UNC, Duke, NCSU men's basketball, Signing Day Rankings, and Canes are back on ice

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Exclusively on Peacock. Duke, Carolina, and State all got wins yesterday. All three of them. And it was some fun basketball. We'll start with the two ranked teams. Duke and Carolina because they also played other ranked teams.

So let's go ahead and dive into those first. So Duke got a nice 78-70 win over number 10 Baylor. Up at Madison Square Garden. So home game. Home game for Duke, I guess you could say.

Yeah. This one was a bit of a grind for Duke. Now, first real true signature good win for Duke this season. They've played some good teams. They've played against Arizona. They played that game at home. They played Michigan State at the time was ranked, but we're realizing Michigan State maybe isn't that good. They played at Arkansas. So they've played some good games so far, but haven't had that signature win as of yet.

This one was that. It was a bit of a grind for Duke. There were some cold stretches scoring. John Shire relied heavily on his starting five and only three guys off the bench played a combined total of 21 minutes.

We'll get into that in a little bit. And it's a young lineup as a whole, but they were able to make big plays down the stretch. Here's John Shire talking about, hey, being able to play this game in Madison Square Garden against a top team like Baylor was a bit of an honor. What an honor to play in MSG. You know, this has been a special place for us, especially to play right before Christmas, this kind of game.

It's going to be hard to do it going forward, depending on the ACC schedule. But just seeing the crowd show up and all the Duke fans in New York, what a special thing for these guys. I know they love playing in it. It's great coaching in it. And to play a team like Baylor, to get tested by a team who really had coming in top five offense in the country, you know, best three-point shooting team, top five offensive rebounding team.

And obviously they have a great culture. They've been a winning program. So it was an honor for us to play them. And Baylor was good last night.

Don't get me wrong. That three-point shooting that Shire just talked about, they're eight of 18, so 44%, which is good, which is really good shooting from outside the yard. But this is where Duke, a little bit down the stretch, I thought, made the big plays when it was necessary. And they had to do it for a stretch late with Kyle Filipowski on the bench. With just over seven minutes left, Kyle Filipowski picked up his fourth foul. Now, Filipowski struggled a bit shooting from the floor. He did have a double-double yesterday, but him being in foul trouble late, it was, all right, we got to go to the perimeter now. Because when Jay Billis actually brought this up during the broadcast yesterday, when you take Kyle Filipowski off the floor and it's Ryan Young and Mark Mitchell as your two post players, there's no threat of outside shooting, really, from either of those guys. So it can change how you play defense because you don't have a seven-footer like Filipowski that can potentially stretch the floor. So things do change for Duke in that regard, but Duke heavily in this game early on was looking at using Jeremy Roach and Filipowski in pick-and-roll situations, allowing guys like Foster and McCain possibly to play a little bit off the ball. So we saw a lot of that two-man game early on. But Filipowski, with seven and a half minutes or so left in a tight game, had to go to the bench with four fouls.

But we saw Duke pull away a little bit late, and they were able to, again, grind out that 78-70 win. McCain had a big three-pointer late. Jeremy McCain, by the way, 21 points. Jeremy Roach was awesome, 18 points for him.

We'll get into that in just a moment. But McCain, late in the game, it was Jeremy Roach and Ryan Young that ran a pick-and-roll. Ryan Young has the ball now going down the lane, kicks it out to the corner to the wing to McCain, who had a big three late. That's a big-time moment for a freshman. Jared McCain, a freshman, to hit a shot like that against the number 10 team at Madison Square Garden.

Like I said, McCain was great. He had 21 points. Roach, as I said, had 18. And Jeremy Roach was the calming force out there on the floor.

Because like I said, John Shire relied heavily on his starting five. Blake's off the bench played 10 minutes. T.J. Power played three. Ryan Young played eight minutes off the bench.

That's it. No Tyrese Proctor. He's still battling the ankle injury. Christian Reeves still out as well due to injury. So you're relying heavily on your starting five.

