The Confidential

The ACC Sports Blog

Archive for the category “Game Review”

ACC Basketball Recap: January 19, 2012

There were several big games on Thursday, January 19, 2012, for the ACC.  Importantly for the ACC’s reputation, the favored team won all four games.

In the most anticipate game, #8 North Carolina rebounded from its debacle at Florida State by traveling to Virginia Tech to beat the reeling Hokies, 82-68.   It wasn’t easy for the Tar Heels, who trailed by four at halftime.  But a 19-0 second-half run turned made all the difference.  Harrison Barnes led North Carolina with 27 points, while Josh Henson contributed 16 points and 16 rebounds.  Erick Green was one of four Hokies in double-figures, leading the team with 17 points.  With the loss, Virginia Tech falls to 11-7 and 0-4 in conference.  With the win, North Carolina improves to 16-3.

In Durham, #4 Duke toppled Wake Forest 91-73 to maintain its perfect conference record.  Andre Dawkins led the Blue Devils with 21 points, but Ryan Kelly and Austin Rivers each added 20 points.  Kelly also added 10 rebounds.  Wake Forest was overmatched by Duke’s depth and size.  But four of its starters scored in double-figures, led by CJ Harris’s 20 points.  With the loss, the Demon Deacons drop to 10-8 and 1-3 in conference.  Duke improves to 16-2 overall, including 4-0 in conference play.

The other ranked ACC team, #15 Virginia, traveled to Georgia Tech and won big, 70-38.  The Cavs suffocating defense held Georgia Tech is under 30% shooting on the night.  They also out rebounded their hosts, 41-22.  As usual, Mike Scott led Virginia with 18 points and 7 rebounds.  Georgia Tech falls to 1-3 in conference and a disappointing 8-10 overall.  Virginia improves to 15-2 overall, including a 2-1 conference record.

Finally, North Carolina State improved to 14-5 on the season by beating visiting Boston College, 76-62.  Although Boston College struggled in non-conference play, the Eagles had some momentum heading into the game with a 2-1 conference record.  But the Wolfpack and its home court advantage were too much.  Scott Wood led North Carolina State’s balanced attack (6 players with 8 or more points) with 16 points.  Richard Howell had 11 points and 16 rebounds–alone providing for North Carolina State’s 44-28 rebounding advantage.  Boston College drops to 2-2 in conference play and 7-11 on the season.  North Carolina State in now 3-1 in conference play.

 

Individual Leaders:

Scoring:

Harrison Barnes, UNC, 27 points

Andre Dawkins, Duke, 21 points

Ryan Kelly, Duke, 20 points & Austin Rivers, Duke, 20 points

 

Rebounds:

Josh Henson, UNC, 16 rebounds & Richard Howell, NCState, 16 rebounds

Ryan Kelly, Duke, 10 rebounds & Travis McKie, Wake, 10 rebounds

 

Assists:

Lorenzo Brown, NC State, 11 assists

Tyler Thornton, Duke, 8 assists & Kendall Marshall, UNC, 8 assists

Erick Green, Va Tech, 5 assists & Jontel Evans, UVA, 5 assists

Syracuse Improves to 20-0 With Win Over Pittsburgh

In a battle of future ACC members, #1 Syracuse improved to 20-0 on the season with a 71-63 win over Pittsburgh.  In a year where several current ACC members have been underwhelming, Syracuse has certainly provided a reason for ACC fans to be optimistic about the basketball future.

For Syracuse, this win was noteworthy for several reasons.  First, the 20-0 record sets the school record for a start.  Second, with the win, Jim Boeheim tied Adolph Rupp for #4 all-time on the career win total list with 876 wins.  Next up?  A coach that all ACC fans should be familiar with–Dean Smith.  Syracuse also ended a string of futility against Pittsburgh, including losing 5 straight at the Carrier Dome.  The last time Syracuse beat Pittsburgh at home was 2003.  And that year ended pretty nicely for the Orange.

