The ACC season started with Boston College’s 61-60 win over Miami two Sundays ago, then immediately went into hibernation for two weeks. That ends tonight with Florida State visiting 22nd-ranked Georgia Tech and N.C. State heading to Winston-Salem to meet Wake Forest.
ACC Doubleheader Highlights Sunday’s College Basketball Slate
SB Nation’s Florida State site, Tomahawk Nation, has a comprehensive preview of the first game, which features a Q&A with our Yellow Jackets blog, From The Rumble Seat.
The matchup in Atlanta will feature a great battle inside as FSU's Solomon Alabi has to contend with both Gani Lawal and heralded freshman Derrick Favors.
Since this is the first many of you will see of Favors, here’s some of what From The Rumble Seat had to say about him in the Q&A.
I think it’s hard to talk about Favors without comparing him to Gani. Both players are dominant as individuals and unstoppable as a one-two punch. In our early season schedule, no one’s really dealt with both of them effectively. That being said, Gani is the more refined basketball player. He has more low post moves and a smoother shot. He also has the most hustle of any player on our team. Derrick is a little bit more of a raw player and not quite the game changer that some of the most outrageous hype led us to believe. And maybe that’s because we’ve got another great forward to compare him to directly.
Derrick’s game is all about speed. He gets a ton of blocks and can get up the court with our trademark CPH transition offense. And sometimes his speed hurts him as he’s leading the team in fouls/game. He’s either too aggressive or the refs have just never seen a big man move to the ball as quick as Derrick can. Playing the refs’ game is something Derrick hasn’t quite picked up yet.
Georgia Tech's freshman point guard Mfon Udofia and Florida State's first-year shooting guard Michael Snaer are just two others making their ACC debut tonight.
In the second game, N.C. State, fresh off a three-point win over Elon on Thursday, visits Wake Forest, who beat that same Phoenix team by 40 last Sunday. Jake and Martin over at our Demon Deacons’ blog, Blogger So Dear, have a preview up for this one. They hope Wake isn’t overconfident because of the easy win over Elon and provide a couple of keys for the Deacs on offense.
On the other end of the floor, Wake will most likely look to take advantage of Ish Smith's quickness against the N.C. State guards and establish Al-Farouq Aminu from close range. Aminu started the season on the wing, but has moved to the power forward spot in the starting lineup to give C.J. Harris an opportunity to help Wake on the offensive end. If Aminu can be effective without forcing the issue while cleaning up on the boards, it may get Tracy Smith in foul trouble as well.
You can discuss both ACC games here on SB Nation, as all four teams are covered.
Florida State 66, No. 22 Georgia Tech 59 (OT)
The Seminoles picked up a big ACC road win, as they knocked off the Yellow Jackets for the fourth straight time.
Seminole preview and game discussion at Tomahawk Nation
Yellow Jacket game discussion at From The Rumble Seat
Wake Forest 67, N.C. State 59
Ishmael Smith had 10 points, 7 assists and 2 steals to lead the Demon Deacons to a win in their ACC opener.
Wolfpack live blog and game discussion at Backing The Pack
Demon Deacon preview and game discussion at Blogger So Dear
For a full listing of Sunday's action, visit Blogging the Bracket.
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