Yeah, I know — it’s not 8 a.m. but it’s a Monday, so deal with it. You should be honored by our lateness:
- N.C. State went west along I-40 Sunday to face off against Wake Forest for like the one millionth time; Cat Barber played 40 minutes (he’s currently averaging 41.33 minutes per game in conference games right now, by the way) and scored 26 points, but the Wolfpack fall to the Deacs 77-74, which drops them to 0-3 in the ACC.
- On the other side of the coin, Danny Manning’s crew scoops up their first league win of 2016; once again, Devin Thomas was dominant: 20 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals and a block. That’s three straight double-doubles for DT — two of which have been 20-10 performances. Beast.
- North Carolina welcomed Jim Boeheim back to basketball Saturday night, defeating Syracuse 84-73 at the Carrier Dome. UNC dropped 51 points after intermission, and Isaiah Hicks looked awesome again: 21 points on just five shots (all of which were two-point field goals). Seems efficient, no?
Good to have Jimmy B back, but gotta admit: I’m a little disappointed he didn’t finish that fire mixtape of his to go with this glorious piece of cover art while he had time off from coaching. Oh well. Streets will be watching, tho.
- Duke looked scary good offensively Saturday against Virginia Tech, especially during their 52 points first half performance. Marshall Plumlee had 21 points, Brandon Ingram blocked six shots and Derryck Thornton had seven assists as the Blue Devils cruised 82-58 over Tech.
- In attendance Saturday in Durham was none other than the head coach of your 15-1 Carolina Panthers, Ron Rivera, who went all Analytical Ron to help the replay officials in Cameron:
There's @RiverboatRonHC trying to decide whether or not to challenge the play. pic.twitter.com/QKGpzVwdJL
— SportsChannel8 (@SportsChannel8) January 9, 2016
His appearance also produced this gem, too:
.@Panthers coach @RiverboatRonHC used the bye week to check out Duke at Cameron Indoor: https://t.co/4LHlUtSRTq pic.twitter.com/duoLUEkJTh
— CBS Sports CBB (@CBSSportsCBB) January 10, 2016
Coach K and Rivera apparently went over some blocking schemes following the game. This was an interesting meeting of the minds for Rivera, to be honest. Duke — under Coach K — is notorious for drawing charges, and avoiding block foul calls from the zebras. Hmmm.
- While good times were aplenty in Durham over the weekend, the same can’t be said about the Charlotte Hornets, who entered play Saturday against the Clippers riding a five-game losing streak. Well, after falling to Chris Paul and the Clips that afternoon, the Buzz got Nic Batum back for Sunday’s showdown in Denver, which the Nuggs won 95-92. Steve Clifford’s squad has dropped seven in a row now, including two recent L’s to two of the weaker Western Conference opponents: Phoenix and Denver. On the bright side, they did get to hang out in Denver for a day. Break out the headband(s), boys. Our friends at At The Hive can sum up my current mood in one excellent tweet:
Looking at the Hornets like pic.twitter.com/Zck2clwmTP
— At The Hive (@At_The_Hive) January 11, 2016
- Poor Blair Walsh, you guys. But really. Seriously. That was painful to watch. With 26 second remaining, and the Vikings trailing by a mere point to the Seahawks, Walsh toed the line for a 27-yard chip shot field goal. However, the righty kicker hooked it wide left, and Seattle escaped with a 10-9 victory in arctic weather conditions.
Ugh, this is agonizing to watch. It also means that the Panthers — the NFC’s top seed — will have to play the sixth-seeded Seahawks; I’m sure Rodney Harrison is giddy with excitement.
- I’ll be honest — I didn’t watch one minute of this Green Bay-Washington game yesterday, which saw the Packers go to Landover and roll easily 35-18; I was too busy watching Leo DiCaprio get run over by bears in The Revenant, which, good god, was intense. Much more intense than this joke of a game. Also, never forget, y’all:
