ACC Roundup

In Monday's ACC action, a rare weekday afternoon game as Boston College and Miami rescheduled a game originally scheduled for Sunday.

And as it turned out, despite a small crowd of just 3,813, although the box score might have stretched it a bit (and we're frankly impressed that that many people made it), Miami and BC put on a great show.

The game went to double overtime before Miami claimed the prize, winning 89-86 behind an unlikely hero:

Tonye Jekiri hit four fouls shots in the last minutes to lock the game up for the 'Canes.

Well, just a minute: we say unlikely, but Jekiri has made a tremendous improvement from the line this season: he's gone from shooting 55% to 58.1% to 72.5% this year. That's really impressive.

The big guy was 8-10 from the line against BC.

No matter how you cut it, that's solid.

He doesn't get enough attention, but Jekiri has improved as much as anyone in the ACC.

Olivier Hanlan had another sharp game, scoring 32 on 13-26.

Whatever magic Pitt had against UNC dried up and blew away in Charlottesville: the hot shooting long gone, Pitt was shut down for long stretches by Virginia and lost 61-49 as UVA ties its best season start ever.

The Panthers were held to 38.6% by Virginia.

Not that UVA shot brilliantly. Malcolm Brogdon was 5-10, Darion Atkins 4-9 and London Perrantes 3-7.

For the first time since Justin Anderson was injured, though, Virginia had some success from three point land, hitting 5-13.

The big advantage though? Free throws.

Pitt had 17 and made nine; Virginia had 22 and made 16. That's not the entire margin, but it's pretty close.

It's been awhile since Georgia Tech beat Clemson - the Tigers have won 10 straight in fact.

Until Monday.

The Yellowjackets have come so close so often that they might as well be named Team Congeniality, won and by double digits.

That must have been a happy locker room.

Josh Heath, Stan's kid who transferred when his dad was fired by South Florida, had 15 to pace the Yellowjackets.

Andrew Carter has a nice piece up at the News & Observer about speeding the game up. It's a good basic idea, and with the concentration of power gravitating to the big conferences, probably inevitable.

Tony Bennett is the guy everyone looks to at times like this and he kind of pulls his collar, Dangerfield style (metaphorically) and says something like "lots of styles is what makes the game interesting."

And he's right about that, and we love UVA's defense.

But the game doesn't have to be in the 40s and 50s.