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ACC Roundup - Heels Beat Wake, Pitino Explains Harrell Demotion

UNC won at Wake Forest, not always an easy task, but paid a price.

This sign from a Wake Forest fan is just one of many taunts UNC has endured this season about the school's academic fraud scandal.
This sign from a Wake Forest fan is just one of many taunts UNC has endured this season about the school's academic fraud scandal.
Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports

In Wednesday night's game, UNC pulled away from Wake Forest in the second half and won 87-71.

Thursday's ACC Action
Teams Times TV
Notre Dame @ Virginia Tech 7:00 RSN
Georgia Tech @ Virginia 8:00 ACCN
NC State @ Miami 8:00 ACCN
Schools Conf W-L Conf PCT W-L PCT RPI
Virginia 5-0 1.00 17-0 1.00 3
Notre Dame 5-1 .833 17-2 .895 39
North Carolina 5-1 .833 15-4 .789 12
Syracuse 5-1 .833 14-5 .737 58
Duke 4-2 .667 16-2 .889 9
NC State 4-2 .667 13-6 .684 37
Louisville 3-2 .600 15-3 .833 32
Pitt 3-3 .500 13-7 .650 68
Miami 2-2 .500 12-5 .706 55
Clemson 2-4 .333 10-9 .526 99
Florida State 2-4 .333 10-9 .526 135
Wake Forest 1-5 .167 9-10 .474 141
Virginia Tech 0-4 .000 8-9 .471 232
Boston College 0-5 .000 8-9 .471 134
Georgia Tech 0-5 .000 9-8 .529 87
Wednesday's Results
UNC 87 Wake Forest 71

Kennedy Meeks and Brice Johnson were dominant inside, scoring a total of 35 points and grabbing 14 boards. UNC dominated the paint, scoring 50 total inside.

UNC hit at a 60% clip to Wake's 40 and won the game inside while Wake took 24 three pointers.

In ACC play, Wake is allowing opponents to shoot 49%.

Danny Manning was clearly disgusted afterwards, and said this to the assembled media: "We’ve got to do a better job of guarding our man. There ain’t no science to it. It’s your man. Guard your damn man.''

With the win, UNC moves to a tie for third in the ACC with Notre Dame and owns the tiebreaker.

One serious concern for the Heels: injuries.

Marcus Paige is fighting through plantar fasciitis. Joel Berry has a groin injury.

In the Wake game, Nate Britt took a shot to the face, which should be no big deal. Theo Pinson left the arena with his foot in a boot though, and that could be a big deal. Injuries may catch up to the Heels in the end.

While ESPN reports that Rick Pitino removed Montrezl Harrell as captain, Pitino says it was Harrell's call.

On his radio show, Pitino said that Harrell was getting all over the younger players and he was concerned that he would ding their confidence.

He suggested that it was better for him to be the bad guy, and Harrell said that fellow captain Wayne Blackshear was better suited to be the good guy so he should have the role by himself.

An interesting turn in Card Country.

We don't expect Georgia Tech to upset Virginia Thursday or Virginia Tech to knock off Notre Dame, though that seems the more likely upset. So State and Miami becomes the most interesting game of the night.

For whatever the RPI is worth - we'll start listing it periodically now, as seen in the table to the right - State is #37 and Miami #55. Both teams have a shot at the NCAA field, so this game is big for each. Should be fun.