There it was - a big, fat 5 in the PF column, between the 3 for total rebounds and the 6 for total points. Kendall Marshall had gone somewhere no other Tar Heel journeyed previously this season - to the bench after fouling out in North Carolina's overwhelming 90-57 defeat at Florida State.
Eighteen games into the season Marshall spoiled what was a remarkable run. Surely when a team plays a modicum of defense, when it competes in close games, when it faces the physical play of high-quality opponents, someone will earn disqualification.
Yet the sophomore point guard, hardly noted as the best of defenders, finally broke UNC's unblemished run and earned disqualification against FSU. Meanwhile an average of one opposing player per game fouled out against the Heels.
The Heels weren't the only ACC squad working on entirely avoiding DQ's this season. Virginia, 14-2, likewise has yet to lose a player to foul trouble. Remarkably, the Cavaliers are very much a formidable defensive unit holding opponents to a breathtaking 51.1 points per outing.
UVa did come close to losing a player at Duke, where big man Assane Sene had four personals in 23 minutes. But when the senior went to the bench for the last time in a 61-58 loss, it was at the discretion of coach Tony Bennett.
No ACC team has gone through an entire season without losing a player to disqualification at least since the league expanded to a dozen members in 2006.
The closest anyone came was Boston College last season, when it lost three players to foul trouble in 34 games. So far this year a pair of Eagles have fallen by the whistle wayside.
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WHISTLE WAYSIDE Disqualifications By ACC Teams And Their Opponents In 2012 (Through Games Of Jan. 15) |
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| School | DQ | Opp DQ | Top Player DQ |
| Boston College | 2 | 5 | 2 Dennis Clifford |
| Clemson | 5 | 6 | 2 Devin Booker |
| Duke | 5 | 14 | 2 Tyler Thornton |
| Florida State | 5 | 7 | 2 Okaro White |
| Georgia Tech | 5 | 8 | 2 Kammeon Holsey |
| Maryland | 4 | 7 | 2 Ashton Pankey |
| Miami | 5 | 10 | 2 Erik Swoope |
| North Carolina | 1 | 18 | 1 Kendall Marshall |
| N.C. State | 6 | 6 | 2 Scott Wood |
| Virginia | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| Virginia Tech | 7 | 9 | 3 Cadarian Raines |
| Wake Forest | 5 | 14 | 2 Nikita Mescheriakov Carson Desrosiers |
| HAVING A FOUL BALL Most Disqualifications In An ACC Season Since 2006 |
|
| 8 | Brian Zoubek, D 2010 |
| 8 | Jeff Allen, VT 2009 |
| 7 | Jeff Allen, VT 2011 |
| 7 | Christ Singleton, FS 2009 |
| 7 | Tunji Soroye, V 2006 |
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