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Weekly Recap:
After going 38-3 in the first week of the season (although ACC teams came out on both ends of one of those games, thanks to the week one Virginia-Wake Forest conference tilt), a 92.7% winning percentage, the ACC went 46-18 over the past two weeks, a drop of nearly 21%. This isn’t entirely surprising, as there was only one ACC team that took on an opponent ranked in the AP Poll (Boston College’s loss to then-No. 14 Ohio State) in the first week. In weeks two and three, we saw eight such games, or an eighth of the total number of games played by ACC squads in that span. Conference teams came out on top in just three of the contests against AP-ranked squads (more on that later).
Facing more ranked opponents, more power conference opponents, and having significantly more true road games (and, of course, the neutral site games at MTEs) are clear indicators of ACC teams taking on tougher schedules after week one. In the season’s first week, only seven of 41 games were played away from an ACC team’s home floor. Six were true road games, plus Notre Dame played Cal in the Citi Shamrock Classic in St. Louis. The past two weeks, we saw 64 total games, and 64% of those were played either on a neutral floor or were a true road game. Some of the true road games were geographically closer than others, like the 5.1 miles between BC’s Conte Forum and Northeastern’s Matthews Arena versus the nearly 1,400 miles separating Miami’s Watsco Center and Loyola Chicago’s Gentile Arena. Even as they challenged themselves more by going on the road, ACC squads fared better, winning 75% of true road games and nearly 59% of the neutral site games.
Of the road wins, only one came against a team in the top 75 of the Her Hoop Stats ratings, Duke’s 58-41 win at Toledo. Coach Kara Lawson noted in her postgame presser that “some people might think [she’s] crazy” for scheduling such a hard road game, but noted that such games can be “revelatory,” because “you learn about yourselves, you learn about your players… and you see what needs to be fixed...” In that game, the Blue Devils were led by transfers Reigan Richardson (13 points) and Kennedy Brown (12 points, 9 rebounds).
Other wins of note over the past two weeks include Louisville’s win in the Bahamas over Texas, HHS’ 23rd-ranked team. The game had a one-point margin with 7:52 to play before the Cardinals reeled off 10 straight to put the game out of reach.
Virginia Tech and Florida State also picked up two wins apiece over HHS top-75 squads not ranked in the AP poll. The Seminoles picked up a 92-77 win over Sunshine State rival Florida and a 76-75 win over Purdue. The Hokies earned a 73-57 victory over Missouri (No. 42) and an 82-74 win over Kentucky (No. 53) on their trip to the Bahamas. We’ll talk about the lead performers in all these games very shortly.
HHS ACC Players of the (bi-)Week: I’m still trying to figure out the best way to do this with a biweekly roundup. I missed it this time, but I think I’ll name one every week, announce the “off” week’s award on our Twitter, and write a bit about them in the roundup when it comes out the next week.
On to this bi-week’s set of awards, and, once again I’m having a lot of trouble arguing with the ACC office’s selections in either week:
Week 2: Florida State’s Ta'Niya Latson
Latson continues to show out in her first month as a college player, the early leader for the ACC’s Rookie of the Year and making a heck of a case for the national award. She’s the only freshman averaging at least 20 points per game and one of just seven averaging at least 15 points and five rebounds per game. Additionally, the Seminoles’ RPI is 52 slots higher than that of LSU, which has the other early-season frontrunner (with apologies to UCLA’s Kiki Rice) Flau'jae Johnson on its roster. In FSU’s games in week two, Latson averaged 26 points and four rebounds and shot a blistering 57.1% in the Seminoles’ games against Florida and Houston. Latson is one of only 17 players so far this season to have multiple games shooting 55% or better in a game when taking 15 or more attempts (Johnson is also on that list).
