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22 Jan 2012

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

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Basketball, Game Review and tagged , , , , , , ,
21 Jan 2012
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Syracuse Finally Loses

After starting the season 20-0 and enjoying the #1 ranking for six straight weeks, Syracuse has finally lost.  Notre Dame was able to control the game tempo and hit a number of big three-pointers to win at home, 67-58.

Give credit to Notre Dame coach Mike Brey who was able to get his team to do what so many of Syracuse’s prior victims would not–control the tempo.  So far this season, Syracuse has been dynamic in using its defense to convert turnovers and then scoring in transition.  Notre Dame played a much more deliberate game–forcing Syracuse to defend for 25 seconds and then taking a good shot.  The strategy worked perfectly.

Syracuse was also hampered by playing without starting center, sophomore Fab Melo.  Melo is not on the current road trip, which includes the games against Notre Dame and Cincinnati.  With Melo, Syracuse was not a very good rebounding team.  Without him, they were terrible as Notre Dame had a 37-24 edge.

The player of the game was Junior Jack Cooley, who used the voice in the middle to his advantage with 17 points and 10 rebounds.  Six of those rebounds were offensive rebounds.  Notre Dame also hit 8 of their 16 three-pointers. With the win, Notre Dame improves to 12-8, including a 4-3 conference record.

In contrast, Syracuse hit 30% of their three-pointers, en route to a 34% shooting night.  Despite it all, Syracuse kept the game within striking distance.  James Southerland led Syracuse with 15 points.  With the loss, Syracuse drops to 20-1 and will fall out of first place in Monday’s polls.  They play Cincinnati that night, so there will be little time to regroup.

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Basketball, Game Review and tagged , , ,
21 Jan 2012

This Day in ACC History: 24 Years Ago (Duke @ North Carolina)

Today, in another installment of This Day in ACC History, the Confidential takes a look at a regular season game between the Duke Blue Devils and the North Carolina Tar Heels on January 21, 1988, 24 years ago.

Any match-up between these bitter rivals is always noteworthy.  Both teams had very good years, with North Carolina losing in the Elite Eights and Duke losing in the Final Four.  Duke actually swept North Carolina in three matchups in 1987-1988.

But the first one was the toughest, as Duke had to travel to North Carolina on January 21, 1988.  Duke was able to pull out the victory in exciting fashion, 70-69.  In fact, GoDuke.com considers this game one of its top 10 moments in Chapel Hill and provides this summary:

Duke’s chances didn’t look too good heading to the Smith Center for their 1988 meeting with No. 2 ranked North Carolina. The No. 9 Blue Devils were coming off a dispiriting homecourt loss to Maryland and appeared to have little offense beyond junior star Danny Ferry.

But what the ’88 Devils did have was defense – maybe the best overall defense in the Krzyzewski era. Although UNC star J.R. Reid abused the smaller Devils inside for 28 points, with UNC down a single point in the final minute, he couldn’t get the ball when it counted. Duke, which got 19 points from Ferry and a vital 22 points from Kevin Strickland, tenaciously held on to its 70-69 lead.

UNC missed three straight shots, failing to take the lead, but got the ball back for one last chance. A second before the buzzer sounded, sharpshooting guard Jeff Lebo launched a potential game-winner from the left baseline. His shot was blocked by 6-foot-5 jumping jack Robert Brickey as Duke claimed the first of three victories over the Tar Heels in 1988. 

So this game went right down to the wire before Duke was able to grab the victory.

The Tar Heels were led by a famous name.  Sophomore J.R. Reid scored 27 points, while another Sophomore, Scott Williams, added 14.  Both players had double-doubles as Reid grabbed 13 boards and Williams snared 10.  Junior Jeff Lebo had 10 assists for the Tar Heels.  Other than the final score, Reid was unstoppable, converting 11 of 13 field goals attempts.  Although Duke’s defense was impressive that year, North Carolina converted 65.9% of its shots in the game.

The Blue Devils were also led by some familiar names. Senior Kevin Strickland scored 22 points, while Junior Danny Ferry scored 19.  Ferry just missed a triple-double as he had 10 rebounds and 7 assists.  Ferry, of course, gained some recent notoriety by being the Cleveland Cavaliers general manager during most of the Lebron James era.  He is currently Vice President of Basketball Operations for the San Antonio Spurs.  See here.

