University of North Carolina Athletics
McCants Named First-Team All-ACC
March 9, 2004 | Men's Basketball
March 9, 2004
By AARON BEARD, Associated Press
RALEIGH -- North Carolina's Rashad McCants and N.C. State's Julius Hodge -- the top scorers in the ACC -- headlined The Associated Press All-ACC men's basketball team released Monday.
McCants, who averaged a league-best 19.9 points per game, received 91 of a possible 93 votes from members of the Atlantic Coast Sports Media Association and had 277 points to lead the first team. Hodge, who was second at 18.1 points, earned 90 first-team votes and 276 points.
McCants and Hodge were joined on the first team by Florida State's Tim Pickett, Duke's Chris Duhon and Wake Forest's Justin Gray.
Three other Blue--Devils earned honors with J.J. Redick and Shelden Williams on the second team and Luol Deng on the third team.
McCants, a 6-4 sophomore, ranked third in the league in field-goal percentage at 49 percent. He also ranked fourth in 3-point shooting at 42 percent, and demonstrated a knack for hitting big shots at the right time.
He drained two 3-pointers to lift UNC past Connecticut, hit two 3s late to end N.C. State's unbeaten streak at home and tied a school record with eight 3s in a win against Clemson last week.
UNC coach Roy Williams said McCants has improved his defensive intensity since the Tar Heels' loss at Kentucky in early January.
"I think Rashad has continued throughout the course of the season to work on the other aspects of his game, not just his ability to score," Williams said. "I just think he's turned into a better all-around player, and he and I both know that he's got a long way to go before he gets to where we want him to be."
Hodge, a junior, earned first-team honors for the second straight year after leading the Wolfpack to second place in the league. He led the conference by shooting 51 percent and also ranked in the ACC's top 10 with 6.3 rebounds (ninth) and 3.8 assists (sixth) per game.
Behind the 6-6 forward, Hodge led the Wolfpack to its best ACC finish since winning the regular-season crown in 1988-89 under Jim Valvano.
"He's been consistently at a very high level for us," N.C. State coach Herb Sendek said. "We ask him to do a lot of different things. I don't know if there's anything in the game that he doesn't do well."
Pickett, a second-team pick last year, has been the go-to guy for the Seminoles, ranking fifth in the conference at 16.3 points per game. He also ranked second in steals at 2.5 per game and led the league with 3.3 3-pointers made per game.
He averaged 27 points in upsets of UNC, Wake Forest and Georgia Tech, and was the only Seminoles player to average in double figures this season.
"Tim has tremendous character," Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton said. "He realizes this is a unique opportunity for him to come in and be a leader and help raise the level of our program. He's done that and he's never discouraged."
Pickett is only the second Florida State player to earn first-team all-ACC honors, joining Bob Sura in 1994.
Duhon, a senior, was a third-team pick last year after being selected the ACC preseason player of the year. He led the Blue Devils to the top seed in this week's ACC tournament, marking the sixth time in eight seasons that Duke has clinched at least a share of the regular-season title.
Duhon averaged 10.1 points and 3.9 rebounds, and ranked second in the league in assists (6.3) and third in steals (2.3).
He also made several big shots -- including the winning layup in overtime at UNC -- and played lockdown defense.
"He's been our leader," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "If he doesn't do his role, we don't win the conference. We go as far as Chris takes us, and that's the most I can say about him. That's how important he's been to us."
It is the eighth straight year that at least one Duke player was voted to the first team, the league's longest active streak.
Gray rounded out the first team, ranking third in the league at 17.3 points per game. The 6-2 sophomore also ranked 10th in the league in field goal percentage (41 percent), third in free-throw percentage (83 percent) and ninth in 3-point percentage (38 percent).
Redick headed the second team along with Shelden Williams, Georgia Tech's B.J. Elder, N.C. State's Marcus Melvin and North Carolina's Sean May.
The league's top two freshmen anchored the third team, with Wake Forest's Chris Paul leading the way. He was joined by Deng, North Carolina's Raymond Felton -- the ACC preseason player of the year -- Maryland's John Gilchrist and Georgia Tech's Jarrett Jack.
