The SEC dominated the ACC in this year’s SEC/ACC Challenge, picking up nine wins on night one of the event to the ACC’s one.
First, Georgia smoked Notre Dame, winning 69-48 over the Irish. Then, South Carolina beat Boston College by 22. Arkansas took down Miami on the road, 76-73. Missouri then beat California at home in a high-scoring affair, 98-93. Tennessee smashed Syracuse, 96-70. Texas A&M held Wake Forest to just 44 points and beat the Demon Deacons 57-44. Ole Miss beat Louisville by 23, 86-63. Okahoma then beat Georgia Tech by 15, 76-61, for the SEC’s eighth-straight win to open the event. LSU took down Florida State, 85-75.
The ACC finally earned its first win of the event when Clemson took down Kentucky, 70-66.
Wednesday night, six more matchups will follow, but the SEC has already clinched the challenge.
On Wednesday, Virginia will play at Florida, Alabama will play at North Carolina, Pitt will play at Mississippi State, Auburn will play at Duke, Texas will travel to NC State, and Vanderbilt will play at Virginia Tech. SMU and Stanford are not included in the challenge this year.
The LSU win over Florida State certainly helps Pitt’s resume. With the win, LSU jumped five spots in the NET rankings up to No. 46, making Pitt’s win over the Tigers on a neutral floor a top-50 win. Thus, it turned into a win of the Quad 1 variety.
Stay tuned on Pittsburgh Sports Now for coverage of Pitt’s game against Mississippi State on Wednesday night. The game will tip off at 9:15 p.m. est. on SEC Network.