They're starting five. Filipowski, Mark Mitchell, just sophomores. McCain and Foster, freshmen.

But it was the senior Jeremy Roach that was the calming force. But those freshmen, like I talked about, McCain and Caleb Foster were big, and John Shire acknowledged them postgame. For Jared and for Caleb, as freshmen to be in this environment and have the games that they did, you know, Jared on offense, he's 21, and seven of 11 from three, very efficient. But also on defense, he's playing his butt off.

Caleb thought ran our team great. So, yeah, big-time game for each of those guys. Like you said, seven of 11 shooting overall for McCain. He was three of six from behind the arc.

Duke as a whole was only three, I'm sorry, four of 12. But between Roach and McCain, they combined for those four three-pointers because outside of that, Mitchell and Filipowski each missed a couple threes. But McCain and Roach were four of eight combined from behind the arc.

Those two guys were great. Foster had 12 points as well, had a couple of assists and five rebounds as well. So it was a grindout-style game. Duke got to the free-throw line a bunch, by the way. They got to the line 29 times in this game.

May 24 of them. That is where the difference, I think, was in this game. They get them getting to the free-throw line.

I still have concerns about Duke in the post. I feel teams are going to attack Kyle Filipowski in the post, and we actually saw Baylor do that last night. Hence why Filipowski got into foul trouble and had to come out down the stretch late. I think teams are really going to be physical with him in the low post, and we saw that last night. We saw that last night. So I think that's still something that John Steyer needs to figure out about defense down in the post. Do you give Ryan Young a few more minutes? Do you, when Christian Reeves comes back, do you start working him in, or is this how you're going to ride it this season?

That's something to be determined. So they got a win last night, also getting a win last night. North Carolina. This was probably UNC's best game of the year, in my opinion. And it's been a bit of a, this stretch of schedule for UNC has been a tough one.

And I respect the fact that both UNC and Duke are scheduling these tough games right now, by the way, early in the season. The Pack Therapy podcast is in session. Tim Donnelly here, host of The Drive and your guide for Pack Therapy. Every episode is your chance to score inside information on the Pack. We set you up for Wolfpack games all season long, and we break down the ACC competition, what to watch for as we roll towards the tournament madness, plus special guests to keep your Wolfpack hope alive.

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C terms and conditions, 18 plus. We've seen in recent games UNC play both UConn and Kentucky, so they've played a lot of nationally ranked teams. They played Tennessee already this season as well. But this one, over Oklahoma, 81-69, who was previously undefeated, was probably their best game overall this year, and Carolina's defense last night was awesome. Here's Hubert Davis on the defense last night versus Oklahoma. I thought we were really good defensively. You know, one of the things that Oklahoma is great at is getting consistent points in the paint, whether it's post, penetration, offensive rebounds. So it was a huge emphasis on us when they ran their action, which was mostly ball screens, to be, you know, protect the paint. And I thought that is what allowed us to get some steals and deflections and create 18 turnovers. I just, I do, I think the first half and overall defensively, I think that was our best effort of the season.

I 100% agree with Hubert Davis on that one. Like you said, 18 turnovers forced against Oklahoma yesterday. And something that I know that Hubert Davis has talked about for his team, he feels they're best when they're able to turn defense into offense and transition opportunities. We actually saw Carolina yesterday get 23 fast break points. 23 fast break points. And they got 24 points off of those 18 turnovers. So they were turning defense into offense. Harrison Ingram in the first half had four steals, multiple times leading to scoring opportunities.

There was actually a stretch. The team overall, by the way, Carolina had six blocks as well. When Carolina was up 34-24, Harrison Ingram as a weak side defender in the low post comes over, gets a block, ball goes out of bounds.

Very next shot, Baycott gets a block. Carolina comes down with a ball and it leads into a transition opportunity for Carolina. I think they end up getting fouled in transition. But that is something that Carolina was able to do yesterday, turn defense into offense. And I think that's what Carolina wants to do. They want to play with that tempo.

