ACC Roundup - Big Wednesday

In Tuesday’s ACC action, Virginia Tech smoked Charleston Southern 87-59 to move to 10-1.

It was the sixth straight win for the Hokies who will make it seven straight and 11-1 when they play Maryland-Baltimore County.

This team is very likely to be ranked next week which will set up an interesting conference opener at home with Duke on the 28th.

Ahmed Hill led the way with 20 points. Chris Clarke had 17 points and 11 rebounds.

Zach LeDay and Seth Allen had 14 and 12 off the bench.

It was sort of a Tech day in the ACC but Georgia Tech couldn’t hold up their end, losing to arch-rival Georgia, 60-43.

The Atlanta paper sums the game up succinctly in one paragraph: Tech (6-4) missed its first eight 3-pointers, shot 34.6 percent from the field and turned the ball over 10 times in 35 first-half possessions. Georgia (8-3) was hardly flawless, but was much stronger on the glass to earn its second consecutive win over the Jackets.

If you can’t shoot and turn the ball over every third time down the court then yes, you’re likely to struggle.

Only Ben Lammers scored in double digits, hitting 10.

For a bit of perspective, Kentucky’s Malik Monk scored 47 against UNC over the weekend.

For the North Carolina schools, our big rivals are basically in conference and in-state. That’s not the case for everyone and the GT-Georgia was the first of several big rivalries this week.

Coming up Wednesday: St. John’s vs. Syracuse, Clemson vs. South Carolina and, best of all, Kentucky at Louisville.

On Friday Providence visits BC.

Kentucky-Louisville is almost as good as Duke-UNC and fans there will tell you it’s better.

It’s not - these teams are 74 miles apart, which means there’s no barbershop taunting.

More importantly, the stakes are low. When Duke and UNC play the second or third time, a top NCAA seed is often on the line.

It’s not as appreciated, but Clemson-South Carolina is a very intense game as well and this year, the Tigers could use a resume win.

St. John’s and Syracuse are both off to mediocre starts - the Johnnies are 5-7 and Syracuse 7-4 - but it’s a Big East legacy game and both will be fired up. Chris Mullin will be making his first trip to Syracuse as a coach and his first trip overall in a long time.

• UNC makes a priority of starting faster
• Virginia Tech defeats Charleston Southern
• Blog: Hokies talk about beating Charleston Southern
• Lydon a game-time decision for SU vs. St. John's
• Syracuse basketball guard John Gillon on Twitter trolls: 'I'll take the hate'
• UK or U of L? Media picks are in
• Rivalry everywhere for UofL's hometown players
• Pitino: 'We're not going to slow it down' vs. UK
• Hale | Calipari in rare form at UofL presser
• Mt. Washington sings praises of UK's Willis
• Tech falls to Georgia 60-43
• Effort not enough for Georgia Tech against Georgia
• Blossomgame and Tigers ready for challenge the Gamecocks present
• GAME NOTES: Pitt Homestand Continues Wednesday