Last season was the second straight in which the ACC scoring leader, in that case Duke’s Matthew Hurt, averaged fewer than 20 points per game. Hurt contributed 18.6 per outing, fewer in conference play.
Such modest offensive punch doesn’t pace the league all that often. In fact, it’s occurred about one season in five over the course of conference history. Lately it’s happened more often – four times in seven years. What this reveals is anyone’s guess, other than that rules changes meant to improve scoring haven’t worked all that well on a micro level.
If the 2022 scoring pacesetter likewise averages under 20, then we have a pronounced trend to dissect.