ACC Roundup - Virginia Still In Charge

Virginia’s mastery of Louisville now extends to two coaches as UVA took down Dave Padgett’s Louisville, this time 74-64.

Playing without Nigel Johnson (three game suspension) and Devon Hall under the weather, little used freshman Marco Anthony came through, scoring 10 points in 18 minutes.

Louisville played pretty well, hitting 50%, but couldn’t quite catch up. Ray Spalding shot 8-10 for 16 points and had seven boards.

For UVA, aside from Anthony, Kyle Guy finished with 22 and Ty Jerome had 16.

Playing without Bruce Brown for the first time, Miami nearly blew it against winless Pitt but held on and won 69-57. Chris Lykes filled in for Brown and had 13 points and five assists. It’ll be fun to see what Miami’s pocket rocket makes of his chance.

Pitt took 53 shots and 30 of those were three pointers.

Wake finally broke its losing streak, knocking off FSU at home 76-72. The Deacs are notably relieved. Keyshawn Woods: “It’s miserable. Losing for four straight weeks is miserable. But we’ve been through it, we went through it and now we’re in the second half of ACC play. And for us to come out and get this win versus Florida State, which is a great team, that’s a great sign leading into the rest of these games. Just keep doing what we’re doing, sticking together.

“We stick together, we can beat anybody, and I think we showed that tonight.”

Beating Florida State is a solid win. Cutting down on turnovers probably helped: after a really bad stretch, Wake cut that to 12 Wednesday.

Another upset, though smaller, as Georgia Tech took down Syracuse. Josh Okogie and Tadrick Jackson led the way with 20 and 15 points respectively. Tech got just 11 points from its frontcourt, all from big man Ben Lammers.

Blunt as always, Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said that “[o]ur offense is terrible. It’s been terrible all year.”

Tech went with just six players and Syracuse just seven. Boeheim said Howard Washington is out for the rest of the season and Tech will be without Curtis Hayward II for the rest of the year as well.

Virginia Tech survived BC in overtime, winning 85-80, leading Buzz Williams to chant in Latin after the game. What’s up with that? Anyone know?

The Hokies were lucky to win - they blew a seven-point lead at the end of the game.

You won’t see this too often: Jerome Robinson scored five free throws on one trip. Three were his and two were from a foolish technical whistled by Ted Valentine. Robinson had a chance to win the game in regulation but his shot rimmed out.

Virginia Tech is moving up with three straight wins and is now in sixth place.

The ACC is on target to get nine schools in the NCAA field - Virginia, Duke, Clemson, Louisville, Miami, Virginia Tech, NC State, Florida State and UNC - but Clemson and Miami have serious injury concerns to overcome so don’t write them in just yet.

• Virginia Has Locked Up the ACC After Only One Month
• No. 2 UVA tops Louisville, remains perfect in the ACC
• Tony Bennett built an ACC powerhouse on culture and defense
• U.Va. aces toughest home test with victory over Louisville
• Hokies edge Boston College in overtime, 80-75
• Syracuse basketball can’t make shots in loss at Georgia Tech
• UM freshman comes to rescue, as he leads Hurricanes to win over Pitt
• Ed Hardin: Wake finally rights the ship, knocks off Florida State
• Jackson Scores 1000th-Career Point, Jackets Down ‘Cuse
• ACC woes continue for Pitt in road loss to Miami
• #2 Virginia beats Louisville, in virtual shootout, 74-64
• Virginia suspends guard Nigel Johnson for three games
• They may not get what they want, but here’s what Duke, UNC, NC State need to do to finish strong
• Wake Forest men’s basketball team break 7-game losing streak with home win over Florida State
• No. 2 Virginia holds off Louisville 74-64