In Wednesday’s ACC action, Virginia Tech beat Saint Joseph’s 94-59, NC State took care of UNC-Greensboro 110-64 and Stanford beat Montana State 77-68.
The Hokies had little trouble with the Hawks. Amani Hansberry led the way with 19 points. Tobi Lawal added 11 points and 7 rebounds. Neoklis Avdalas scored 14 points, 5 rebounds and 7 assists. Former Blue Devil Jaden Schutt got 12 minutes and had 12 points, hitting 4-7 on his threes.
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So far the Hokies have played Charleston Southern and won by 11, Providence by 6 in overtime and now Saint Joe’s by 35. Their schedule isn’t too difficult and Virginia Tech has a chance to enter ACC play undefeated. Fun note: Conference play will begin with Virginia at home. If the Hokies succeed, they could go on a long winning streak. UVA will be a challenge, but after that it’s Wake, Stanford, Cal, SMU, Notre Dame and Syracuse before a trip to Louisville.
There’s a good chance they won’t win all of these titles, but they should win a lot of them and there’s an outside chance they’ll go to Yum! unbeaten.
The Spartans hung around for about 15 minutes before NC State stepped on the gas, taking a 47-37 lead into halftime.
In the second, the Pack took off, outscoring the Spartans 63-27. Darrion Williams finished with 32 points and Paul McNeil had 27. Quadir Copeland had 13 points and 6 assists.
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Ven-Allen Lubin finished with 6 points and 5 assists but we saw somewhere along the way that he perhaps had some sort of boot. However, we can’t find this anywhere now. Tre Holloman also only played 4 minutes before being ejected.
It was a slow start and a bit of a grind, but in the end, State’s formula worked again.
In a minor complaint, State used the state’s outdated uniforms in its home opener against NCCU and they looked great. The crappy sneakers designed by Adidas They just look like Louisville knockoffs. Old uniforms have a history and a connection that nothing else will touch. Will Wade would be wise to make this the norm for the pack.
Stanford is now 3-0 and freshman Ebuka Okorie has scored 26, 29 and 21 points in those games. The 21st arrived on Wednesday. He also had 9 assists in those three games and shot 27-48 overall (56.2%) and 5-14 from three (35.7%).
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The fact that the overwhelming majority of his shots came from inside the three-point line is intriguing, as is his rebounds (4.3 per game).
Keep in mind this is a 6-2 freshman. He is having a very impressive season so far. Chisom Okpara added 15 while AJ Rohosy had 13 points and 7 rebounds.
Stanford won’t really play anyone until it meets Minnesota on Thanksgiving Day and, like Virginia Tech, could achieve an impressive record before ACC play begins.
Quick note: They will meet Josh Pastner’s UNLV team on Pearl Harbor Day.
Two games Thursday as Pitt gets West Virginia in the Backyard Brawl and Cal travels to Kansas State.
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Thursday’s ACC action
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Pitt in West Virginia || 6:00 a.m. || FS1
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Cal at Kansas State || 9:00 a.m. || CBSSN
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