This first edition of the ACC Basketball Notebook will look at the decisions of Pitt’s Ryan Murphy along with Georgia Tech’s Evan Cole’s decision to transfer.
Ryan Murphy has decided that one season at Pitt was enough. The junior college transfer has entered the NCAA transfer portal, according to Stockrisers Jake Weingarten, as a grad transfer thus, he will be immediately eligible. His departure from Pitt means that he will have spent time at four different schools as the 6-2 guard started his career at Charlotte and then spent one season at New Mexico Junior College before landing with the Panthers.
Murphy was impressive during the early going this season, hitting double-figures in each contest of his first four contests and averaging 15.5 points, 3.8 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 2.2 3-pointers while shooting 47.3 percent from beyond the arc during this stretch. However, the Calabassas (Calif.) native’s production severely took a nosedive down the stretch — during a time which he also suffered a concussion — as he only hit double-digits just twice in his last 16 games and finished the season averaging 7.6 points a game on 36.2% shooting from the field as well as knocking down 1.4 treys at a 33.1% clip.
It is currently unknown where Murphy may end up next year, but he did previously hold offers from Cal Poly, Loyola Marymount, Pacific, UC Riverside, UC Santa Barbara, as well as Texas Tech and Washington, among others.
Evan Cole among a trio of Yellow Jackets to leave the program
Reserve big man Evan Cole is among three Georgia Tech players who have recently entered the NCAA transfer portal. Cole was the first to decide to leave the program, per Ashley Barnett of Sports Illustrated, as he announced his decision on March 9. Cole is slated to graduate in May and has one year of eligibility remaining.
The 6-10 forward was very productive when given ample minutes, but he was situated behind senior James Banks III and junior Moses Wright, both of whom averaged 30 minutes a game. While Cole scored in double-figures just twice in his 27 appearances last season, he produced a solid 14.1 points and 11.4 rebounds per 40 minutes while shooting 47.1% from the field. The Cumming (Ga.) native is an outstanding offensive rebounder and solid defensive rebounder with the ability to stretch the floor a little though he is at his best around the rim.
Freshman
and sophomore
also recently entered the transfer portal on March 11. Price, a three-star recruit, struggled all season long as he averaged 0.74 points per shot while making just 29.2% of his attempts from the field and 12.9% from the 3-point line in 15 appearances. He scored at least five points on three occasions with his best performance coming against Elon (Nov. 11), where the Columbia (SC) native tallied five points along with 10 rebounds, one block, and a steal. The 6-5 guard chose the Yellow Jackets over offers from Kansas State, Coastal Carolina, among others.
Sjolund is transferring after taking a redshirt this past season on the behest of coach Josh Pastner. The 6-8 forward originally entered the transfer portal last semester but ultimately decided to stay with the team through the remainder of the year. Sjolund showed some of his shooting potential late in his freshman campaign. The Obra D. Tompkins high school (Katy, TX) product saw at least 18 minutes of action in five of the last seven contests, where the Norweigan native compiled 40 points and made 9 of 27 (33.3%) shots from long-distance. He averaged 3.0 points on 35.7% shooting from the field and 33.3% from the 3-point line for the 2018-19 season.
Georgia Tech won four straight and nine of 12 to finish in fifth place in the ACC with a 17-14 overall record. The Yellow Jacket will have to replace Banks, who led the team in blocks and rebounds, which makes losing Sjolund and Cole a little dicier.
The good news is that guards Michael Devoe, Jose Alvarado, Jordan Usher, and Wright return. The Jackets also have options to replace Cole with forward David Didenko or three-star incoming freshman power forward Jordan Meka. Tech also has signed 6-3 three-star shooting guard Tristian Maxwell and 7-0 Georgian national Saba Gigiberia.
Brad Brownell to remain at Clemson
It was announced on Friday that Clemson head coach Brad Brownell would return for his 11th season. After an 0-3 start to their ACC campaign, the Tigers won nine of their next 17 contests to finish 16-15 overall and 9-11 in conference play, marking the seventh straight season that the program has finished above .500. The Tigers, who were without two key players — Chase Hunter and Jonathan Baehre — for most of the year, earned wins over No. 3 Duke, No. 5 Louisville and No. 6 Florida State. They also defeated North Carolina in Chapel Hill for the first time.
Brownell is the winningest coach in program history as he has posted a 185-142 record in 10 seasons. The 51-year-old has directed the Tigers to five postseason appearances, including three NCAA bids.
Clemson will lose second-leading scorer Tevin Mack and Curren Scott, a key reserve, but other than that, the Tigers will be in good shape as I expect Aamir Simms to continue his trend of improving every year. John Newman III and Al-Amir Dawes have shown the ability to be quality scorers though they have to be more consistent, particularly from beyond the arc, as both players shot below 33% from there.
Plus, Brownell has the 43rd best-recruiting class, according to 247Sports, coming in next year despite having signed just two players — with four-star forward PJ Hall and three-star forward Olivier-Maxence Prosper.
All-ACC Team revealed
The ACC revealed its 2019-20 all-conference squad, last Monday (March 9), and Duke was the big winner with Tre Jones and Vernon Carey Jr., taking home the top three player honors. Jones was named both the conference’s Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year. The 6-3 sophomore point guard produced an offensive rating of 113.1 as he finished with 16.2 points (fifth in ACC), 6.4 assists (second), and 1.6 steals (sixth) while shooting 42.3% (11th) from the field. Jones was also 10th in the conference in defensive win shares.
