ACC Roundup -Big Wins For Clemson, NC State As Regular Season Concludes

In the final day of ACC regular season competition, Virginia beat Louisville, 73-68, Syracuse fell at Clemson 67-55, Pitt surprised Notre Dame 56-53, NC State took out some frustrations on Boston College 73-47 and Florida State took Wake Forest 65-57.

Wake had a classic Manning type of game. For part of it we thought, well, maybe they were better in Durham than we realized. Then Florida State stormed back late, took the lead, and won by eight.

Wake was actually up 12 early but Florida State began to press and that was the beginning of the end for Wake Forest.

Florida State ripped off an 18-0 run to seize control of the game.

Speaking of runs, Louisville had a 20-4 run at Virginia to go up 47-40 in the second half.

But Virginia ran off seven of its own and the game kind of went back and forth before the ‘Hoos took charge down the stretch.

We thought Clemson should beat Syracuse and the Tigers did but the first half was rocky.

Syracuse was up by 10 and the Tigers only managed 24 points by halftime.

The Tigers had something left in the tank though and pulled away in the second half to win by 12.

Clemson is finishing strong, having won four of their last five. These teams are an identical 19-12 but Syracuse has ten ACC wins to Clemson’s nine, including an upset of Duke.

However unlike Clemson, the Orange has lost four of its last five.

State had lost two straight, including an awful home loss to Georgia Tech, before crushing BC. A big road win will help their cause, not to mention their confidence.

BC coach Jim Christian said that it was his team’s worst effort all year.

For his part, State coach Kevin Keatts was pleased and, following his tradition, bought his team ice cream after a road win. After that one he might have bought banana splits.

Pitt has struggled a lot this season but wins have been rare.

Jeff Capel has a nice freshman backcourt though and Trey McGowan had 16.

He did seemingly hit the freshman wall though and coach Jeff Capel says, more or less, that Pitt rises and falls with his play. That’ll change next year as Pitt brings in more offensive talent and McGowan will have a season under his belt. It’s just been tough to get wins.

Still, no one is clamoring for the return of Capel’s predecessor Kevin Stallings, who was so thoroughly disliked that he was basically run off after two seasons.

Speaking of Capel, here’s a nice article about Jeff and brother Jason and to a somewhat lesser extent assistant coach Milan Brown and how their fathers helped nurture their passion for the game and for coaching.

Also, check out this article on the early days of televised ACC basketball.

• Syracuse gets No. 6 seed in ACC tournament, will play BC-Pitt winner
• ACCTournament Bracket is set
• Wake Forest will open ACC Tournament on Tuesday at noon
• Virginia Basketball: ‘Hoos capture ACC regular-season title
• Louisville basketball is the No. 7 seed in 2019 ACC Tournament bracket
• 2019 ACC Tournament bracket: Matchups set for Charlotte
• Exploring Virginia Tech’s ACC Tournament Path
• As 3-pointers keep falling, Virginia strives for balance
• ACC Tournament schedule revealed
• No. 2 Virginia holds off Louisville to clinch share of ACC title, No. 1 seed in ACC Tournament
• Virginia basketball clinches ACC title share, but honoring Jack Salt was ‘more important’
• Clemson basketball beats Syracuse,
• CLEMSON BASKETBALL: Reed rallies Tigers to 67-55 win over Orange
• Syracuse Basketball: Clemson’s 2nd half comeback dooms Orange