Week 3: North Carolina’s Deja Kelly
I previously mentioned that the ACC went 3-5 against AP Top 25 ranked teams over weeks two and three. Only one squad came out of all of its top-25 matchups unscathed, and that’s UNC. Both of the Tar Heels’ games against fellow top-25 squads came over the weekend in the Phil Knight Invitational, as they knocked off then-No.18 Oregon and then-No. 5 Iowa State to claim the tournament title. In those two games, they were led by Kelly, who averaged 23 points and six rebounds over the two contests. UNC actually trailed the Cyclones by 17 late in the first half, but Kelly led the Tar Heels’ comeback with 22 second-half points. Those 22 included six in a row to bring the Heels’ deficit down to, and then below, 10 near the end of the third quarter. UNC never looked back, outscoring ISU by 17 in the final frame.
Here’s a Kelly highlight reel from the PKI championship, via Courtside Films:
Other Week 2 & 3 Performances of Note:
Pittsburgh’s Liatu King scored 25 and pulled down 11 rebounds in the Panthers’ 16-point City Game win against fellow Steel City squad Duquesne. King shot 58.8% in that game on 17 attempts, joining Latson on the abovementioned 55% or better FG% on 15+ attempts list, one of 159 such performances this season.
Virginia Tech’s Elizabeth Kitley picked up back-to-back double-doubles against SEC competition on the Hokies’ trip to the Bahamas, notching 25 points and 13 rebounds in Virginia Tech’s eight-point win against Kentucky and then two days later scoring 17 and pulling down 10 boards in a win against Missouri.
Florida State’s Makayla Timpson had 14 points and 14 rebounds in the Seminoles’ single-point win over Purdue. She scored eight of her 14 points in the fourth quarter, which saw three lead changes and in which the margin never got above five points.
Looking ahead:
It’s ACC-Big Ten Challenge week, the last one for the foreseeable future, and there are some GOOD matchups. Top billing, of course, goes to the top-10 matchup in Bloomington on Thursday, as No. 5 Indiana hosts No. 6 UNC at 6 p.m. ET on BTN. The Hoosiers will be without Grace Berger, who injured her leg during IU’s trip to Vegas over Thanksgiving weekend. It will be a matchup of the reigning conference players of the week, as Hoosiers’ forward Mackenzie Holmes picked up the Big Ten honor while Heels’ guard Deja Kelly picked up the ACC award. Indiana also has the current Big Ten Freshman of the Week in guard Yarden Garzon.
The Her Hoop Stats prediction model gives Indiana a 76.2% chance to win with the game in Bloomington. The Hoosiers are one of the best-shooting teams in the country, ranking 4th nationally in field goal percentage at 51.9%, and second from inside the arc at 62.1%. That shooting will be a big challenge for UNC’s strong defense. That said, when Kelly was asked what got the job done in the PKI championship against Iowa State, the first aspect she mentioned was defense. The Tar Heels rank in the top 15 nationally in both opponent field goal and 2-point percentage. UNC also ranks in the top 10% nationally in all three rebounds per game categories, 90+ spots ahead of IU in each.
Other highlights include No. 4 Ohio State traveling to No. 18 Louisville (11/30 at 7:30 p.m. ET on ACC Network), No 12 NC State heading to Iowa City to face No. 10 Iowa (12/1 at 8:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2), and No. 7 Notre Dame hosting No. 20 Maryland (12/1 at 6:30 p.m. on ESPN2).
Games to watch the next two weeks, besides ACC/Big Ten Challenge games:
No. 9 Virginia Tech at RV Tennessee 12/4 at 1:00 p.m. ET on ESPN2
No. 3 UConn at No. 7 Notre Dame 12/4 at 3:00 p.m. ET on ABC
Honorable Mentions:
No. 12 NC State at Georgia, 12/5 at 8:00 p.m. ET on SECN
RV Duke at FGCU, 12/11 at 1:00 p.m. on ESPN+
No. 18 Louisville at Kentucky 12/11 at 1:00 p.m. on ESPN
South Florida at No. 12 NC State, 12/11 at 2:00 p.m. on ACCN
Florida at Miami, 12/11 at 4:00 p.m. on ACCN
Standings/Tiers:
As things start to shake out, we’ll begin to see separation amongst the squads, but for the nonconference part of the season, we’ll just include the standings:
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