Do you remember this game?  Please feel free to share any details…

After a lengthy NBA career, JR Reid is not an assistant coach at Chowan University. Image courtesy of Chowan University. http://gocuhawks.com/news/2011/9/22/GEN_0922112429.aspx

This Day in History is a feature that relies heavily on information obtained from Atlantic Coast Conference Men’s Basketball Games, Michael O’ Hara, McFarland & Company, Inc. (2008).  Special thanks to that fine publication.

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Basketball, This Day in ACC and tagged , , , , ,
20 Jan 2012

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

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Basketball, Game Review and tagged , , , , , , , , , ,
20 Jan 2012

This Day in ACC History: 29 Years Ago (Wake Forest @ Duke)

In a new feature, the Confidential will attempt to bridge the gap between yesterday and today by providing some publicity for ACC events from the past.  Today, the Confidential takes a look at a regular season game between the Duke Blue Devils and the Wake Forest Demon Deacons.

On January 19,1983, exactly 29 years ago, Wake Forest traveled to Duke.  Admittedly, there is nothing particularly historical about this game.  It was a basketball matchup between two private, North Carolina schools that lurked in the shadows of the state flagship school, the North Carolina Tar Heels.  And 1982-1983 was no different, with North Carolina (led by Michael Jordan) and Virginia (led by Ralph Sampson) each finishing 14-2 in conference play.

Instead, what is notable is just how bad Duke was in 1982-1983.  The college basketball world is familiar with Duke and its successes in the past few decades.  In 1982-1983, however, Duke finished 3-11 in conference and 11-17 overall.  Mike  Krzyzewski was in his third season as coach, after five years of coaching at Army (73-59 record there).  By the end of the 1982-1983 season, Coach K would be 38-47 as a head coach of Duke, giving him an overall record of 111-106.  Today, he would likely have been fired.  But he was not.  Instead, 1982-1983 was the lowpoint, as he would win at least 23 games a year for the next 12 seasons, en route to breaking the all-time wins record.

Still, January 19, 1983, was not his night.  Instead, the night belonged to Wake Forest, who traveled to Duke and won 88-84.  The win was part of a 7-7 conference slate, resulting in an overall record of 20-12.  Wake Forest would head to the NIT, where it won three games, before losing to Fresno State in the semifinals.

The Demon Deacons were led by Junior Anthony Teachey’s 29 points and 11 rebounds.  The rebounds were not a surprise, as only stars Ralph Sampson and Sam Perkins averaged more rebounds per game than Teachey in the ACC that year.  From a scoring standpoint, Wake Forest had significant balance, with six different players averaging between 10.4 and 14.8 points per game in conference games, led by Junior John Toms.  With 10 points, Toms was one of four other Demon Deacons to score in double figures for Wake Forest against Duke , including Teachey (29), Senior Alvis Rogers (17), Junior Danny Young (11), and Freshman Kenny Green (10).  For more on Anthony Teachey, go here.

The Blue Devils were led by some familiar names.  Freshman Johnny Dawkins led Duke with 21 points, while Freshmen Jay Bilas and Mark Alarie added 16 and 10 points, respectively.  Sophomore Danny Meagher scored 14 points.  The youthful talent was on full display.  Bilas led the team with 8 rebounds, while Dawkins added 5 assists.  Bilas, of course, has had ample success in his work for ESPN as a basketball analyst.  After spending 9 seasons in the NBA, Dawkins has turned to coaching and he is now the head coach at Stanford.  The 1982-1983 season was just the beginning for that young Duke team and its “mediocre” head coach.

So, the next time you are watching a below average team being coached by a .500 coach and losing to an NIT bound team, bear in mind that you never know if you are watching a legend.  Nobody would have thought that on January 19, 1983.  And they all would have been wrong.

Do you remember this game?  Please feel free to share any details…

Wake Forest's Anthony Teachey, image courtesy of http://www.thedraftreview.com

This Day in History is a feature that relies heavily on information obtained from Atlantic Coast Conference Men’s Basketball Games, Michael O’ Hara, McFarland & Company, Inc. (2008).  Special thanks to that fine publication.

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Basketball, This Day in ACC and tagged , , , ,
17 Jan 2012

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

 

 

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Basketball, Game Review and tagged , , , , ,
15 Jan 2012

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.

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Basketball, Game Review and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , ,
14 Jan 2012
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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

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Basketball, Game Review and tagged , , , ,
13 Jan 2012

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.

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Basketball, Game Review and tagged , , , ,
08 Jan 2012

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).

 

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Basketball, Game Review and tagged , , , , , , , ,

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