The game itself was a typical bruising match-up between these two schools.  Syracuse jumped out to a quick 13-0 lead, but the margin varied between 4 and 14 throughout.  Despite being 0-6 in conference play, Pitt put up a very good fight.  In fact, the Panthers absolutely dominated Syracuse on the boards with a 38-24 edge, suggesting that rebounding may very well be a vulnerability for the Syracuse team.  Syracuse allowed Pitt to get 18 offensive rebounds.  Pitt also featured a balanced attack with 5 players scoring either 9 or 10 points.  This team is much better than its recent record would suggest.

As usual, Syracuse was well-balanced too, with 5 players in double-figures.  Dion Waiters led the Orange with 16 points.  Also, Syracuse had the rare double double-double.  Fab Melo had 10 points and 10 rebounds (as well as 6 blocked shots).  Senior guard Scoopy Jardine has 12 points and 10 assists.

Another big edge for Syracuse was at the free throw line, where the Orange were 20-23 for an 87.0% clip.  Pitt struggled by making only 12 of their 23 free-throws.  The margin of victory?  8 points–the exact amount reflected in the free throw shooting.

Kris Joseph for the easy two. Photo courtesy of the Syraucse Post-Standard at Syracuse.com

 

 

ACC Basketball Recap: January 14, 2012

The Confidential has already analyzed the North Carolina debacle.  But there were several other games on Saturday, January 14, 2012.

Next to Florida State’s big game, the Confidential was most impressed by North Carolina State going on the road and destroying Wake Forest, 76-40.  It is tough enough to win conference games on the road–but to jump out to a 16-point halftime lead and then do even better in the second half is very impressive.  North Carolina State did it with defense, holding the Demon Deacons to less than 30% shooting.  Four of North Carolina State’s starters finished with double-digit points, led by Lorenzo Brown’s 20 points.  The Wolfpack also got 28 rebounds out of their front line starters.  With the loss, Wake Forest drops to 10-7.  North Carolina State improved to 13-5, including a 2-1 conference record.

That’s two in a row now for Boston College, as the Eagles defeated Virginia Tech at home, 61-59.  Virginia Tech was forced to play without leading scorer Erick Green, who was sidelined with a sprained left knee.  But a win is a win for the struggling Eagles.  About the only good news for the Hokies is that the NCAA Tournament Committee can take the injury into consideration.  Even so, this is exactly the type of loss that lands the Hokies on the tournament bubble every year.  You have to be able to beat a team–even on the road–that is struggling as badly as Boston College.  For the Eagles, after defeating Clemson, perhaps they are not as bad as their record otherwise indicates.  Dennis Clifford and Matt Humphrey led Boston College with 15 and 14 points, respectively.  Victor Davila led the Hokies with 14 points.  Virginia Tech remains unbeaten in conference play at 0-3, with their overall record dropping to 11-6.  Boston College improved to 7-10, including a surprising 2-1 in conference play.

Up north, Pittsburgh showed some signs of life by traveling to #25 Marquette and playing tough, albeit still losing by a score of 62-57.  For a Panthers team that was blown out at home by Rutgers, they will have to settle for the proverbial “baby steps.”  With the loss, Pitt amazingly drops to 0-5 in conference play, with an overall record of 11-7.  Ashton Gibbs scored more than half of Pitt’s points with a 29-point effort.  Darius Johnson-Odom scored 18 points for Marquette, while Jae Crowder added 15.  Pittsburgh has a quick turnaround, having to travel to Syracuse on Monday night.

Speaking of Syracuse, the #1 team in the nation defeated Providence 78-55 to improve to 19-0.  The game was even more lopsided than the final score, as Syracuse led by 30 points with several minutes to go.  While much has been said about Syracuse’s bench–little used 11th man Mookie Jones scored 10 points for the Orange.  Of the 10 players in Syracuse’s normal rotation, only two players, Kris Joseph (13) and Dion Waiters (12), scored more than Mookie.  Syracuse is now 6-0 in conference play and will be playing Pitt on Monday for its best-ever start to a season.

Today, there are two games on the ACC slate, as Georgia Tech travels to red-hot Maryland and Clemson hosts Duke.

