A-10/ACC Basketball Headlines 1.2.26

It's here! The glorious beginning of conference play is finally here! No more buy games! No more hours of stress against CAA teams! Each team in both the A-10 and ACC (save for SMU and Boston College) have played their opening game. Some came out looking great (Duquesne, George Washington, Virginia Tech, Louisville) and some aren't feeling so great (Rhode Island, Richmond, Stanford, Wake Forest).

So this all sets up well to keep this week's update entirely contained to the first twenty-four hours of conference games and the Three will focus on a trio of major takeaways in each league.

Atlantic Ten

Three Takeaways From The Opening Games:

-It's another year of the dominant centers: The signature matchup thus far was a battle between VCU's Lazar Djokovic (23 pts) and St. Bonaventure's Frank Mitchell (24 pts, 7 rebs). The most dominant individual player performance came from Rafael Castro of George Washington (27 pts on 10-12 fg), while Robbie Avila (20 pts, 8 asts) led Saint Louis in a blowout win. Even without giving extra weights to this quartet for starring in their lone A-10 game, they are the safest bets in the league for an eventual first team all-conference spot come March.

After last season's best A-10 players mostly played along the perimeter, we are headed back to the conference likely being decided in the paint. Every preparation against these teams will begin and end with trying to deal with their interior stars. The vast majority don't have the personnel to be prepared for it, but Davidson (with a healthy Sean Logan and an emerging JQ Roberts), Loyola Chicago (Miles Rubin), St. Joe's (Justice Ajogbor) and even Fordham (Rikus Schulte and Jack Whitbourne), may be properly equipped for an upset.

-But Duquesne has learned how to play without their domainant center: The A-10's next best interior offensive force has been Duquesne's John Hugley IV, who has not been with the team over the past three games. But things have fallen into place for the Dukes in his absence, as Tarence Guinyard is now the unquestioned engine, and his chemistry with Jimmie Williams has formed a dynamite scoring partnership on the perimeter.

Meanwhile, David Dixon played the best game of his career in the win over Davidson, attacking rebounds with fervor, but meeting offensive players in the paint with discipline. When Dixon is able to stay on the court, he and Jakub Necas form their own fantastic defensive partnership. The Dukes also have a pair of big bodies behind Dixon in Lazar Milosevic and Stef Van Bussel. For Duquesne to seriously challenge for a double bye, they likely need both Hugley's scoring and the best version of Dixon, but if they keep trotting out the lineup from their opener, the Dukes' floor is that of a middle of the pack team.

-Oh no Rhode Island: Loyola Chicago arrived in Kingston with the 343rd ranked defense in the country. Against Rhode Island, they posted a defensive efficiency rating that was better than Michigan's nation leading number. It was a massively disappointing offensive performance for the Rams, especially coming off of a season best scoring performance for the bench group of Alex Crawford, RJ Johnson, Jalen Harper and Damone King (53 pts vs Northeastern, 19 vs Loyola).

Rhode Island simply doesn't have the offensive engines to survive both an inefficient game from Jonah Hinton (3-16 fg) and an unimpactful performance from Myles Corey (6 pts). With the expection of the Northeastern win, they have been almost solely dependent on that duo and Tyler Cochran to carry the scoring load. A Hinton led 46 point 2nd half at Yale in November put URI on a promising path, but their conference opener has them looking straight at a potential return to the dreaded A-10 opening round Pillow Fight.

Game Of The Week: Duquesne 89, Davidson 83 (2OT)

In a first for Duquesne, the Dukes won at Belk Arena to improve to 1-6 off exit 30 of I-77, which was named for Davidson alum Steph Curry in a halftime ceremony. And you'd better believe that this game was enthralling enough for the greatest shooter of all-time to stick around through both overtimes, despite a matinee for the Warriors the next day. Davidson guards Sam Brown and Robert Blums (23 combined 2nd half points) did their best to shoot the Dukes out the gym in regulation, but after Alex Williams hit a game-tying three in the closing seconds, the Wildcats couldn't take advantage of chances to win on the final possessions of the 2nd half and 1st overtime. After that, a few deep threes from Tarence Guinyard and a great 2nd overtime for Jimmie Williams pulled Duquesne to victory.

Statline Of The Week: Tre Dinkins (George Washington): 22 points (8-11 3pt), 8 rebounds, 8 assists in 99-85 win over Richmond

Weekend Game To Watch: VCU at Duquesne, Saturday at Noon on USA Network

Another previously lopsided history for the Dukes (on a 4-2 run after starting 0-7 against the Rams), VCU comes to town looking for their first road victory of the season, ahead of a massive Wednesday clash with Saint Louis. Lazar Djokovic will try to make me look like a fool for all of the praise I just heaped on Duquesne's frontcourt, and will be a great test of David Dixon's discipline for keeping his hands up. Meanwhile, the Rams desire to shoot far more threes than their opponents (+9.0 margin per game) will really be tested by the Dukes' aggressive group of guards.

Sickos Game To Watch: Davidson at Loyola Chicago, Wednesday at 9:00 on CBSSN

The struggling Wildcats are in desperate need of momentum shifting victories on their road trip to Philadephia (St. Joe's) and Chicago. The Ramblers need a home win over Dayton or in this game to prove that they have indeed improved since their 1-7 Thanksgiving nadir (although the Chicago State loss came after that). Davidson's guards should have a field day against such a poor three point defense, but Loyola's weakness as of late has been great games from players at the top of the scouting report, while they've done quite well at slowing down the ensembles. That puts the pressure on Sam Brown and Parker Frierichsen to build off their great opening night showings, while staying away from Miles Rubin at the rim.

This week's 3 Bid League podcast featured a discussion with Richmond coach Chris Mooney, plus a full A-10 conference play preview.

