In Tuesday’s ACC Action, Virginia nipped Florida State 61-58, SMU survived Notre Dame 89-84, and Miami took care of UNC, 75-66.
Apparently one good court storming deserves another, but in Miami, no one got hit in the face.
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We’d guess that UNC had a tough time matching the emotion we saw in Saturday’s dramatic upset of Duke, but however you cut it, Miami never trailed and when it came to winning time, the ‘Canes made the big plays.
UNC just wasn’t the team it was Saturday, which is kind of a short-hand definition of the Hubert Davis era: the program once famed for consistency is today highly erratic.
You know how we sometimes note that Duke and UNC occasionally parallel each other? Here’s another example: Patrick Ngongba has a wrist injury. Now Caleb Wilson does too. Well, his hand was taped during the game after he banged it up. Davis denies there’s a “situation,” but we’ll see.
Wilson shot 4-10 and had just 6 rebounds. Henri Veesaar had 11 and 6 while Jarin Stevenson had 13 and 6. That’s not hugely productive, but the backcourt of Derek Dixon and Seth Trimble combined to hit 1-14/0-9.
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There’s no particular reason why a team with minimal size, at least compared to UNC, should have won this game, but a huge game from Ernest Udeh, with 15 points and 10 rebounds helped.
Speaking of minimal size, logically, Florida State should not have been in the game against Virginia. The Cavs have much more size, a lot of quickness and a lot offensive firepower. Somehow though, FSU was not just in it but had a 9 point lead with 8:22 to go. They weren’t able to close the deal – we’ve seen that a lot this year – but it was still highly impressive that they went toe-to-toe with a much bigger, more talented team and nearly pulled off an upset. Virginia finished with an 11-0 run to close out the ‘Noles. Virginia shut out FSU over the last 4:54.
Jacari White was the key for the ‘Hoos: he came off the bench for 19 points and was the only Cavalier in double figures. He also hit 5 threes.
Lajae Jones had 21 points and 13 boards to pace FSU.
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Notre Dame played better than it probably has for a while but SMU is better and proved it with a 19-6 second-half run. They’re just limited without Markus Burton. It’s tough to lose your best player and it’s even harder when your margin of error is really thin. No moral victories though: SMU won because they were better. Jaron Pierre had 22 and Boopie Miller 20.
Jalan Haralson continues to play well for Notre Dame with 23 points on 9-13 shooting while Cole Certa and Braeden Shrewsberry had 16 each.
As far as bracketology goes, ESPN has
#6 – Clemson, Louisville
Cal and Virginia Tech are listed in the First Four out.
Obviously any of this can change. We don’t know if it’s been adjusted for State’s destruction at Louisville and we’re pretty sure Miami’s win over UNC isn’t in there yet. Still, it’s a good look for the conference, and we wouldn’t rule out Cal or Virginia Tech just yet.
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Four games tonight.
Wednesday’s ACC Action
Virginia Tech at Clemson || 7:00 || ACCN
California at Syracuse || 7:00 || ESPNU
Wake Forest at Georgia Tech || 9:00 || ACCN
Stanford at Boston College || 9:00 || ESPNU
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