NORTH CAROLINA DEMOLISHED BY FLORIDA STATE

It’s rare that the Confidential will break out the capital letters in a title, but Florida State absolutely destroyed #3 North Carolina today, 90-57.  This game was so lopsided that North Carolina had 5 walk-ons on the floor and left the arena with fourteen seconds to go.  Not surprisingly, the Seminoles’ fans rushed the court to celebrate not just a win over the Tar Heels, but a thorough domination.

How much of a beat-down was this?   Florida State, who lost by 20 to an unimpressive Clemson Tigers’ team, never trailed.  They outscored North Carolina 54-29 at the half, beginning with a 30-8 run.  Compare the 54 second-half points by Florida State to the last several games of points allowed for North Carolina: 56, 60, 65, 62, 63, and 49.

North Carolina shot 37.3% from the field and 19.0% from three-point range.  This pales in comparison to Florida State, who shot 48.4% and 44.4%, respectively.  The Seminoles even out-rebounded the Tar Heels, 41-33.

Senior Deividas Dulkys led the Seminoles with a career-high 32 points.  Junior Michael Snaer also scored 17 points for Florida State.  Okaro White added 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Seminoles.  Harrison Barnes scored 15 points and Tyler Zeller chipped in with 14 for North Carolina.

With the loss, North Carolina drops to 15-3.  They will travel to Virginia Tech on January 19th.  With the win, Florida State improves to 11-6.  They will host Maryland on Tuesday.

Florida State fans celebrate the rout of #3 North Carolina. Photo by ROBERT WILLETT - rwillett@newsobserver.com

Duke Survives The Virginia Test

The big game in ACC hoops this week was last night’s matchup between #8 Duke and #16 Virginia.  Although Duke was at home, Virginia came into the game winners of 12 consecutive games.  The game delivered everything that was expected, with Duke only narrowly defeating Virginia, 61-58.

One of the key aspects of this game was going to be whether Duke could establish a fast-paced tempo or whether Virginia’s defense-first philosophy would win out.  Ultimately, while Virginia was able to establish the tempo, Duke still won the the low-scoring affair.

Virginia actually started hot, taking a quick 5-0 lead.  But Duke recovered quickly to take an 8-7 lead around the first TV timeout.  The two teams battled back and forth in the first half, with the lead changing hands several times.  Virginia held the lead at halftime 32-28.  But 38-38 would be the last point at which Duke would not have the lead.  Over the next several minutes, Duke went on a 17-6 run.  Virginia chipped away at that lead to make it 61-58 in the final seconds, even missing a few attempts to tie the game and send it to overtime.

Duke was led by a balanced attack with five players scoring between 9 and 12 points, led by Mason Plumlee’s 12 points.  Virginia’s offensive output was dominated by Mike Scott’s 23 points.  Scott also added 9 rebounds.  Unfortunately, Virginia was hampered by an off night by Sammy Zeglinski, who was 0 for 8 from the field, with five of those attempts being three-pointers.

Both teams are now 14-2.  Virginia will get a full week off before traveling to Georgia Tech.  Duke travels to Clemson on Sunday.

ACC Basketball Recap: January 7, 2012

The ACC opened conference play yesterday and there were a lot of good games.  And all the ranked teams held off their opponents.

In the closest game of the day, #21 Virginia improved its winning streak to 12 by defeating visiting Miami, 52-51.  The Cavaliers led by 11 at the half, but the Hurricanes made it a see-saw affair for most of the second half in this very low-scoring tilt.  Although maybe some criticism for the offenses is justified, the defenses can take credit for each team shooting under 40% for the entire game.   Miami big man Kenny Kadji led the team with 14 points and 10 rebounds.  Virginia forward Mike Scott led all scorers with 23 points, while also adding 8 rebounds of his own.  With the loss, Miami falls to 9-5 on the season.  Virginia moves to a very impressive 14-1.  All ACC eyes now turn to their upcoming visit to Duke on January 12.

