In Tuesday’s ACC action, NC State upset Clemson on the road, 80-76 in overtime, Florida State pulled off an impressive upset of Miami, 65-63 and SMU beat Wake Forest, 91-79.
Will Wade said State would need a big win to make up for the home loss to Georgia Tech and they got it at Clemson, where the Tigers had won 14 straight home games. They had also won 14 straight ACC games, which is seriously impressive.
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But State went on a 12-2 run in the first half and put the Tigers behind the ball 8. Clemson was under a lot of pressure and had six turnovers in 6:22. Neither team shot too well, but State had 7 turnovers to Clemson’s 13 and had seven more points at the foul line than the Tigers.
Ven-Allen Lubin had 22 points on 9-12 shooting from the floor.
This was an instinctive test for State and the Pack passed the test. This was a huge CV win and will put them back on track for the playoffs.
We picked Clemson and Miami and both lost. In the latter case, we probably underestimated the power of a rivalry game.
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While Miami was solid early, Florida State was ahead for most of the second half.
Never far ahead and behind on many occasions, but still, the ‘Noles didn’t fall late like they have on occasion this season and Luke Loucks picked up his first ACC win.
What we like about FSU’s current situation is that this team doesn’t have a lot of talent and certainly no major presence.
However, for our money, Loucks has done something his predecessor Leonard Hamilton struggled to do almost every year: Under the newcomer, Florida State has an offensive identity.
This is a team that moves the ball well and finds open shots. Loucks looks like a guy who will only get better in this area. They need better players, but once they get them, this will be a fun team to watch. You heard it here for the first time.
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This game was tied 63-63 with :01 left when Miami’s Tre Donaldson fouled Robert McCray, who hit both.
McCray had 20 to lead FSU and Chauncey Wiggins had 10. Shelton Henderson led Miami with 19 while Malik Reanu had 16.
SMU built a nine-point halftime lead and cruised to a relatively easy win over Wake Forest in the Joel. Cooper Schweiger and Omaha Biliew combined for 8 points and 4 rebounds in the loss, which wasn’t hard to imagine facing huge bigs Samet Yigitoglu and Jaden Toombs.
Wake has two fundamental offensive problems: 1) a lack of size and productive big men, and 2) an offense that relies too heavily on Juke Harris, Myles Colvin and Nate Calmese. Harris finished with 27 here, Colvin had 17 but Calmese only had 4.
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Tre’Von Spillers returned to the starting lineup and had 19. In the previous three games, he finished with 4 (Miami), 7 (UNC), and 6 (FSU).
Obviously he can be a useful player, but he’s 6-7 and 215 and bigger players will abuse him in the paint.
For his return to Lawrence Joel, Boopie Miller had a modest game with 12 points, 4 rebounds and 6 assists.
Discussion over the fate of the Dean Dome rages, and prominent figures begin to weigh in. Old Roy Williams once said his preference was to renovate the Dean Dome and now he’s joined by Brice Johnson And Tyler Hansbrough.
Speaking of UNC, struggling Notre Dame visits Wednesday while Pitt and BC, both 8-10, face off in Boston. And in the nightcap, Virginia Tech and Syracuse face off at the Dome.
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Tuesday’s ACC action
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Notre Dame at UNC || 7:00 a.m. || ESPN2
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Pitt at Boston College || 7:00 a.m. || ACCN
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Virginia Tech at Syracuse || 9:00 a.m. || ACCN
