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ACC Roundup - Ol’ Roy Pulls A Slick Move

Going small against a huge FSU team paid big dividends

By JD King

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NCAA Basketball: Florida State at North Carolina
Jan 14, 2017; Chapel Hill, NC, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels forward Theo Pinson (1) reacts in the second half. The Tar Heels defeated the Seminoles 96-83 at Dean E. Smith Center. 
Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

In Saturday’s ACC action, Notre Dame held up its end of the deal, beating Virginia Tech, 76-71 and will play Florida State with a perfect ACC record.

Not so for FSU: the ‘Noles lost to UNC, 96-83.

So currently, Notre Dame leads with UNC and FSU tied for second and UNC obviously holding the (way premature) tiebreaker.

So if Florida State beats Notre Dame this week, it’s likely that all three will have one-loss records (UNC plays Syracuse on Monday and is certainly favored).

Notre Dame had a fat first half lead - 19 - and blew most of it but held on.

The Baby Faced Assassin, Steve Vasturia, had 20 to pace the Irish. Bonzi Colson had 14 points and 12 boards.

The Hokies have some depth back - Khadim Sy and Sean Allen are both back.

UNC had a tough time with Florida State and all the big men in first half foul trouble when Ol’ Roy Williams did something he’s likely never done before: he went to a five-guard lineup.

With a slight echo of Wilt Chamberlain and 1957, Theo Pinson was assigned to guard Michael Ojo. That must have been a bizarre experience and perhaps a bit frightening.

Like Chamberlain, Ojo seems like a decent sort who doesn’t feel the need to intimidate people, but big whoop: the guy is the size of a barn. It can’t be easy to be a “normal” sized guy (Pinson is 6-6) guarding someone as big as Ojo.

Still, it got UNC through and now Williams has learned a new trick. Who knows when he can use it again?

Clemson lost its fourth straight conference game, although only one wasn’t very close: Georgia Tech won by 12. Otherwise? UNC by three, in OT, Notre Dame by five and Virginia by four.

The Tigers are close to some really good teams but haven’t gotten over the hump. And next up is a trip to Louisville.

Clemson is good enough to be an NCAA team but the ACC is brutal. It’s not looking good.

Pitt took a big beating at home from Miami, losing 72-46 for coach Jim Larranaga’s 600th career win. It’s the worst loss Pitt has ever had in the Petersen Center.

Injuries are adding up too: Michael Young played with a mask because of an eye injury and struggled throughout. And Ryan Luther injured his foot in practice on Friday and sat out. It looks like a stress fracture so he could be out for awhile.

As Duke fans, we can empathize.

We thought that Kevin Stallings might be volatile but he sounds resigned to his fate:

“When you have holes and you have two guys who can bail you out sometimes like Jamel [Artis] and Mike do, then you can sometimes cover those holes. Today, unfortunately, and not because it was his fault, Mike couldn’t help too much. We’re a short-handed team when we’ve got a less-than-100-percent Mike Young. What are we going to get up in arms about? If we’ve got guys injured, we’ve got to play the guys we have. If the guys we have aren’t good enough to win, we’re not good enough to win. They’ll continue, I think, to try to do their best and we’ll continue to try to help them to do their best.”

On Sunday, just one game: State takes on Georgia Tech. Given how the Yellow Jackets have played lately, we wouldn’t take anything for granted.

Last time out, BC put a major hurting on Syracuse. This time, the ‘Cuse won by 15 and without much trouble.

BC’s Jim Christian had a pretty good take: "It's not always a tactical thing. Guys just play harder. I think they played a little harder today.''

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