarters, proving too much across the board for the Seminoles. That was all despite 27 points from Ta’Niya Latson and a 22-point, 14-rebound performance from Makayla Timpson. Seminoles’ head coach Brooke Wyckoff noted that her squad’s rough start and the tough road environment were just too much to overcome, although she did say that she was “proud of how we battled back and how we played the last three quarters."
Fellow conference team Stanford found Big Ten country just as unfriendly, traveling to Bloomington and falling 79-66 to Indiana. The Cardinal struggled all day on offense, making its first of only three field goals in the second quarter at the 2:35 mark and proceeding to not make a 3-pointer in the second half. That second stat is especially notable, as Stanford’s 47.7% 3-point percentage is fourth-best nationally.
Finally we previously mentioned Pitt losing in the Backyard Brawl, but overall over the past two weeks, ACC teams managed to go 2-2 in rivalry games.
Former Virginia Tech head coach Kenny Brooks, now at Kentucky, broke Louisville’s seven-game winning streak in the Battle of the Bluegrass, as his Wildcats won in overtime, 81-71. The game saw nine lead changes and six ties. It was former Hokie, Georgia Amoore, leading all scorers with 19. In addition, the Wildcats’ bench unit outscored their Cardinals counterparts 25-0. That said, Cardinals’ coach Jeff Walz pointed to free throws as the main reason his team “gave the game away.”
Miami and Georgia Tech were the ACC teams that picked up rivalry wins over the past two weeks. In a contest they never trailed,the Hurricanes went to Gainesville and beat the Gators 83-73 behind 31 points from Haley Cavinder. Cavinder and her twin sister Hanna each pulled down six rebounds and dished out five assists, while Jasmyne Roberts contributed 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting and 4-for-4 from the free-throw line.
Georgia Tech took on Georgia in a contest that was much closer than the final score indicates, with the Yellow Jackets earning the 83-67 win. Junior Kara Dunn put up 25 points on 67% shooting to lead Georgia Tech, only missing the double-double by one rebound, while freshman Dani Carnegie added 20 and only missed the double-double mark by two rebounds.
HHS ACC Player of the Bi-Week: Makayla Timpson, Florida State.
Timpson is averaging a double-double so far this season, one of just six players across Division I to average 20+ points and 10+ rebounds. In addition, she’s averaging 3.6 blocks, 2 steals and 2 assists per game, while only turning the ball over once per game. She has double-doubles in three of the Seminoles’ five games, including a 38-point, 15-rebound performance against Samford and a 17-point, 22-rebound game against North Florida, just one of two 22-rebound games this season (former UNC Tar Heel and current Rutgers Scarlet Knight, Destiny Adams).
The Seminoles are 4-1, but that one loss is to current No. 22 Illinois, and in that game, Timpson put up 22 points and 14 rebounds, second behind only teammate Ta’Niya Latson in scoring for either team and four clear of the Fighting Illini’s Brynn Shoup-Hill for the rebounding lead.
Runner-up: Hannah Hidalgo, Notre Dame.
Hidalgo’s numbers aren’t quite at Timpson’s level, but they’re pretty darn impressive. She’s averaging 25 points per game (she and Timpson are second and third so far in the ACC behind Timpson’s teammate Latson), 6.3 rebounds and 5.3 steals per game. She has at least 19 points and four steals in all four of Notre Dame’s games.
Other Performances of Note (alphabetically):
Haley Cavinder, Miami: Scored 31 in the Hurricanes’ win at in-state rival Florida, just one of 38 30-plus point performances so far this season
Jadyn Donovan, Duke: Double-doubles in both of the Blue Devils’ biggest games so far, a 12-point, 10-rebound one in the loss at Maryland and a 23-point, 15-rebound one in the win at South Dakota State.
Khadija Faye, Pittsburgh: Put up a pair of double-doubles, including a 25-point, 12-rebound one against Canisius and a 14-point, 12-rebound one against current No. 13 West Virginia.
Kate Koval, Notre Dame: Two double-doubles already in her freshman season, including a 19-rebound(!), 11-point one against Lafayette. There have been only eight 19-plus rebound performances so far this season.
Ta’Niya Latson, Florida State: 34 points and 10 assists to notch her first career double-double (yes, really) against NC Central.
Olivia Miles, Notre Dame: Put up double-doubles against both Mercyhurst and Lafayette, scoring 20 in both.
Nya Robertson, SMU: Only conference player to put up 25-plus points in multiple games over the past two weeks, putting up 28 against Minnesota and 25 against Arizona State.
My votes and the results for ACC Player and Rookie of the Week the past two weeks.
Please note: SIDs and coaches submit players for consideration, we don’t have free rein to pick anyone
My votes for the week of 11/11: Olivia Miles, Notre Dame and Tajianna Roberts, Louisville.
Winners: Miles and Roberts
Two for two on the opening week, you look at the stats and, especially in Roberts’ case, the way they met the opening week moments, and it wasn’t a difficult call in either case.
Week of 11/18: Haley Cavinder, Miami and Dani Carnegie, Georgia Tech
Winners: Makayla Timpson, Florida State and Hannah Hidalgo, Notre Dame for Co-Players of the Week and Kate Koval, Notre Dame and Dani Carnegie, Georgia Tech for Co-Rookies of the Week
One for two. To borrow a line from our SEC brethren, “They ain’t played nobody, Pawwwwwl.” In other words, it’s pretty clear I gave more weight than some voters to strength of schedule this week in my vote for Cavinder.
Looking ahead:
The next two weeks include the Thanksgiving multi-team events, so there’s a LOT of good games and even more possible if tournament results break a certain way.
There were 27 games on my initial “worth considering mentioning” list for the next two weeks, and that is just entirely too much to cover, so, with apologies to some of the squads, I’ve put quite a few in a table so you can keep track without my having to cover every one.
There is, of course, one game involving an ACC team over the next two weeks that everyone in the country who watches the sport undoubtedly has circled, and that’s Notre Dame’s trip to USC this Saturday. With the game at the Galen Center, the Her Hoop Stats model gives the Trojans a 61.5% chance to win, with a 3.9-point expected margin. The best players on the Fighting Irish are guards Hannah Hidalgo and Olivia Miles, while the Trojans are led by guard JuJu Watkins and forward Kiki Iriafen. All four average at least 17 points per game. The game will air on NBC at 4:00 p.m. ET.
Finally, the current ACC standings and records
Thanks for reading the Her Hoop Stats Newsletter. If you like our work, be sure to check out our stats site, our podcast, and our social media accounts on Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.
Thorough round-up, Marissa: thanks.
I went to watch Notre Dame in Easton as they pounded a game, but overmatched Lafayette team. One of the key takeaways was just after the first-half ended and I watched these players in street clothes walk by: Maddy Westbeld, Liatu King, Liza Karlen, KK Bransford and Kylee Watson. That's a possible starting lineup-up for a Top 20 team in itself. Bransford and (probably) Watson are out all year, but
King (head injury), Westbeld (recovering from foot surgery) and Karlen (lower leg in walking boot) will come back to the Irish.
However, it probably won't be for the USC game and maybe not TCU, Utah or Texas. It's not as if the Irish have chopped liver with Hidalgo, Miles, Citron, Koval and Prosper, but there is no depth. As such the Irish could have three losses going into the ACC schedule. But when those three come back and are meshed, watch out.