Three ACC games Sunday and while two were not particularly interesting, VCU at Virginia was.
Well in some ways it was: both teams shot 29.5% for the game and Virginia took 30 foul shots (they made 26).
What it was was a game between two of four solid programs in Virginia (Virginia Tech and Radford are the other two). There was a time when the entire state was more or less a basketball wasteland. Virginia and VCU had occasional good teams but not much sustained success.
It’s very different now.
Tony Bennett has Virginia as a Top Ten program pretty much every season, post-season aside, VCU has prospered since Mack McCarthy coached in Richmond - Jeff Capel followed him, then Anthony Grant, then Shaka Smart and the Final Four, Will Wade and now Mike Rhoads, who is promising too.
Someone has made some excellent hires.
This was a close game until fairly late when Virginia went on a 19-6 run. As usual, Ty Jerome came through for the Cavs, scoring 10 of those 19.
Bad news for the Cavs: freshman guard Kihei Clark, who has been really good for Virginia, played with a cast and will have surgery for a hairline fracture. He’ll be out for a while. That’s a tough break, no pun intended, because the 5-9 Clark has been a key for the Cavaliers.
The other two games were basketball bon bons.
What happens when one team can rain threes and the other can’t? The first team runs away, which Virginia Tech did, nearly doubling the score on South Carolina State.
The Hokies won the three point battle 33-3. That’s almost the entire 37 point margin of victory.
The harsh winter weather limited turnout to - get this - 800.
We’re assuming Virginia Tech has exams now and scheduled accordingly although not the weather. Next up is Washington in the Boardwalk Classic in Atlantic City.
At least we know Virginia Tech is a competent team. It’s hard to be sure about Georgia Tech.
The Yellow Jackets are now 5-3 after dispatching Florida A&M 73-40.
A&M is just 3-8 and have lost to Central Connecticut, North Florida and South Alabama.
Their wins are over Jacksonville, which is not what it once was, Tuskegee, and Fort Valley State.
So while it might be a useful game to let the Yellow Jackets grow, take the win with a grain of salt.
The Rattlers had 25 turnovers, shot 34.8% and hit just 2-11 from deep. Even free throws were more or less a 50-50 proposition (54.5%).
Khalid Moore came off the bench for a 6-6 shooting game and 14 points. Josh Pastner was impressed: “I really believe Khalid is going to be a good player, and what it shows you is ... he wasn’t even ranked as a top-200 kid. If you look at the recruiting publications, he was ranked as a midmajor player, but he’s gotten better. He’s got a chance to be really, really good.”
That’d be a good find.
It’s going to be a quiet week for ACC basketball with exams in full swing. No games Monday, Tuesday, Thursday or Friday. Only two games on Wednesday and both glorified practices as BC takes on Columbia and Louisville hosts Lipscomb.
NO MONDAY ACC ACTION | ||
Sunday's Results | ||
Virginia 57 VCU 49 Virginia Tech 81 S.C. State 44 Georgia Tech 73 Florida A&M 40 |
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- WOODY: UVA, VCU two good teams with room to grow
- Virginia Tech warms up in win over South Carolina State
- Tony Bennett and Virginia have moved on from the UMBC loss. Really.
- Big East fends off ACC, Big Ten to keep tournament at MSG
- Paul Zeise: Pitt should play West Virginia every year — in every sport
- ACC hoops performance trends: Darn it, Duke is playing defense this year
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