ACC Roundup - Jaylen Blakes Has A Big Day And Louisville Still Surging
And Pitt and Clemson went to overtime
In Saturday’s ACC Action, Florida State beat Georgia Tech 91-78, Louisville smacked Virginia 81-67, Clemson got by Pitt in overtime 78-75, SMU crushed Miami 117-74, Wake Forest clipped Virginia Tech 72-63, Notre Dame fell to Syracuse 77-69, Cal survived NC State 65-62 and Stanford nipped the Tar Heels 72-71.
We talked about Jaylen Blakes’ big game winner in today’s YouTube Gold, so check that out. Quite a feather in his cap!
However, there was more to it than that.
Maxime Raynaud finished with 25 points and 13 rebounds and, as we said Friday, was a tough matchup for the Tar Heels.
Blakes finished with 20 points and seven assists.
We listened to most of this on the radio so we don’t know who was the primary defender for Ian Jackson, but after his recent hot streak, Jackson was held to 1-8/0-5 from the floor, finishing with just six points. RJ Davis had 19 points but shot just 6-15/3-7.
Jalen Washington relapsed a bit, at least offensively, and Ven-Allen Lubin stepped up, getting 13 points and five rebounds in 24 minutes.
No doubt the loss stung but it probably stung a bit more that Blakes stuck the knife in, following in the footsteps of Chris Duhon and Austin Rivers, and he mentioned Rivers specifically in the post-game interview.
For much of their game against Pitt, it looked like easy money for Clemson: the Tigers were up 53-39 with 14:31 left in the game. Pitt rallied though with an 18-4 run and caught up with 8:35 left. At that point it was anyone’s game and it went to overtime where Chase Hunter buried a three with :14 left to put the Tigers up 78-73. Zack Austin got a cutback with :01 left but too little too late.
Ian Schieffelin had 15 points and 11 boards, while Hunter finished with 20 points of his own.
Ishmael Leggett led Pitt with 20 points. Cameron Corhen and Jaland Lowe had 15 each.
With four straight losses, Pitt is on a major skid. Not long ago, the Panthers were near the top of the ACC standings. Now?
They’re in a three-way tie for sixth place.
Duke coaches - well, mostly Mike Krzyzewski - don’t usually get the ACC Coach of the Year award even in great seasons. So while Jon Scheyer might have a monster season, odds are that Louisville’s Pat Kelsey will get it.
And in fairness, he’s having a great first season. With the win over Virginia, Louisville is now 14-5 and 7-1 in the ACC.
The Cards really didn't have much of a challenge. They never trailed and at one point were up 52-32. Reyne Smith rained threes again, hitting 4-11 and scoring 19. Terrence Edwards had 16 while J’Vonne Hadley finished with 13.
Elijah Saunders led Virginia with 19 and Isaac McKneely had 10. Former Blue Devil TJ Power has nearly disappeared from the rotation: he got just one minute in this one.
It would have been a tough game for Georgia Tech with a full roster, but the Yellow Jackets were without significant contributors Kowacie Reeves, Luke O’Brien and Jaeden Mustaf. Lance Terry played but with a hand injury. We’re not sure what happened with Ryan Mutombo but he didn't play either.
Tech only had six players and Baye Ndongo fouled out, while Ibrahim Souare and Duncan Powell finished with four.
Despite all that, they fought hard, so full props to the Jackets. It was just too much to overcome.
Poor Miami got hammered again as SMU shot 69.2 percent overall and 56 percent for their threes. Matthew Cleveland had 31 points which was good because no one else scored well. Boopie Miller had 18 points and eight assists to pace the Mustangs. Matt Cross added 17.
That’s the seventh straight loss and since losing to Drake on November 21st, Miami is 1-15.
It’s time to start asking who the next coach at Miami - and Virginia for that matter - will be.
Hunter Sallis and Cameron Hildreth had 24 and 21 points respectively to pace Wake Forest past Virginia Tech. The Hokies weren't too far away but sloppy ball handling and a cold stretch late tilted the game to Wake.
