Hidden Drama Unfolds in ACC: Thursday’s Quiet Before Friday’s Unmissable Showdown!

Thursday’s ACC slate brought a flurry of action that’s hard to overlook. Louisville flexed its muscle again, dispatching Jackson State with a 106-70 shellacking that reinforced the Cards’ early-season might. Boston College didn’t break a sweat against the Citadel, cruising to a 76-47 victory. Meanwhile, Miami’s defense showcased some serious chops by holding Bethune-Cookman to an abysmal shooting night, finishing at 101-61. SMU staved off a tough challenge from Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, ultimately pulling away 69-58, while Cal barely held on versus Wright State, edging out a 77-67 win. Each team showed glimpses of promise but left some questions hanging — hey, it’s still early in the season! The storylines are shaping up nicely as we barrel toward Friday’s heavy schedule, highlighted by a must-see matchup between Kansas and Carolina. Stay tuned — there’s a lot more basketball to unfold. LEARN MORE

In Thursday’s ACC Action, Louisville beat Jackson State 106-70, BC conquered the Citadel 76-47, Miami knocked of Bethune-Cookman 101-61, SMU got by Texas A&M-Corpus Christ 69-58 and Cal survived Wright State 77-67.

Louisville was ridiculous in its opener against South Carolina State and while it wasn’t as dominant in this one, it was pretty impressive. The Cards got 50 points in the paint and owned the boards, 49 to 29. On the offensive boards it was 15-7.

Surprisingly, they only got 15 second chance points. Star freshman Mikel Brown had nine assists and Khani Rooths got 10 rebounds. Louisville hit 10-33 threes and 52.2 percent overall.

We’re a bit surprised they only forced 12 turnovers, but the Cardinals did hold Jackson State to 39.7 percent from the floor. We’re also a little surprised that Pat Kelsey was fairly stingy with minutes, but that’ll probably change.

Boston College took care of the Citadel behind a solid game from Donald Hand, who finished with 18 though he shot poorly.

Chase Forte had 12 but no one else got to double figures. Didn’t matter. It was an easy win for BC after a tough opening loss to FAU.

Miami made sure that Arterio Morris was a minimal factor for Bethune-Cookman and limited him to just four points on 1-13 from the floor in a highly impressive early showing by Jai Lucas’s defense. The Wildcats shot just 31.8 percent overall and 21.4 on threes. Tre Donaldson had 23 points and four assists. Malik Reneau shot 9-12 and finished with 22 points, six rebounds and five assists. Ernest Udeh pulled down 10 boards.

SMU got more of a game from the Islanders than we expected and with 4:02 left, it was just a two point game. The Mustangs struggled but ultimately pulled away in the end. Boopie Miller led the way with 14 points. Big man Samet Yigitoglu had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. It wasn’t a great game but it’s still early.

Cal struggled with Wright State early before pulling away in the first half and taking a 34-28 lead to the locker room. Dai Dai Ames, who wasn’t that great at Virginia last season, had 23 points. Former Syracuse player Chris Bell had 12. Cal didn’t look very impressive but again, it’s early.

On Friday we have a full slate but one game will get the most attention as Kansas visits Carolina, which means we get to see Darryn Peterson and Caleb Wilson going at it. That should be a lot of fun and revealing.

Here is the complete list of Friday’s games. In a minor note, former NC State basketball player Andy Kennedy, who spent his freshman year with the Pack under Jim Valvano, returns to Raleigh as head coach of UAB.