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ACC Roundup - UNC Falls At Virginia, Notre Dame Survives In Overtime Against Georgia Tech

As Armando Bacot is hurt again.

By JD King
/ new
Georgia Tech v Notre Dame
 SOUTH BEND, IN - JANUARY 10: Nate Laszewski #14 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Javon Franklin #4 of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets battle for the ball during the second half at Joyce Center on January 10, 2023 in South Bend, Indiana.
Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images

In Tuesday’s ACC Action, Notre Dame nipped Georgia Tech in overtime, 73-72 and UNC fell to Virginia, 65-58.

There’s nothing like an early energy to mess up your mojo and that’s exactly what UNC got when Armando Bacot went down just 1:19 into the game.

Already missing Pete Nance, that put UNC into a real bind. Freshman Jalen Washington is talented but he’s coming off a serious high school knee injury and has just started to contribute. He did reasonably well but Virginia is a tough opponent to have to step up against. He had 13 points on 5-11 froth floor and had six rebounds.

UNC was held to 39.6 percent from the floor and had 13 turnovers. Normally that’s not nightmarish but when you only hit 21 shots, it’s magnified.

Seth Trimble started again but scored just two points. RJ Davis and Caleb Love understandably had to shoot but were a combined 10-25 and 6-14 on threes.

But it wasn’t a perfect game for Virginia either. Kadin Shedrick and Jayden Gardner were nearly shut out, scoring just two and three point respectively.

Fortunately, Ben Vander Plas broke a scoring slump, hitting 17. He shot 6-10 off the bench. Isaiah McKneely shot 4-5 including 3-4 on threes.

In a somewhat surprising stat, Virginia had eight blocks to two for UNC. Not that UNC is a great shot blocking team but that’s a big discrepancy.

You wonder how it would have gone had Bacot played but that’s how things go sometimes.

With the win, Virginia moves up to 4th place. UNC meanwhile is 3-3.

Louisville is firmly in the basement at 0-5 but Georgia Tech and Notre Dame are barely ahead of that at 1-5.

After beating the Yellow Jackets Tuesday night, Notre Dame has the tiebreaker there for what it’s worth.

Rather than collapsing, as they have done previously, Notre Dame fought back with a 9-2 run at the end of regulation, and largely because senior Cormac McCarthy provided stellar leadership and his teammates responded.

It was an ugly win, but a desperately needed one. Even better, they really had to fight for it and they stuck together.

It’s not much, but Syracuse is next and if they can pull that off, things may change.

Wednesday is a busy night as an improving BC visits Miami, sliding Virginia Tech travels to the Dome to take on Syracuse, first place Clemson takes on last place Louisville at home and Wake Forest welcomes the Fightin’ Hammies of FSU to the Joel.

These are all interesting in different ways: can the Eagles keep their improvement going and pull off an upset? Can the Hokies break through? Will Hunter Cattoor return? Does Louisville have a prayer against Clemson? And who ever thought anyone would write that sentence? Can FSU hold together to beat a Wake Forest team that appears to be finding its stride?

We’ll see Wednesday evening.

Wednesday’s ACC Action

  • Boston College vs. Miami || 7:00 PM || ESPNU
  • Pitt vs. Duke || 7:00 PM || ACCN
  • Virginia Tech vs. Syracuse || 7:00 PM || ACCNX
  • Louisville vs. Clemson || 9:00 PM || ACCNX
  • Florida State vs. Wake Forest || 9:00 PM || ACCN

ACC Standings

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