As Day 1 of the ACC Tournament progresses, here are some court-side observations in our Tuesday afternoon notebook.
- Ted Kapita made his third start of the season against Clemson, and his first since a non-conference matchup with Tennessee State last December. Omer Yurtseven subbed in for him after only a few minutes of action.
- No Markell Johnson for the Clemson game; he was on the bench, dressed, but did not play:
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Dennis Smith Jr., 0-5 from the floor, gets a break and Torin Dorn is at the point. We won't be seeing Markell Johnson today
— Joe Giglio (@jwgiglio) March 7, 2017
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- A BeeJay Anya sighting with 14:42 left in the second half.
- Clemson did an excellent job bottling up Dennis Smith Jr., who was held to just seven points; it was just the third time all season he’s been held to single-digit scoring.
- Clemson trapped Smith on pick-and-rolls. When Anya was the screener, this was especially problematic: The Tigers wasted absolutely zero time ignoring the senior big man and sending both defenders to Smith.
- Shelton Mitchell of Clemson on the ACC Tournament being in Brooklyn: “I was kind of disappointed, to be honest with you (smiles). I grew up in North Carolina. I’m just used to always seeing the ACC Tournament in Greensboro. This is my first time being in New York, so it’s pretty cool.”
- Brad Brownell’s response, joking: “Oh, we didn’t make any fans there.”
- Mark Gottfried, after the loss to Clemson, on his time at NC State: “It’s a great place. It’s a tough situation because of some of those things (expectations, playing so close to Duke and UNC). But I wouldn’t trade my experience here for anything in the world. Would not trade it. Loved every second of it.”
- With 5:04 left in the first half, Ky Bowman of Boston College looked to injure his ankle; the Eagles were trailing by just four at that juncture, and managed to hold things together, trailing by just six, 38-44.
- John Collins and Bryant Crawford of Wake Forest combined for just one made field goal in the first 20 minutes against Boston College; Crawford did, however, make nine free throws.
- Bowman receives a round of applause as he returns to the bench in crutches.
- Collins shook loose for his second field goal at 13:39 in the second half — a monster two-handed slam, which pushes Wake’s lead to 62-53.
- John Collins did not record a single assist, but he had some really nice looks — including a skip pass, following a BC double team that found, Austin Arians. Arians made the extra pass and hit Bryant Crawford for a three-pointer.