ACC Roundup - Big Wins For Notre Dame, Wake Forest And Pitt

In Wednesday’s ACC Action, Wake Forest took out NC State 69-51, Miami survived Georgia Tech 79-70, Notre Dame got by Louisville 63-57 and Pitt surprised FSU 56-51.

We didn't realize how many injuries Florida State has: Malik Osborne is done for the year with an ankle injury, Naheem McCloud broke bones in his hand and Anthony Polite has a fractured wrist.

Even if we had known that we would still have picked FSU. It’s a deep team and even with injuries they could have beaten Pitt. In fact the second five in this game may have been better than Pitt’s starters.

But it wasn’t enough. It was an ugly win - the teams combined to shoot 34-110 with Pitt hitting 33 percent and the ‘Noles 28.6 percent.

The halftime score was 21-21. Good thing Pitt got Ithiel Horton back: he cracked 50 percent and hit seven threes for 25 points.

Pitt gets NC State at home next while FSU goes to UNC. Interesting roads for both. Florida State, by the way, has lost five straight.

Not having a reliable big man means things like Sam Waardenburg scoring 19 points can happen. He’s only scored in double figures three times in ACC play this season. It’s a tough season for the Yellow Jackets who are now 12-13, but they are competing: they had a 14 point lead at one point and it was still a one-point game with 8:34 left.

NC State has had a tough season too, losing Manny Bates and now Ernest Ross too, who has not played since mid-January.

Like Tech, they hung in for a good while. This was a one-point game with 6:00 left.

But State only scored two points in the last six minutes while Wake ripped off an explosive 19.

The Deacs are now 20-5, the first ACC team to get to 20 wins and also the first time the Deacs have won that many since 2010. Like Florida State, the Pack has lost five straight.

Louisville pushed Notre Dame, which was good, but in the end they still didn't know what to do on offense to capitalize on their otherwise solid effort.

Malik Williams is back but not totally: he only got six minutes off the bench and didn’t score.

The Irish won without Nate Laszewski, who is out with a relatively minor injury, but they play at Wake on Saturday and that won’t be as easy.

Louisville is in the losing streak tent: the Cards have lost six straight and nine of the last 10.

No games until Saturday.

ACC Standings

• Seabron scores 17 in second half as NC State basketball falls to Wake Forest, 69-51
• Sharp-Shooting Ithiel Horton Leads Pitt Over Florida State, 56-51
• Ithiel Horton’s big night at Florida State ends Pitt’s losing streak
• Noie: First place in the ACC fits Notre Dame, pretty darn well
• Deacs wear 20-win label after repelling Wolfpack
• Veteran Isaiah Mucius playing pivotal role in Wake Forest’s turnaround
• Georgia Tech wastes 14-point lead in loss to Miami
• Hurricanes end two-game skid, stay in ACC hunt with 79-70 comeback win over Georgia Tech
• Irish Push Past Louisville, Claim First Place In The ACC
• Notre Dame Alone in First Place in ACC After 63-57 Win