They want to play with that speed. And by the way, offensively, four players for Carolina. Double figure scoring led by R.J. Davis, who I thought was great yesterday. He had 23 points, five assists, zero turnovers for R.J. Davis yesterday.

Hit five three-pointers. Here's Hubert Davis talking about his star senior point guard. I wouldn't say it's a chip on the shoulder. I would just say it's growth. I know it's hard because collegiate sports, specifically basketball, you forget about the guys that stay till their senior year.

It used to be that way. Just every year you matured, you got better. He talked about, he talked about, and his teammates about his leadership. That's something that's a big difference this year compared to other years. For him to step up in so many different ways, he's an outstanding defensive player. He's really stepped it up on that end. And not just the 23 points, but the five assists and zero turnovers.

That's real. And so I'm just really happy for him. I feel like this is the first time that he is being celebrated, supported, encouraged, and noticed.

And I love it. It's the seventh time in his career he's had 20 and five. The first time he ever had no turnovers with 20 points and five assists.

Thanks, Chris. All right, so that's Steve Kirchner, who actually you heard on the Adam Gold Show earlier this week from North Carolina, talking about 20 points, five assists for R.J. Davis. First time he's done that without turning the ball over in his career. He's been absolutely outstanding. This was the seventh straight game where R.J. Davis has led Carolina in scoring.

Seventh straight. But one of my concerns with Carolina going into the last few games is, all right, outside of Baycott, outside of Davis, outside of Harrison Ingram, are you getting the contributions from the supporting cast outside of those big three? And I thought the supporting cast was good for Carolina yesterday. Speaking of Ingram, Ingram was solid all around. 11 points, seven rebounds, four steals, had the block that I'd mentioned. But he had a big shot late in the game as the shot clock was winding down. He had a, it was just inside the three-point line, takes a little bit of a runner off the glass and in that made it 75-67. If Oklahoma gets a stop there, they're only down five, they get a bucket, you're down to a one-possession game, that was a big shot by Harrison Ingram late.

But the supporting cast was good for Carolina when they needed it. Cormac Ryan followed up his 20-point game against Kentucky with 13 points last night. Wasn't his best shooting effort, but he had seven rebounds and was really good defensively as well. Seth Tremble had a big three-pointer that made it 52-41 in the second half.

It was a timely shot. He didn't really score a whole lot, but he made a timely shot when Carolina needed it to kind of stop a little bit of a run and to get back into a double-digit lead. Overall, like I said, Carolina forced 18 turnovers. This was arguably their best game so far this season, 81-69 over a previously unbeaten Oklahoma team. The top 10 win, I know it technically was a neutral site, but it was in Charlotte.

It was a home game, let's be real. But it was a big win for Carolina that put themselves a little bit through the grind with playing a bunch of really good teams. And I said yesterday that we saw against UConn, we saw against Kentucky that they were close, that they were right there, but right there obviously wasn't good enough because they weren't getting those wins. And yesterday they got that win and defensively was outstanding yesterday for Carolina.

Now the big question for both Duke and for Carolina, okay, you got wins against top 10 teams. How do you follow it up? Keep it going. How do you follow it up? That's my big thing.

Everyone gets capable of having a moment and getting a big win or having a big game. How do you follow it up? That's the next thing.

How do you follow it up? But great wins for both Carolina and Duke yesterday. Big wins for the ACC on national stages. Both those games prime time on ESPN, national stage, ranked opponents, ACC showing up.

I love it. Look at Duke in their prime times. Hey, Duke and Carolina.

Football and basketball. Hey, look at them both. I know. Look at them go.

They're so fancy. Also getting a win on the hardwood yesterday. A little bit more of a struggle yesterday, but NC State got the win over St. Louis, 82 to 70. NC State was trailing at halftime in this one, 36-33. I had to catch up on this one because I was, you know, they played the same time as Duke.