Meanwhile, Carey was named Rookie of the Year as a first-team all-conference selection. The 6-10 center was third in the conference in scoring (17.8), third in rebounds (8.8), fifth in blocks (1.6), and first in field goal percentage (57.7%). Carey produced 15 double-doubles which included 10 20-10 outings and 14 15-10 games.
Other award winners were Florida State’s Leonard Hamilton (Coach of the Year), Garrison Brooks (Most Improved Player), and FSU’s Patrick Williams (Sixth-Man of the Year).
Hamilton led the Seminoles to the best record in the ACC (26-4, 16-4 conference) and a No. 4 national ranking. It is FSU’s first regular-season ACC title in program history, and they were also awarded the ACC Tournament title championship which marks their second. The 26 regular-season wins and 16 ACC victories are a program record. Hamilton has now been named the top coach in the conference three times (2009, 2012, 2020) and for the fifth time ever as he was also the Big East COY (twice).
The Seminoles ranked 64th in the nation in offensive rankings (107.3) and 41st in defensive rankings (93.6). The 71-year-old, who is 379-221 in 16 seasons with the program, was not the only FSU member to be honored as he was joined by Williams, Devin Vassell (second-team all-conference), Trent Forrest (2nd), and MJ Walker (honorable mention).
Wiliams came off the bench in all 29 games that he appeared in and averaged 9.2 points along with four rebounds, one block, and one steal while shooting 45.9% from the field. He scored in double-figures 13 times. Meanwhile, Brooks had an impressive season and proved to be the most consistent Tar Heel as he saw his minutes increase by over 11 a game, his scoring was up (7.9-to-16.8), as was his rebounds (5.6-to-8.5). Brooks produced 12 double-doubles and scored in double-figures in 26 of his 32 outings, which includes topping the 20-point mark on 20 occasions and the 30-point plateau twice.
Other honorees include Louisville’s Jordan Nwora (1st team), Notre Dame’s John Mooney(1st), Syracuse’s Elijah Hughes (1st), Virginia’s Mamadi Diakite (2nd) and Kihei Clark (3rd), North Carolina State’s Markell Johnson, Georgia Tech’s Jose Alvarado (3rd), Clemson’s Aamir Sims (3rd), UNC’s Cole Anthony (3rd), and Wake Forest’s Olivier Sarr (3rd).
Other notes
- Boston College’s Steffon Mitchell led the ACC and tied for 16th in the nation with 68 steals in 31 games. At 6-8, he is the tallest player among the top 30 players.
- Georgia Tech finished above .500 for the first time since 2003-04 as the Yellow Jackets posted an 11-9 record. It was also the first time that the Jackets had at least a .500 record in league play since 2006-07.
- Louisville’s Jordan Nwora did not only have an outstanding season on the court but he also had a strong showing in the classroom as well, being named to the 2019-20 Academic All-America men’s basketball second-team. Nwora compiled seven double-doubles and he averaged 18.0 points along with 7.7 rebounds, and 2.5 trifectas while shooting 44% from the field and 40.2% from the 3-point line.
- Miami’s Dejan Vasiljevic, who finished sixth in the ACC with 73 3-pointers, has made at least 50 in each of his four collegiate campaigns and has moved up to No. 17 on ACC’s career list with 272.
- UNC’s Cole Anthony finished his injury-plagued freshman campaign with 18.5 points, 5.7 rebounds, four assists, and 2.2 assists though he shot just 38% from the field and 34.4% from beyond the arc. Anthony scored in double-figures in 19 of 22 games, which included eight games of 20 or more points and five contests of at least 25, which tied the second most mark by a Tar Heel freshman behind only Rashad McCants, who had six such performances.
- NC State’s Markell Johnson led the ACC with 7.3 dimes a game and now ranks 18th all-time in conference history with 610, which is also the third most ever in NC State history.
- Notre Dame’s John Mooney had a tremendous season as he finished sixth in the ACC with 16.2 points and topped the conference with 12.3 boards a game, which was also the second-most in the nation. The 6-9 power forward also topped the ACC in offensive rebounds with 113 and the country with 280 defensive boards.
- Syracuse’s Bourama Sidibe closed out the 2019-20 season by hauling in 10 or more rebounds in each of his last six contests, becoming the first Orange player to accomplish the feat in at least five straight games since Tyler Lydon in 2016-17. The 6-10 junior forward made tremendous strides in year three as he finished the campaign with 6.0 points, 7.2 rebounds and 1.4 blocks a game.
- Virginia led the nation in scoring defense, for the fourth consecutive season, at 52.4 points a game as they held 12 of their 30 opponents to 50 or fewer points. The Cavaliers also limited their opponents to 36.9% shooting from the field, which was second-best in the nation, and 29.3% from the 3-point line (17th). The Wahoos also finished with the best defensive rating in the country at 85.8.
- Virginia Tech’s Landers Nolley II, an ACC All-Conference honorable mention selection, became the first freshmen to lead the Hokies in scoring since joining the conference at 15.5 points a game. Nolley scored in double-figures in 25 of his 32 appearances, which include nine 20-point contests.