As we draw ever closer to March madness, the weekends become more and more important for ACC basketball fans. Here are the questions posed before the games, as well as the answers.
Games from Saturday, January 26, 2013:
How will Duke respond to its 27-point loss to Miami this week? We’ll find out when they take on 15-4 Maryland today. Expect Coach K’s team to rebound at home–but if they lose??? Wow–what a tough week.
Well, Duke rebounded. Not literally, as Maryland outrebounded the Blue Devils 42-31. Duke figuratively rebounded, defeating Maryland in convincing fashion, 84-64. Freshman Rasheed Sulaimon led the Blue Devils with 25 points, but it was a team effort…offensively and defensively. With the win, Duke improves to 17-2 overall and 4-2 in conference play. Despite the loss, Maryland is still 15-5, albeit with a 3-4 conference record.
With apologies to others, today’s North Carolina-North Carolina State game is the best of the day. NC State is 15-4 and ranked #18. North Carolina is 13-5 and unranked. Really, North Carolina is closer to the bottom of the ACC than the top right now–if you count the future members. You know NC State wants to do to the Tar Heels what Miami did to Duke.
Our NC State correspondent was cautiously optimistic, but it was the caution that was the mistake. The Pack jumped out to a 45-26 lead at halftime, and then coasted to a 91-83 victory. Three players had double-doubles: CJ Leslie (17 points, 10 rebounds), Richard Howell (16 points, 14 rebounds), and Lorenzo Brown (2o points, 11 assists). Oh, and two other players scored in double figures too. With the win, State has now beaten Duke and UNC, and sits at 5-2 in conference play.
Louisville’s loss to Syracuse was understandable. Louisville’s loss to Villanova was far less so. No rest for the weary as the #5 Cardinals head to Georgetown today. A win–and the ship is back on course. A loss? And now you’ve got a 3-game losing streak. Can Rick Pitino get his team focused? We’ll see.
Uh-oh. Louisville lost again. Offensively inept Georgetown defeated the Cardinals 53-51, making it three-straight losses for Rich Pitino’s squad. At the very least, Louisville is not being dominated by teams. It took a tip-in for this loss. Needless to say, however, Louisville needs to right the ship fast. And the schedule does not let up–with Pitt on Monday, as well as games against Marquette, St. Johns, and Notre Dame in the next two weeks.
#3 Syracuse travels to Villanova. If Villanova can pull another upset, that would be quite a week for the Wildcats. Syracuse has been treading water, but needs to take care of business today.
The Orange had been playing with fire in the games without James Southerland, and it finally came back to haunt them, losing to Villianova in overtime, 75-71. Without Southerland, foul trouble cost Syracuse two of its bigs in regulation. 33.3% from the field did not help either. But don’t feel sorry for Syracuse, they are 18-2 overall and 6-1 in conference play. They have won 28 of their last 30 Big East regular season games too.
#24 Notre Dame leaves the snow to head to Florida to take on South Florida. The Bulls are better than most think, but at 10-8 aren’t doing themselves any favors.
The Fighting Irish improved to 16-4 overall by toppling the Bulls, 73-65. With Villanova, Syracuse, and Louisville on the schedule in the next two weeks, Notre Dame needed to win this winnable game.
At 16-4, Pitt has hardly been awful this year. They get to host DePaul today to get that 17th win.
Pitt utterly destroyed DePaul, 93-55. This puts the Panthers at 17-4 overall and 5-3 in conference play. Are they back? Not sure a win over DePaul can provide any answers about that. We’ll see how it goes against Louisville, Syracuse, Cincinnati, and Marquette over the next 5 games.
Wake Forest and Georgia Tech are both hovering at .500 overall. Georgia Tech is on a 5-game losing streak and needs a win badly.
Georgia Tech got its first conference win of the year, beating up on Wake Forest, 82 to 62. The Yellow Jackets jumped on the Demon Deacons, racing to a 52-29 lead at halftime. Georgia Tech was due, if not overdue, for a win, so let’s give them credit for doing so in convincing fashion. Wake Forest drops to 3-4 in conference play.
At 13-5, Virginia is having a nice, but unspectacular season. They cannot afford to lose to 9-9 Boston College, obviously.
Despite trailing at halftime, Virginia rallied in the second half to put Boston College away, 65-51. For the Wahoos, this means avoiding a very ugly loss on the resume. This also improves them to 14-5 overall and 4-2 in conference play.
Games on Sunday, January 27, 2013:
If only these were football games.
11-7 Virginia Tech travels to 10-8 Clemson for a 1:00 p.m. matchup. These teams are not likely to be dancing in March, but they need wins to keep NIT hopes alive.
Clemson moved to 11-8 with a 77-70 victory over the now 11-8 Virginia Tech Hokies. Senior Milton Jennings had his best game ever, with 28 points and 14 rebounds. He also had four blocks and was an amazing 16 for 18 from the foul line. Meanwhile, Virginia Tech has lost two in a row and is only 2-4 in conference play.
At 14-3 overall and 5-0 in conference play, Miami looks to build off its utter destruction of #1 Duke this week. A win over disappointing Florida State would be a nice rivalry win, as well as a reason to move Miami up substantially in the polls. The ACC wisely chose to feature this game as its 6:00 p.m. Sunday game. The Battle for Florida is on.
Miami destroyed Florida State, 71-47, to move to 6-0 in conference play. At 15-3, Miami is due for a substantial rise in the polls. Is it an understatement to say that hiring Jim Larranaga was a good idea? Meanwhile, Florida State continues to struggle… now 3-3 in conference play and 11-8 overall.
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