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.
The Confidential 