So I had to catch up a little bit on this game. But I still am wondering how NC State is putting things together in terms of building this chemistry on the fly, because MJ Rice just, again, coming back into the lineup. He only played two minutes yesterday, by the way, did MJ Rice. Cam Woods also coming into the lineup, just played four minutes yesterday, even though Cam Woods in their previous game played 18. So I'm curious to see how NC State is still mixing everything together because they have a lot of guard depth. And in the post outside of DJ Burns, I know Ben Middlebrooks yesterday had nine points, which is good. Can he do that again?

Much like we talked about with Duke Carolina, how do you follow that up? Ben Middlebrooks playing 15 minutes off the bench, getting nine points. Muhammad Yara only played three minutes yesterday. DJ Burns, 13 points for him once again. Casey Morsell had a solid game. He actually probably kind of broke out a little bit of a slump for himself.

He was 4'6 from behind the arc, 8'11 overall. But still a little bit of a struggle for Kevin Keats and his squad. Kevin Keats actually talked about, hey, you know what? This time of year, which I fully acknowledge, it's kind of hard for teams, especially the inconsistency with scheduling and a lot of stuff going on. Here's Keats' overall thoughts on the team, how they're doing right now.

Really happy with our guys. These couple weeks are really the toughest weeks that you're going to play games. You're in exams. For example, St. Louis is, I think this is their last game before they go home for Christmas break. So you got a lot of different things on your mind. The schedule's not the same.

We're practicing at a different time because we don't have class. I told these guys that this will be the toughest team that we have played at home this year. And they're good. You look at the fact that Jimmerson can really score the basketball.

Hargrove Junior's really good. And then obviously they've added a two-time transfer who's kind of completely changed their team. So we had to throw the record out of the window because it didn't matter what their record was coming in, even though they're seven and five. We knew we were going to play a good team on our home floor, that if you don't lock in, then it certainly wouldn't have been a great outcome. I thought our second half was tremendous. We had a 27-9 run. We had 10 assists in the second half. Ben Middlebrooks came in and gave us a big lift. I thought DJ was really good. It was great for Casey to see the ball go back in the hole.

So, excited. We just want to build on it and move on from this one. Well, you got a couple DJs.

You got DJ Burns and you have DJ Horn as well. So a few DJs out there for NC State. But overall, like you said, in the second half, they really started to put things together, as you mentioned, that 27-9 run. That's where NC State really was able to pull away. I know late in the game, I know the score says 82-70, but there was a pretty sizable gap where NC State did pull ahead. I know Kevin Keats was putting a bunch of other guys off the bench into the game late, and St. Louis was able to get some points and stuff off of that to kind of make the overall final score look a little bit tighter than it was.

But you know what? A win is a win is a win. You're 8-3, and that's all that matters. Yep, we'll take it. You'll take it if you're NC State. Overall, solid showing for the ACC here in the state of North Carolina. Wake Forest is in action tonight, by the way. We'll get into that a little bit later on.

But first, I want to get into this. I know a lot of people get into all the signing day rankings. National signing day started yesterday. ACC still had some, quite a few schools there in the top 30. Still had a bunch. Obviously, the top schools are like Bama, Georgia. I think Georgia was number one. Bama, two. Ohio State, three. Oregon was four. I mean, if you were to tell me that Ohio State had number one, and Georgia had two, and Bama had three. Oh, okay. I'm like, okay, fine. The big dogs still get the big players.

That's simple as that. Miami, according, this is the ESPN's rankings. Miami, sixth best recruiting class. Florida State, ninth best recruiting class. Clemson, 15. UNC, 27. NC State, 30. So you have five teams, five programs in the top 30 in terms of recruiting.

Now, I will say this. When it comes to recruiting, you can recruit all kinds of great talent. I mean, I think Miami had the fifth best recruiting class last season. Miami is consistently up there in terms of recruiting classes. They get dudes, right?

