Saturday was one of the most interesting days of the ACC season. Duke and Louisville went hammers and tongs in the Yum! Center. UNC bounced back from the Duke Debacle to absolutely torch Miami, 96-71 - and it wasn't that close either.
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Georgia Tech surprised just about everyone outside their own locker room by knocking off Notre Dame 63-62. Virginia Tech crawled back over .500 with an upset of Florida State. Pitt knocked off Syracuse in the Carrier Dome 66-52. And in Raleigh, State got a much-needed win over Clemson, but the Tigers really needed one too.
After the UNC game, a shellshocked Jim Larranaga said that it was the only time all season that his team had been dominated.
Well no arguing that.
At one point, UNC had a 38 point lead. The Tar Heels shot 54.2%, hit 9-13 from behind the line, outrebounded the 'Canes 46 to 29.
Brice Johnson finished with 16 points and 15 boards. Everyone shot over .500 except for Marcus Paige, who, slumping again, finished 2-8.
Keep in mind that Miami is (was) #11. That's a very impressive performance.
A bit of comedy ensued in Ol' Roy Williams' presser as he was faced with commentator Doug Gottlieb's suggestion that he was going to retire after the season. Roy, well, basically, he exploded. He went on an epic rant about how Gottlieb couldn't put his pants on the right way when he was at Oklahoma State (true story) and just ripped him up one side and down the other.
Gottlieb backed off of the story. Fun stuff, to say the least.
Georgia Tech provided the shocker of the day with an upset of Notre Dame.
When's the last time Tech won a big game in dramatic fashion? The last time the Yellow Jackets stole the ball and scored to win?
The last time that you wish you had seen a Georgia Tech game?
That's a big day at Tech.
Marcus Georges-Hunt stole the ball from Notre Dame and scored with :02 seconds left to give Georgia Tech the win.
With the win, Georgia Tech moves into contention for an NIT bid. More importantly, Tech is playing reasonably well and could have a solid finish.
Like Clemson, FSU is losing ground on an NCAA bid. Leonard Hamilton said his team needed to learn to play the entire game: "You've got to play for 40 minutes. You can't play 34. I think we led for 34 minutes. You've got to keep executing and keep doing things the right way. "We're making progress. We're just not getting over the hump. There have been a lot of teams get hot at the end of the season. We can't take a defeatist attitude. We've got to go back now and go on the road and play Duke. You can't get down when things don't go well and you can't get too excited when things are going well. Things go bad -- you've got to get back up. When things go well, you've got to keep it in perspective."
Call it the Zen of hoops.
Well, maybe next time.
The Hokies put five guys in double figures, led by Seth Allen with 23.
Jamel Artis paced Pitt past Syracuse, 66-52.
After the game, Jim Boeheim ripped his own player, Tyler Roberson, mercilessly: "If I had anyone else he wouldn't play a minute. You watched the game. I'm not going to describe what he did out there to you."
Not much: he played 25 minutes, took one shot (missed it), had four rebounds and two assists.
When someone told him what Boeheim said he replied "[t]hat's what he thinks. I mean, that's his opinion. I don't know."
He hasn't played well lately (17 rebounds in the four previous games). But he says he's trying: "On the boards [Pitt is] a really physical team. I went after it but they did a great job boxing out. I'll give them credit for that. … I think I played hard. I don't know. These last few games haven't gone my way. All I can control is playing hard and trying to help the team win. I think deep down, I've been trying to do that, and things haven't gone my way."
Nor has his coach, apparently.
Cat Barber has really carried State this season but against Clemson, he finally got some help.
Barber has been super human this year so he can be forgiven the rare bad game: he was just 1-12 from the floor and finished with eight.
Maverick Rowan had 20 though, while Abul-Malik Abu had 17 points and 16 rebounds. Caleb Martin had 16. Even Beejay Anya shot well, finishing 4-5.
Martin Daily Double: Caleb and Cody finished with 23 points, ten rebounds, five assists, one block and four turnovers.
On Sunday, we'll see what Wake Forest does without Devin Thomas and Cornelius Hudson when cellar dweller BC comes to town.
It's turned into a nightmare season for Wake as an epic losing streak continues. Whatever happened with the suspensions, this is a gut check game. How much worse can it get?
- Georgia Tech stings Notre Dame in final seconds
- Rowan helps NC State edge Clemson 77-74
- Carolina stomps Miami to take lead in ACC
- Pitt men's basketball continues domination over Syracuse
- North Carolina takes control of ACC with thrashing of Miami
- No finishing kick for SU in loss to Pittsburgh
- DeCock: These are the Tar Heels, for better and worse
- Rowan, Abu lead NC State to 77-74 win over Clemson
- Roy Williams rips Doug Gottlieb over retirement speculation
- UNC’s dominant 96-71 win over Miami began with positive response after loss to Duke
- Jim Boeheim on his 1996 Final Four squad: 'That team maximized what they could do'
- Syracuse basketball crushed on boards again by Pittsburgh