Speaking of Duke, the #5 Blue Devils were the only ACC team to win on the road as Duke defeated struggling Georgia Tech, 81-74.  Georgia Tech was never able to grab a lead and ultimately suffered its fourth straight loss to fall to 7-8 on the season.  But it was not for the lack of effort by Glen Rice, Jr, who led all scorers with 28 points.  Instead, credit goes to Duke for rebounding from its loss to Temple with a good performance on the road.  Ryan Kelly led Duke with 21 points, while Seth Curry added 15 in a balanced Duke attack.  With the win, Duke improves to 13-2 on the season.

In a somewhat surprising result, Wake Forest was able to defeat Virginia Tech at home, 58-55.  After going 1-15 in conference play last year, Wake Forest has already matched its conference win total from last year.  As the score indicates, neither team shot very well, with both teams failing to surpass the 40% barrier.  And CBS provides the following play-by-play recap of the exciting finish:

The Hokies took their first lead of the game at 53-52 when Jarell Eddie knocked down a 3-pointer with 1:18 left. But [C.J.] Harris answered seconds later, faking a pass to the left corner to buy some space and then burying the 3 for the 55-53 lead with a minute left.

[Erick] Green answered with a jumper with 45.1 seconds left, but Harris came through again by rounding a screen from Carson Desrosiers and burying another 3 to make it 58-55. This time that lead held up, though not until after Robert Brown missed a hurried long 3 on the Hokies’ final possession. Travis McKie grabbed the rebound and was fouled with 0.2 seconds left, essentially sealing the victory.

Harris and McKie led Wake Forest with 13 and 12 points, respectfully. Green’s 19 points led Virginia Tech.  With the win, Wake Forest improves its overall record to 10-5.  With the loss, Virginia Tech falls to 11-4.

And, in a matchup between two ranked teams, #1 Syracuse held off #20 Marquette, 73-66.  Syracuse led by as many as 23 in the first half, only to see its 18-point halftime lead evaporate within minutes in the second half.  Marquette even got as close as 2 points down the stretch before Syracuse closed them out to improve to 17-0 on the season.  Darius Johnson-Odom led Marquette with 21 points, while Brandon Triche led Syracuse’s typically balanced scoring attack with 16 points.  Syracuse will keep its well-deserved #1 ranking for yet another week.

In other games, the visitors were not able to keep the games close at all. #3 North Carolina had no trouble in defeating cellar-dweller Boston College, 83-60.  With the win, North Carolina moves to 14-2.  Clemson upended visiting Florida State, 79-59.  Both teams are now 9-6.

In today’s action, Maryland (10-3) will travel to North Carolina State (10-4).

 

North Carolina State Takes Home the Belk

North Carolina State finished the 2011 season with an 8-5 record, after defeating Louisville in the Belk Bowl by a 31-24 score.   Junior quarterback Mike Glennon led the way for the Wolfpack, passing for 264 yards and three touchdowns.

The good game for Glennon was all the more necessary as Louisville was able to shutdown North Carolina State’s ground game.  James Washington was held to 45 yards on 16 carries.  But the passing attack allowed North Carolina State to jump out to a 21-10 lead at halftime.  TJ Graham was the other offensive star, converting 7 receptions into 116 yards and two touchdowns.  Of course, the defense did its part too, scoring on a 65-yard interception return in the third quarter to improve the score to 31-10.

Give credit to Louisville and its coach Charlie Strong.  The Cardinals rallied in the second half to narrow the score after relying on trick plays, such as a fake punt and onside kick.  And freshman quarterback Teddy Bridgewater made it interesting with his 274 yards passing and three touchdowns of his own.  But the damage was done in the first three quarters as North Carolina State got the big lead and held on to the victory.

For the Wolfpack, the season ends on a high note.  After being upset by Boston College, North Carolina State defeated Clemson, Maryland, and Louisville to finish with an 8-5 record.  That’s two bowl wins in a row, following last year’s defeat of West Virginia in the Champs Bowl.

 

 

 

 

Hoops Recap: Sunday Improvement for the ACC

Yesterday, the ACC struggled to a 3-3 record among current conference teams.  Sunday got much better as the league went 4-0.

Florida State improved to 7-3 with a 75-60 over North Carolina-Greensboro.  The Seminoles’ defense did the job, allowing only a 35% shooting percentage.  However, the offense struggled to the tune of 26 turnovers.  Overall, Florida State has a balanced attack, with none of the 9 players to get action to exceed 30 minutes.  Michael Snaer led the way with 14 points.

