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Surprise! UNC’s Brice Johnson named ACC basketball player of the week

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accNorth Carolina senior Brice Johnson has been selected as the Atlantic Coast Conference Basketball Player of the Week for the second time this season, while Duke’s Brandon Ingram was honored for the third time as the ACC Rookie of the Week.

ACC basketball weekly honors are determined by a vote of a select media panel.

UNC’s Johnson scored 55 points and had 27 rebounds, nine assists, four blocks and five steals in road wins at Florida State and Syracuse. He was 21-of-27 from the floor (.778) and 13-of-19 from the foul line.

Johnson set single-game career highs in points (39), field goals (14), free throws (11), offensive rebounds (7), defensive rebounds (16), total rebounds (23), minutes played (37) and steals (tied, three) in a 106-90 win at Florida State. He scored 28 points in the second half alone. The Orangeburg, South Carolina, native became one of five Tar Heels ever to have at least 30 points and 20 rebounds in the same game, and the first to do so in 40 years. He joined Billy Cunningham as the only players in UNC history to have at least 39 points and 23 rebounds in a game. Johnson was 14-of-16 from the floor and 11-of-16 from the foul line.

At Syracuse, Johnson scored 16 points on 7-for-11 shooting from the floor and had a career-high eight assists in the Tar Heels’ 84-73 win. He had six assists in the second half, when the Tar Heels scored 51 points and shot .643 from the floor.

Duke’s Ingram, who received the ACC’s Rookie honor for the second week in a row, was once again a force on both ends of the, averaging 16.5 points, 7.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 2.0 steals and 5.0 blocks per game in victories over Wake Forest and Virginia Tech. He shot .450 from the floor and .455 (5-of-11) from beyond the arc while playing an average of 38 minutes over the two games.

Ingram started the week with a 17-point effort in the win at Wake Forest, bolstered by a 5-of-6 effort from the free throw line. He blocked four shots and picked up three steals against the Demon Deacons, while adding five rebounds.

In Saturday’s win over Virginia Tech, the Kinston, North Carolina, native poured in 16 points of 4-of-7 shooting, including a 3-of-6 effort from the beyond the arc, and tallied nine rebounds. Perhaps most impressively, he blocked a season-high six shots to tie for the sixth-most by a Duke freshman in a game. The six blocks also matched the most by an ACC player in a game this season.

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