Although Wake Forest gave Florida State a good first half, there are two halves in every game, and the 'Noles steamrolled Wake in the second with an 18-2 run before winning 75-52.
Florida State held the Deacs to 35% from the floor but they threw a wicked net over Travis McKie, holding the talented forward to just 1-13 and three points. CJ Harris had 16, Nikita Mescheriakov had 13 and Tony Chennault 11. That was about it for Wake Forest. They were pretty thoroughly outplayed.
In the night's other game, as Virginia Tech continues to try to master scheduling calculus, the game against BYU was supposed to be tough but winnable.
Right on the first count, wrong on the second: the Cougars won a taut match at Virginia Tech when Brock Zylstra nailed a three with 26 seconds left to put BYU up by three. The rest was academic.
Virginia Tech is 12-8, or in more basic terms, firmly in NIT territory.
To date, they've lost non-conference games to Syracuse, Minnesota and K-State and now BYU, while beating Oklahoma State twice. The losses were all competitive, but they did lose them.
And the losses to Wake Forest and BC are bound to hurt.
They could still win 20 games if things break their way, but that's not necessarily good enough to get a bid.
On Thursday night, things are backwards: the 9:00 game should be the warm-up. A whole lot of people are likely to turn their TVs off after the State-Carolina game and won't have much interest in Virginia-BC.
It could be fun: the teams have radically different styles and something has to give. But if State and UNC live up to what it could be, no one will much care.
Here's the thing about this game: UNC is vulnerable, more so without Dexter Strickland, and State knows it. The Pack is on the rise and the Heels know it, too. A share of first place is on the line, and that just adds to the spice.
For the first time in a really long time, this game means something and has some risk for both parties.
It's been a long time since the ACC had State as a serious factor.
Not for Ol' Roy though. UNC's head man explains here why he so dislikes State, pointing across his lifetime to some school chums who went to State and teased him about UNC.
Huh. Thousands and thousands of people have had similar reactions to UNC fans, now that we think about it.
Speaking of UNC, to help her players focus, she says, Sylvia Hatchell has banned Twitter.
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