ACC Basketball Recap: January 21, 2012
Saturday was a big day in the ACC, as several teams played. Here is the recap for the action on January 21, 2012.
It has already been discussed how #1 Syracuse was the last of the major conference teams to lose its undefeated status.
The next biggest result was Florida State’s stunning, last-second upset of #4 Duke on the road, 76-73. That is two HUGE wins in a row for Florida State against the ACC’s two best teams. For those that were not watching, Austin Rivers of Duke scored with 4.9 seconds to time the game up at 73-73. Out of timeouts, Florida State quickly inbounded the ball to Luke Loucks, who raced up court and got the ball to Michael Snaer. Snaer let go a three-pointer with less than one second to go that gave Florida State the victory as time expired. With that, Duke’s 45-game home winning streak ended. It was a team effort for Florida State, though, as six different players scored at least seven points. Xavier Gibson led Florida State with 16 points, while Snaer added 14. Austin Rivers led Duke with 19 points. With the win, Florida State improves to 13-6. With the loss, Duke drops to 16-3. The two teams are atop the ACC standings with a 4-1 conference record.
In an early game, Maryland was unable to keep its hot stretch alive, losing to Temple on the road, 73-60. This means that Temple has now defeated both Duke and Maryland on its home court. Terrell Stoglin led Maryland with 20 points, while Pe’Shon Howard scored 15. Compounding the loss was an injury to the ankle of Terps’ center Alex Len in the first half. No word yet on the severity.
In another early game, Wake Forest traveled to Boston College and pulled out a victory, 71-56. The Demon Deacons held the Eagles to a mere 31.1% shooting from the field. Wake Forest built an 8 point lead at the half and nearly matched it with a 7 point margin in the second half. Ryan Anderson led Boston College with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Travis McKie was the scoring leader for Wake Forest with 20 points. Ty Walker added 11 rebounds, while McKie grabbed 10 boards. With the win, Wake Forest improves to 11-8.
In Clemson, the Tigers were able to hold off a Georgia Tech second-half rally, winning 64-62. Clemson led at the half by 15, but nearly squandered the win. Glen Rice, Jr., led the Yellow Jackets with 19 points, all but 4 of them in the second-half. The big star of the day for Clemson was Andre Young, who scored a career high 29 points with seven 3-pointers. With the loss, Georgia Tech drops to a disappointing 8-11, as post-season hopes are fading fast. At 10-9, Clemson has a glimmer of hope in that regard.
Finally, Pittsburgh’s losing streak continued, as the visiting #23 Louisville Cardinals defeated the Panthers in Pittsburgh, 73-62. Something had to give as both teams were on terrible streaks. Ultimately, Louisville prevailed, extending Pitt’s losing streak to 8 games. Both teams had reason to be optimistic with the return of injured stars, Kyle Kuric (Louisville) and Tray Woodall (Pitt). But it was Kuric that did the most damage, scoring a season-high 21 points. Pitt was led by the fourteen points scored by Ashton Gibbs and Lamar Patterson. Next up for Pitt is a home game against Providence.
ACC Saturday Standouts:
Scoring
Andre Young, Clemson 29 points
Terrell Stoglin, Maryland 20 points
Glen Rice, Jr., Georgia Tech & Austin Rivers, Duke 19 points
Rebounds
Ty Walker, Wake Forest & Ryan Anderson, Boston College 11 rebounds
Travis McKie, Wake Forest & Sean Mosely, Maryland 10 rebounds
Assists
Lamar Patterson, Pittsburgh & Scoop Jardine, Syracuse 7 assists
Tony Chennault, Wake Forest 6 assists
The Confidential 