ACC Roundup - Louisville Pulls Off A Shocker
Matthew Cleveland’s look of disbelief says it all
In Wednesday’s ACC Action, UNC shot down NC State in Raleigh, 67-54, Virginia Tech surprised Clemson 87-72, Louisville shocked Miami 80-71 and Syracuse prevailed over Boston College 69-59.
It’s not a surprise that UNC beat State - it’s a pretty regular occurrence that dulls what should be a white-hot rivalry - but what is surprising is that UNC won by 13 despite shooting just 38.7 percent. UNC even barely got over 50 percent from the line, hitting just 12-20.
Fortunately for the Tar Heels, State was even worse. The Wuffies hit just 26.9 percent overall and a really bad 2-21 from three point range.
It’s also surprising that Armando Bacot had just nine points and five rebounds, none of them offensive - but Harrison Ingram managed 19.
But again, State’s starters hit 4-8 (DJ Burns), 2-7 (Dennis Parker and Jayden Taylor), 2-16 (DJ Horne) and 3-12 (Casey Morsell).
Before Louisville just shocked the crap out of Miami, the biggest surprise of the ACC season was Notre Dame hammering Virginia. But we have some context on that one now: Virginia is young and Notre Dame is just maxing the hell out of its talent and is being brilliantly coached.
You can’t make those points here. Plus Louisville is down to seven players and Kenny Payne is actively soliciting walk-ons.
And this Miami team should be cruising.
Only it hasn’t been.
The ‘Canes are out of the Top 25 and have losses to Kentucky, Colorado and now back-to-back losses to Wake Forest and Louisville.
And Louisville scored the last nine points - on the road. This Louisville team did that.
Louisville’s defense was pretty good too - Miami missed its last seven shots. And while the ‘Canes have been leading the nation with 42 percent from behind the line, in this game they hit just 11-34.
Miami took 67 shots and 34 were threes which again says good things about Louisville’s defense. This has been a tough season for Louisville - well, season and a half really - but this may be a real highlight for those guys. Good for them. Losing constantly is really draining. It’s hard not to be happy for them.
What’s up with Clemson?
The Tigers were looking like world beaters not long ago. Clemson went into the Memphis game 9-0 but have since lost four of their last six. After this game, they’ve also lost their Top 25 ranking.
Shawn Pedulla, who didn’t play well for four games in a row (Auburn, Louisville, Vermont and Wake Forest), likely because of an ankle injury he suffered in December, Well he appears to be over that now, having torched Florida State for 26 and Clemson for 32. Obviously having a healthy point guard helps.
Unfortunately for the Hokies, Hunter Cattoor was injured and did not play in the second half. No word on how serious the injury was.
For the Tigers, Ian Schieffelin continues to play at an under-appreciated All-ACC pace: he had eight rebounds, including five offensive, and shot 7-10 scoring 15 points. A few years ago, Coach K called PJ Hall the “most improved player on the planet.” Now it might be Schieffelin. If he keeps this up, we’ll all have to memorize how to spell his name.
In the nightcap, Syracuse beat Boston College despite not starting Judah Mintz, who didn’t start due to a violation of team rules. Naheem McLeod didn't play at all and is out indefinitely with a foot injury. It’s not a huge loss because the 7-4 senior has never been a huge factor, either at SU or FSU. He’s just kind of an average big guy at best. He does start, but doesn't get major minutes.
At Duke, Maliq Brown was far better than McLeod and he was solid here too, racking up 19 points, eight boards and four assists. He’s also pretty solid physically.
This was also an interesting win because while Brown and Chris Bell scored 39 points between them, the other starters accounted for just 15 and JJ Starling had just two. Mintz had 10 off the bench.
For BC, Quinten Post was shut out which was a surprise, and so was Jaedyn Zackery. BC shot just 38.7 percent. The biggest difference here though was that Syracuse got to the line 23 times, hitting 17, while BC had just four attempts, hitting three.
For the math challenged (guilty), Syracuse outscored BC from the line by 14 which, not coincidentally, is pretty close to the 10 point margin of victory. Only Brown, Bell and Copeland were called for fouls for the ‘Cuse.
Even that might have been overcome if BC hadn’t racked up 22 turnovers.
No games until Saturday.
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