ACC Roundup - UNC Surging And Drama In Dallas
Things got interesting on Tuesday
In Tuesday’s ACC Action, Georgia Tech knocked off Miami 89-74, UNC smacked Virginia Tech 91-59, Virginia survived Florida State 60-57 and SMU nipped Syracuse 77-75.
Miami didn’t have much and they had to go without Lynne Kidd and Paul Djobet, who are both major contributors. Matthew Cleveland scored 29 for the Hurricanes and Brandon Johnson had 16. Austin Swartz had 14 but Miami wouldn't have had enough if they were healthy (and remember Nijel Pack has missed most of the season).
Lance Terry paced Georgia Tech with 31 points and Baye Ndongo had 22 points on 10-16 and eight rebounds. Duncan Powell had 16 points and seven rebounds.
Georgia Tech is now 16-14 which is pretty remarkable considering their crazy level of injuries this season. The worst this team can finish is 16-16 which, under the circumstances, is not bad at all. Pat Kelsey is likely to win ACC Coach of the Year. Jon Scheyer and Brad Brownell will get some support too. It’d be nice if Damon Stoudamire got a vote or two as well because he’s done an amazing job under dire circumstances. He probably won’t, but it would be good if he did.
Virginia Tech hung around for a bit against UNC but the Tar Heels pulled away with a 25-6 run in the last seven minutes or so in the first half and that, as they say, was that. The Heels took a 46-29 lead into halftime and Virginia Tech never recovered.
UNC’s six-game winning streak coincides with Ven-Allen Lubin’s emergence as a reliable post presence. In his last six games, he’s had six points and three rebounds, 13/5, 14/6, 10/7, 19/5 and 10/11 on Tuesday. Jae’Lyn Withers has had a similar emergence, with 19/3, 8/4, 16/11, 11/5, 11/10 and 5/7.
And while RJ Davis had 15 and Drake Powell 13, Elliot Cadeau had 12 assists and just three turnovers (UNC also had 24 assists on 33 shots).
And while Seth Trimble and Ian Jackson are coming off the bench now, they had 19 and 17 respectively.
Give Hubert Davis credit. The four-guard thing wasn’t working and he found ways to make Lubin and Withers highly effective, which, in turns, made everyone else more effective too.
Have they done enough to get in the tournament? Possibly not, which means that they’re going to be ready for Duke on Saturday.
Like UNC, Virginia has gotten better lately and they took out Florida State in a tough home finale, 60-57.
Remember when Andrew Rohde was something of a let-down for Virginia last year? He’s really picked it up lately. He’s been a remarkably error-free guard with minimal turnover for some time and on Tuesday, he hit a really impressive three that gave Virginia the lead late that they would not surrender.
Rohde finished with 17 and Dai Dai Ames had 18 for the ‘Hoos. Overall, this game was nothing to write home about, but at least Virginia got back to .500 at 15-15.
The SMU-Syracuse game was something to write home about, or at least the end was.
The Orange played very well in Dallas and were up 63-51 with 9:54 left. They were still up 70-62 with 5:51 left.
But SMU couldn’t afford to lose and they fought back and the last couple of minutes of this game were very high level. The game and lead went back and forth before Samet Yigitoglu tied the game up 73-73. Eddie Lampkin split his free throws to put the ‘Cuse up 74-73.
Boopie Miller returned after missing several games and he got the ball to Keon Ambrose-Hylton the ball for a layup to give SMU the lead back.
Jaquan Carlos split on a pair of free throws to tie the game 75-75 and then Miller drove and missed, but Ambrose-Hylton got the tip-in with :02 left to put SMU up 77-75. JJ Starling missed a deep three and SMU walked away with the huge win. It was a game that really made it clear that March is here.
Four games on Wednesday as Clemson visits Boston College, Pitt goes down to Raleigh to take on the Pack and Cal and Stanford make a midwestern swing, checking in at Louisville and Notre Dame respectively.
We’d be shocked if BC upset Clemson. Pitt and NC State is an interesting game but both teams fell apart at the end. State’s offensive struggles suggest favoring Pitt.
We’d definitely take Louisville over Cal and Jaylen Blakes is likely to give Markus Burton fits, so we’d take Stanford there.
Wednesday’s ACC Action
- Clemson at Boston College || 7:00 || ESPNU
- Pitt at NC State || 7:00 || ESPNews
- Cal at Louisville || 9:00 || ACCN
- Stanford at Notre Dame || 9:00 || ESPNU
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- Florida State loses a heartbreaker on the road to Virginia
- Ames, Rohde carry Virginia past Florida State in frantic fashion for a 60-57 win
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