Virginia Tech also improved to 7-3 with its 73-60 win over Norfolk State.  The score was a bit misleading, as CBS noted:

The Spartans (6-4), who have quality victories over Drexel and Texas Christian and lost to Marquette by just two points, kept the game close throughout and cut the lead to 65-59 on Chris McEachin’s 3-pointer with 2:58 left in the game. But Virginia Tech’s Dorenzo Hudson hit a free throw with 2:05 left to make it 66-59. After McEachin missed a 3-pointer for Norfolk State with 1:40 to go, Eddie put the game away, draining his final 3-pointer with 1:07 remaining to push the Hokies’ lead back to 10.

But the Hokies were able to fend off this surprisingly tough foe, led by Jarell Eddie’s 24 points.

In its final tune-up before hosting Syracuse on Saturday, North Carolina State defeated North Carolina Central, 65-60.  The Wolfpack held a 10-point lead at halftime, but were never able to put away the Eagles.  C.J. Williams led the way for North Carolina State with 21 points.  Credit the team board work too; although no individual put up gaudy rebounding totals, North Carolina State held a 41-30 advantage in that category.

Finally, the ACC’s day was so good that even Boston College nabbed a rare win.  The Eagles were able to defeat Stony Brook soundly, 66-51.   Patrick Heckmann came off the bench to lead Boston College with 18 points.  With the win, Boston College improves to 3-7.  A win is a win is a win.

Hoops Recap: Saturday Not Kind to the ACC

Although future ACC member Syracuse was able to win and likely grab onto to #1 in the next polls, the current ACC did not fare as well–splitting its 6 games on Saturday.

Actually, another future ACC member, #15 Pittsburgh, did its job with 74-68 win over 6-3 Oklahoma State.  As is typical, the Panthers were outstanding defensively and on the boards.  The Cowboys were held to 40.9% shooting and were outrebounded 37-23.  Ashton Gibbs led Pitt with 17 points, while Lamar Patterson was a box score stuffer with 12 points, 10 rebounds, and 7 assists.  With the win, Pitt moves to 9-1.

And #7 Duke certainly did its part, defeating a surprisingly tough Washington Huskies squad, 86-80.  Although the Blue Devils opened strong with a 14-point halftime lead, Washington made it interesting late.  This was particularly impressive as the Huskies had been in New York all week, starting with a Jimmy V Classic loss to Marquette.  But credit Duke for starting strong and doing enough at the free throw stripe down the stretch to win.  Duke had 7 players play 20 minutes, and 6 of them contributed at least 8 points.  Austin Rivers led Duke with 18 points, allowing Duke to get to 9-1.

Similarly, #4 North Carolina was able to fend off upstart Long Beach State, 84-78.  This one was the opposite of the Duke game, with Long Beach State controlling the first half before succumbing to the Tar Heels talent advantage in the second half.  While the knee-jerk reaction is to wonder how North Carolina was not able to destroy a 4-5 team from California, recall that Long Beach State upset Pitt on the road and only narrowly lost to Kansas too.  The North Carolina quartet of Harrison Barnes, John Henson, Reggie Bullock, and Tyler Zeller scored 78 of North Carolina’s 84 points.  But credit Kendall Marshall too–he dished out 16 assists, the fourth time this year he has had 14 assists or more.  North Carolina is now 8-2 on the season.

In a test game for Wake Forest, they lost to Seton Hall on the road, 68-54.  The Demon Deacons were unable to stop Herb Pope, who scored 26 points and grabbed 14 rebounds for the host Pirates.  While nobody was expecting a win over 9-1 Seton Hall, this game  certainly was not one where Wake Forest was going to be overmatched from a talent standpoints.  Overall, Seton Hall figures to little more than a middle-of-the-pack Big East team.  But that was still too much for Wake, which falls to 6-4.  Wake Forest was led by Travis McKie’s 17 points.