Mike Young was pretty frustrated, saying that “[w]e missed an inordinate amount of layups and some free throws down the stretch.” And of the turnovers, he said: “Burns my ass. We’ve never played that way. You can’t do it. … They’ve got great intentions. It’s frustrating, really frustrating.”
It’s the third straight loss for Virginia Tech. On the the other hand, Wake has now won five straight and is now in third place in the ACC.
Duke transfer Jaden Schutt had one of his better games, hitting 4-8/3-7 for 12 points in 24 minutes.
We thought Notre Dame would win at Syracuse, and they did have a 17 point lead, only to see the Orange come back to win 77-69. Shrewsberry the Elder managed to get himself tossed in the last second.
Markus Burton had 28 points but he missed 10 of his last 12 shots and no one else came through. It might be the best defensive stand Syracuse has had this season.
JJ Starling had 21 against his old team. Eddie Lampkin had 13 points and 11 rebounds.
Finally, NC State is now a long way from last season’s miracle run. The Pack lost to ACC newcomer Cal on Saturday, and while the game was close, it’s bound to be discouraging.
There are some issues too: Dontrez Styles played 27 minutes and didn’t score. Billy King didn't score a lot in his time at Duke either, but he was such a savant on defense that it didn't much matter.
More worrisome, guards Marcus Hill and Michael O’Connell had no assists and the Pack only had six total on 26 shots. State also shot just 1-10 from behind the line.
In spite of this, it was just a three point loss.
Still, the team isn’t looking all that good. With the loss, State falls to 9-9 overall and just 2-5 in the ACC.
No games until Tuesday, when BC goes to Virginia, Louisville visits SMU and UNC buses over to Winston-Salem.
- ‘Little things,’ defensive lapses costly in Carolina’s damaging Quad-3 loss
- Familiar folly: Three takeaways from UNC basketball’s last-minute home loss to Stanford
- Postgame video of interview with Duke grad Jaylen Blakes after Stanford’s win at UNC
- UNC basketball falls in final seconds to Jaylen Blakes, Stanford at Smith Center
- Hunter not Fazed by Big Moments - Clemson guard drains game-clinching 3-pointer in final seconds of overtime
- Hunter buries Pitt with late 3-pointer to seal Clemson OT win
- Pitt loses overtime thriller to Clemson, drops fourth straight ACC game
- Clemson wins overtime thriller against Pitt in critical ACC matchup
- Louisville men’s basketball defeats Virginia for 8th straight win
- Virginia Men’s Basketball falls at Louisville 81-67
- Five Takeaways From Virginia Basketball’s 81-67 Loss to Louisville
- Louisville easily defeats Virginia behind 19 points from Reyne Smith
- Louisville basketball sweeps Virginia: Cards add eighth win to hot streak under Pat Kelsey
- FSU’s big three powers Seminoles to double digit home victory over Georgia Tech
- Thoughts on Florida State’s basketball win over Georgia Tech
- Bol Bowen Scores 20 To Lead Florida State over Georgia Tech, 91-78, In ACC Basketball
- Miami Hurricanes’ nightmare season continues with seventh consecutive defeat
- SMU shoots nearly 70 percent, demolishes Miami 117-74
- SMU’s Kevin “Boopie” Miller Crushed It At Miami
- Miami Hurricanes basketball hits shocking low in historic ACC loss to SMU
- Virginia Tech Comes Up Short Against Wake Forest 72-63
- Mike Young frustration hits boiling point after Virginia Tech stumbles to Wake Forest
- Wake Forest tops Virginia Tech 72-63 as Sallis scores 24 and Hildreth adds 18
- Wake Forest grabs 72-63 road win over Virginia Tech
- 5 takeaways from Syracuse’s 77-69 win over Notre Dame
- Syracuse 77, Notre Dame 69, A stunning collapse
- Cal holds on for road win over NC State
- NC State Loses to Cal 65-62: Losing Streak at 3
- NC State men’s basketball stumbles to new low after loss to Cal
- Cal knocks off NC State thanks to Jovan Blacksher Jr.