When's the last time Miami was a winner? Yeah, about that. Yeah, about that. Exactly. Exactly.

If you're sitting there thinking, what? Exactly. I will say this, though. You can have, again, all these top recruits and all these top players, you still got to coach them right. You still got to coach them well. Your recruiting ranking and all that stuff, to me, it really doesn't matter overall. I mean, obviously, you still got to get the athletes and the players in.

Don't get me wrong. But you still got to coach them the right way. Because there are some people out there that can coach the heck out of players that may not be good at recruiting them.

There are some programs out there that can bring in some dudes. They can't win. And, gosh, Texas A&M a few years ago, before Jimbo Fisher got canned at Texas A&M, they were consistently bringing in top 10 recruiting classes all the time.

And what did they do? Nothing. Nothing with it. But, nonetheless, I know a lot of people get excited. There's a lot of, I mean, gosh, NC State has, what, four four-star wide receivers coming in, I think.

I think one of them is more of an athlete that can play running back and do some other different stuff. But they got four four-star guys on the outside coming in to go along with Casey Concepcion and Wesley Grimes and the top tight end in the transfer portal coming out of UConn and Grayson McCall and one of Notre Dame's starting offensive linemen. So, yeah, big time. Big time so far. By the way, we're going to get into here in about 10 minutes this whole Dave Dore and Mack Brown stuff from yesterday. We're going to get into that here in about 10 minutes. Oh, man, the drama. The drama. I love some drama. I know.

But that's the thing. I love it. They're keeping it going. I kind of like it.

It's very soap opera-ish, but you know what? That's fine. I'll stay with it. Final thing here as we get things started. Carolina Hurricanes are back in action tonight.

This is I guess it's kind of like my theme of this opening segment. How do you back it up? Carolina had a great 6-3 win over the Vegas Golden Knights just two nights ago.

Okay. How do you back it up? Piroko Chekhov has had a string of really good starts. He's 3-0-1 with a save percentage of 946 in his last four starts.

That's really, really freaking good. How do you back it up? You're on the road at Pittsburgh tonight. It's a divisional game. You're both fighting for a wild card spot.

You're both fighting for playoff positioning. It's a big thing. It's a big game tonight for the Carolina Hurricanes in Pittsburgh.

And you got one more this upcoming Saturday as well. Got to take care of business. Yeah, use this momentum. Yes.

Guess what? You play tonight. You play Saturday and then get three days off.

Right. Three days off. Eat a bunch of junk food. Listen to Christmas tunes. Watch movies. Sleep. Whatever. Home alone. The whole deal.

All of it. But earn it. Here's something that's interesting though. Thinking about the Pittsburgh Penguins. I know a lot of people that may have watched hockey when they were younger like myself. In the early 90s when the Pittsburgh Penguins actually won a couple of Stanley Cups back to back. It was Mario Lemieux. It was Tom Barrasso. And it was Yamari Yager.

It was. Yamari Yager. By the way, a native of, I guess not technically it's Czechia, but born in Czech Republic. He's going to play hockey again professionally. Yamari Yager. 37th season playing professional hockey.

He's going to play in his home country and like, you know, home team and all that kind of stuff. 37 years. What? Brett Burns is 38. Yep. Brett Burns is the old guy for the Carolina Hurricanes. He's 38. Poor, young, little Seth Jarvis is 21 years old. Wow.

Put that in perspective. I'm 37. Oh. That's- Yager started playing pro hockey when I was born. My joints hurt for him. Just thinking about it. My back now hurts thinking of all this, but you know what? You could still skate.

Still got the hands. Someone wants to pay you to do it. Hey, why not? Why not? And you know what? Keep it going. Keep it going.

Keep on doing it. Sure. Canes are in action tonight. That's a seven o'clock puck drop up in Pittsburgh. If you listen to the Canes radio broadcast, you should still hear Adam Gold tonight. So if you miss Adam, you can listen to the Canes game tonight. He'll be there.

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