In another ACC-Big East matchup, West Virginia handled Miami, 77-66.  Bob Huggins’ Mountaineers were coming off a win over Kansas State on Thursday, but had enough in the tank to defeat the visiting Hurricanes.  Truck Bryant led West Virginia with 27 points, including 5 three-pointers.  Miami was led by Malcolm Grant’s 17 points.  Although the early season started with great promise, the Hurricanes have now lost 4 of 5 in this very tough stretch of non-conference games.  Fortunately for Jim Larranaga, the difficulty eases up a bit before conference games start.

Clemson provided the third loss for the ACC on Saturday, falling to 7-3 Arizona, 63-47 in Tucson.  For the 4-4 Tigers, a trip to 7-3 Arizona was always going to be quite a test.  Unfortunately, only Andre Young was able to score effectively, as he led the Tigers with 17 points.  The team as a whole shot 31.7% from the field–which will never get it done.

Finally, Georgia Tech defeated Savannah State, 65-45.  While the Yellow Jackets deserve credit for being willing to travel to an in-state opponent of this caliber, this was never going to be much of a contest.  Brandon Reed and Daniel Miller combined to go 12 for 13 from the field, as Savannah State was simply overmatched.  With the win, Georgia Tech gets to 6-4.

ACC Mens Hoops Teams Go 5 for 5 on Wednesday Night!

A week ago, the Confidential was lamenting a poor performance in the ACC-Big 10 Challenge.  A week later, things are looking a little better.  The ACC celebrated a perfect Wednesday, going 5 for 5.  You cannot do any better than that!

The #7 Duke Blue Devils improved to 8-1 with an 87-54 romp over Colorado State.  To be fair, Colorado State was probably distracted by wondering whether it was going to be selected to join the Big East.  After all, the Big East spent the day gobbling up teams nowhere near the East, but at least they are working on the “Big” side of the equation.  Returning to basketball, Duke was just way too much for Colorado State, shooting 56.4% from the field and holding Colorado State to 40.7%.  The Blue Devils had four players score in the teens, led by Freshman Austin Rivers with 17.  Duke will host the battled-tested Washington Huskies on Saturday.

In a rivalry game featuring two 4-4 teams , Georgia Tech was able to get a road win against Georgia, 68-56, avoid falling under .500 on the season.  This was a big win for Georgia Tech and new coach Brian Gregory (he of the growing Tom Izzo coaching tree) as the Yellow Jackets broke some historical futility in the process, as CBS noted that this was Georgia Tech’s first win at Georgia since November 26, 1976.  One can only wonder if then-President-elect Jimmy Carter was in town for the rivalry battle that year.  Kind of puts it in perspective.  All of Georgia Tech’s scoring came from 6 players, with reserve Jason Morris leading the team with 15 points.  The Yellow Jackets travel to Savannah State on Saturday.

Virginia Tech was able to defeat host Rhode Island, 78-67.  Credit the bench for this victory, as the reserves accounted for 44 of the Hokies 78 points.  They were led by Erick Green’s 24 points.  With the win, Virginia Tech is now 6-3.  They will host the Norfolk State Spartans on Sunday.

Although it was a little closer than desired, Maryland will take any wins it can get at this point, including their 77-74 win over Mount St. Mary’s.  The Terrapins benefited greatly from the charity stripe, converting 25 of 35 free throw attempts.  In contrast, Mount St. Mary’s only attempted 17 free throws.  Guard Terrell Stoglin led Maryland with 23 points.  Maryland gets a week off before hosting Florida International on Wednesday.  After a terrible start, Maryland is now sitting at 5-3.  It could be worse.

Capping off the ACC’s perfect night was an 87-83 victory for Wake Forest over High Point.  The Demon Deacons had to overcome a 35-point effort by High Point Guard Nick Barbour, who was not shy in launching 18 shots.  Along the way he converted 7 three-pointers.  But Wake Forest’s offense also came to play, with three starters–C.J. Harris (20), Tony Chennault (20), and Travis McKie (18)–combining for 58 points.  Wake Forest improves to 6-3 and will travel to Seton Hall on Saturday.  This will be a very tough game, as the Pirates are off to a somehow surprising 7-1 start.

Post Navigation