ACC Roundup - Boston College Gets A Miracle, Georgia Tech Shows Some Heart & Miami Actually Wins

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ATLANTA, GA FEBRUARY 01: Georgia Tech guard Naithan George (1) dives for a loose ball during the college basketball game between the Louisville Cardinals and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on February 1st, 2025 at Hank McCamish Pavilion in Atlanta, GA. | Photo by Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Some interesting surprises Saturday

In Saturday’s ACC Action, Georgia Tech shocked Louisville 77-70, Wake Forest nipped Pitt 76-74, Clemson downed NC State 68-58, Boston College got a freakish win over Florida State 77-76, Virginia Tech slipped by Virginia 75-74, SMU smoked Stanford 85-61, Miami woke up to beat Notre Dame 63-57 and Syracuse took care of Cal 75-66.

Let’s start with Georgia Tech’s impressive win. It would be impressive under any circumstances but Georgia Tech has been struggling with injuries and only had six players Saturday and Baye Ndongo fouled out. Everybody except Ibrahim Souare played at least 32 minutes.

What’s even more impressive is that the Yellow Jackets did it in the second half, and half of the home crowd was traveling Louisville fans.

Just a highly impressive win. Full props to Damon Stoudamire who refused to accept the limitations injuries imposed and who convinced his team they could win. It’s one of the best wins of the year in the ACC.

Wake Forest beat Pitt for the sixth straight time at home, 76-74. The heroes were Cameron Hildreth, who had 24 points and Ty-Laur Johnson, who hit six free throws down the stretch.

Zack Austin, who was so brilliant the other night against UNC, shot just 1-7 here for five points and wasn’t a huge factor.

Hunter Sallis was below his normal level, shooting just 1-5 from deep. With the win, Wake is in a tie with SMU for fourth place.

No surprise that Clemson beat NC State. Kevin Keatts says his team competes, which is true, but the Pack just hasn’t been very good.

State kept up but the Tigers pulled away in the last 12:00 or so and State had no answer. The Wolfpack shot poorly again, just 38.3/40.9 percent - and had 12 turnovers.

Chase Hunter had 20 to pace Clemson. Ian Schieffelin finished with eight points and six boards. Viktor Lakhin had 13 points and 11 boards.

Dontrez Styles was hot again for State with 24 on 9-14/6-8 but no one else hit more than eight and no one else shot well. If you take Styles out, State hit just 14-46.

If you’re lucky, you get to be at a game where something completely unexpected happens, and by that we mean something positive for your team.

UNC fans still talk about eight-points-in-16-seconds. Duke fans talk about the Louisville comeback and Sean Dockery’s shot, among many others. State fans love to reminisce about the Cardiac Pack.

Well now Boston College has something to talk about for a long time. The comeback against Florida State Saturday was pretty amazing and the last few plays? Surreal.

BC was down eight, 70-62 with :48 to play and something amazing happened: the Eagles stormed back to win the game.

After a bunch of free throws, Fred Payne converted a three point play to make it 74-72 with :15 to play.

BC fouled Malique Ewen immediately and he hit both to make it 76-72. Chad Venning hit a basket with :07 left to make it 76-74 and then the ‘Noles blew the inbounds. Chas Kelley hit a three with :04 left to put the Eagles up 77-76. Florida State couldn’t make the final shot and BC walked out with a truly stunning and unexpected win.

Remember when Leonard Hamilton told a CBS interviewer that “that game [against Michigan] was over” down four with :13 left?

This is why you never do that.

Donald Hand had 31 for BC. Payne had 13 off the bench.

Two Duke transfer met in Charlottesville and Jaden Schutt had 18 to lead Virginia Tech to the win.

Virginia had a nice late rally, but Andrew Rohde, who is much better this season than last, missed a winning layup.

TJ Power only got four minutes off the bench and while he got two rebounds, he didn’t score.

Speaking of Duke transfers, Jaylen Blakes, who has been terrific for Stanford, was out against SMU with a head injury. We’re assuming that means the concussion protocol, which is where Jeremy Roach is, by the way.

Stanford just never had a chance. SMU was up by 20 and ran away with it. We’re not saying Blakes would have been the difference, but he would have changed the game.

Maxime Raynaud had another solid game with 18 points and 10 rebounds.

We really didn't see Miami beating Notre Dame, not least of all because the ‘Canes can’t defend and Markus Burton is a really good scorer.

Well, Miami held the Irish to 21 points in the second half and couldn’t hang on to the ball. We haven’t seen what Micah Shrewsberry has to say but it’ll probably be hot. Burton did finish with 17 points but nothing came easy for the Irish here.

Finally, Syracuse was a mild surprise, beating Cal on the road.

Lucas Taylor had 19 and JJ Starling 18. Andrej Stojakovic is still out after an illness and that had to hurt. Jeremiah Wilkinson and Jovan Blacksher had 20 each.

The next game is on Monday when Virginia visits Pitt.

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ACC Roundup - Boston College Gets A Miracle, Georgia Tech Shows Some Heart & Miami Actually Wins

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