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ACC Roundup Syracuse Upsets NC State, Pitt Rolls Over BC

And the Panthers are now alone in first place

By JD King
/ new
NC State v Syracuse
 SYRACUSE, NEW YORK - FEBRUARY 14: Judah Mintz #3 of the Syracuse Orange drives to the basket as Jarkel Joiner #1 of the North Carolina State Wolfpack guards him during the second half at JMA Wireless Dome on February 14, 2023 in Syracuse, New York.
Photo by Bryan M. Bennett/Getty Images

Despite a triple double by Jarkel Joyner, just the fourth in program history, NC State fell to Syracuse Tuesday night, 75-72.

There were a couple of times when each team had a bit of a lead but it was a pretty close game generally speaking. It wasn’t really decided until quite late when Jesse Edwards converted a three point play with 1:47 to go to put the Orange up 73-70.

DJ Burns then got a three point play of his own but missed the free throw. Judah Mintz converted a pair of free throws for the final winning margin.

Syracuse moves to 16-10 overall and 9-6 in the ACC. NC State falls to a still respectable 20-7 and 10-6 in the conference.

Meanwhile down in Pittsburgh, after a slow start, the Panthers woke up and overwhelmed Boston College, 77-58 with a 21-2 run.

Blake Hinson got hot again, hitting 7-15 overall and 6-11 from behind the line. He finished with 21. All other Pitt starters finished in double figures.

It was Pitt’s sixth straight win. The Panthers are now are now 19-7 and 12-3 in the ACC and all alone in first place. Earlier, we thought that Brad Brownell was the odds-on favorite to win ACC Coach of the Year. Now we’d argue that it’s Jeff Capel. He’s about as far off the hot seat as possible.

Three games on tap for Wednesday: Virginia is at Louisville, the battle of the Techs take place in Atlanta and Florida State visits Clemson. We could make cases for upsets in any of these except for Louisville-Virginia.

Georgia Tech has shown more backbone lately and their defense is pretty good. Virginia Tech has talent but seems to have a fairly low ceiling. But we’d take them here.

We’d like to think Florida State could pull this off, but that’s hard to see too. But consider that Matthew Cleveland and Caleb Mills are solid and Cam Cohen is emerging as a decent big man. Toss in Jalen Warley, and that’s a pretty good base.

The Tigers have lost three straight, but we think they’ll come through here. Everyone should be more or less healthy and Clemson is a more complete team than Florida State.

So we’ll go with Clemson here.

Wednesday’s ACC Action

  • Virginia vs. Louisville || 7:00 PM || ESPNU
  • Virginia Tech vs. Georgia Tech || 7:00 PM || ACCN
  • Florida State vs. Clemson || 7:00 PM || ACCNX

ACC Standings

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