ACC

Three Takeaways From The Opening Games:

-There may not be an ACC title favorite: Duke reinforced that they aren't nearly the same dominant powerhouse as last season in a grind it out home victory over Georgia Tech (the Yellow Jackets really seem to play up or down to their competition this year). Their dominant big man triumvirate smashed GT's strong interior group on the glass (42-28), and the addition of Cayden Boozer into the rotating starting spot freed up Isaiah Evans and Caleb Foster to just have to look for catch and shoots. But the Blue Devils are getting nothing from the bench beyond Maliq Brown's defense and rebounding, and the new, smaller starting group couldn't defend the arc (10-18 from three).

The night before, Louisville sent a message, going out west and blowing out Cal without Mikel Brown Jr in the lineup. With concern mounting for the Cardinals after the loss to Tennessee that was also sans Brown, Adrian Wooley proved again that he can step in and fill in the loss of scoring (21 pts on 9-14 fg, following 19 pts vs Tennessee). But the major difference this time around was that Louisville managed to find sufficient playmaking (only 8 assists vs Tennessee), with Ryan Conwell taking on a bit of the point guard responsibilities, and Aly Khalifa reminding everyone in limited minutes that he is an elite passing center (4 assists each). Get Brown back soon, and Louisville will be nearly even with Duke going forward. And this is to say nothing of North Carolina, who nonchalantly took care of Florida State at home.

-Virginia Tech is putting the power in power forward: The extended absence of Toibu Lawal had been reeking havoc on Virginia Tech's rotations since Thanksgiving, overtaxing Amani Hansberry and forcing Mike Young to often play four guards (since they have no wing size). They tried Antonio Dorn, who proved to be nothing more than a big body, but his injury opened a door for the Hokies, forcing freshman Christian Gurdak into the starting lineup. In those three games as a starter, Gurdak has averaged 15.7 ppg and 11.0 rpg, including 19 rebounds in the win over Virginia.

Gurdak's emergence should lessen the burden on Hansberry (32.4 mpg despite three foul outs) and Lawal (33.2 mpg outside of the game he got hurt) going forward, and all of a sudden Virginia Tech may have an elite bench once they return to full health. Ben Hammond continues to be one of the most underrated players in college basketball, which was once again reinforced by his MVP performance in the Virginia win (see below), while Jaden Schutt is top ten in the ACC in made threes.

-Will Wade got mad, and it seems to have worked: We've all seen the clip by now, of NC State coach Will Wade berating his players' defensive effort after a win over Texas Southern. It was a moment that, in the player movement era could have easily backfired. The Wolfpack's high priced roster could have seen it as him just being a jag, or they could have really bought in. The immediate aftermath saw the Wolfpack hold Ole Miss to a 26 point 1st half, allowing the Rebels to shoot just 40% from the field for the duration of the game. Against Wake Forest, they took it to another level, holding the Demon Deacons to 34% shooting, shutting out Nate Calmese and limiting Juke Harris to 2-10 from three.

Changes in effort like this can always be temporary, although motivation shouldn't be much of an issue for the next game, a national tv showdown in Raleigh against a ranked Virginia team. But after that, the schedule is about as soft as it can be in a competent ACC, with games against Boston College, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Pitt and Syracuse (plus a rematch with Wake Forest) in January. Can NC State maintain their focus and intensity over this lesser stretch of opponents? If so, a 9-0 ACC record and a national ranking could be on the table before their signature games begin.

Game Of The Week: Virginia Tech 95, #21 Virginia 85 (3OT)

A huge victory for the ailing Hokies without Toibu Lawal and Tyler Johnson, and one that should have been wrapped up in the 2nd overtime. Down four with seven seconds left, Virginia's Malik Thomas (who had been strangely benched up to that point), hit an off-balance three, then Ben Hammond missed his first free throw (he made the second). Thomas missed an attempt at a game-winner, but Chance Mallory slipped in for a tip at the buzzer to tie the game. After that, Virginia Tech dominated the 3rd overtime. Despite his late mistakes, Hammond powered the Hokies through the overtime with 20 points across the extra periods and a few major defensive takeaways.

Statline Of The Week: Caleb Wilson (UNC): 22 points, 16 rebounds, 6 assists in 79-66 win over Florida State

Weekend Game To Watch: #21 Virginia at NC State, Saturday at 11:00 AM on ESPN2

As mentioned above, this is the last big test for the Wolfpack before the schedule eases up, a chance for this re-energized defense to try and prove itself against the third best offense in the ACC in a standalone national television spot. Virginia comes in off the rivalry loss to Virginia Tech still seeking a real signature win to cement themselves as a bona fide ACC contender. Thjis De Ridder and Johann Grunloh could be a serious issue for the Wolfpack in the rebounding department, and second chance points may be the Cavaliers best chance at victory. On the other end, will they willfully give up eight inches to deploy undersized pest Chance Mallory against the turnover prone NC State engine Quadir Copeland?

Sickos Game To Watch: Notre Dame at California, Friday at 11:00 PM on ESPN2

Fresh off of an embarrassing loss, where they were dominated from beginning to end by Louisville, Cal's status as a breakout team and a bubble contender will all of a sudden look quite tedious if they can't bounce against the Fighting Irish, who comfortably beat Stanford with just 47 points scored. Can the Golden Bears big forwards (John Camden, Chris Bell) slow down Jalen Haralson, who is steadily improving by the game? This may be yet another game where they really miss Rytis Petraitis. Meanwhile, the speed of Justin Pippen and Dai Dai Ames could be a serious problem for Notre Dame's on ball defense and in closing out on shooters.

Up The Coasts podcast was off this week, and will return early next week. However, there was an ACC conference preview episode last week.