Rush The Court

This was easily the most entertaining weekend of ACC hoops so far this season. Of course, the league’s most important result was probably Duke’s win over St. John’s in New York’s Madison Garden, giving Mike Krzyzewski his 1,000th career win. The Blue Devils’ win also gave the ACC an important midseason non-conference victory on the road against a decent Big East team. Comebacks and exciting finishes were the norm as six of the seven league games were decided by four points or fewer. Conference leader Virginia needed to stage a late comeback to win at pesky rival Virginia Tech, while Notre Dame rallied from a huge early deficit to force overtime and eventually outlast N.C. State in Raleigh. In other close games, Miami won at Syracuse, Boston College edged Georgia Tech in Atlanta, Clemson beat Wake Forest on a putback at the buzzer, and North Carolina held off a furious Florida State rally on Saturday before itself rallying against Syracuse on Big Monday. In the only game that wasn’t in doubt in the final minutes, Louisville picked up a road win against struggling Pittsburgh. Here are some other highlights from over the weekend in the ACC.

• Most Outstanding Player: Redshirt freshman Xavier Rathan-Mayes single-handedly kept Florida State competitive in its 78-74 loss at North Carolina on Saturday, as his 35 points tied the second-highest total ever scored by a UNC opponent in the 29-year history of the Smith Center. The Seminole guard connected on 14-of-26 field goals, including five three-pointers, three of which came in the game’s last 35 seconds to make the Tar Heels sweat down the stretch. Rathan-Mayes was more than just a scorer, though, as he grabbed five rebounds, handed out four assists, and had two steals in the contest. He has a great chance to become Leonard Hamilton’s next special player in Tallahassee.
• Best Win: While Duke’s win over St. John’s was important for the obvious historical reasons, we will instead honor the top performance in a conference game here — Notre Dame’s overtime win in Raleigh on Sunday night. It’s not just that the Irish won a hard-fought victory in a tough venue, but it’s the way that the Irish did so that makes this win the best of the weekend. With under four minutes remaining in the first half, N.C. State was ahead by 18 points and cruising. But Notre Dame closed the half with a mini-run that cut the lead to 12, giving the Irish some momentum to carry into the second half. After finally catching the Wolfpack with 13 minutes left, the Irish fell behind again before rallying to force overtime and win the game. Star guard Jerian Grant led the way with 25 points as the Irish won their seventh ACC game in eight tries. Notre Dame hosts Duke Wednesday in a huge game for both teams in the conference standings.

• Worst Loss: This game was destined to produce the worst loss of the weekend as Georgia Tech lost at home to Boston College in a battle of two teams that came into the match-up winless in conference play. Even though the Yellow Jackets have been somewhat unlucky — dropping six games by seven points or fewer — their 0-7 ACC record spells doom for the future coaching status of Brian Gregory. You wonder if he spent too much time trying to please his mentor Tom Izzo, with his strong emphasis on rebounding, while being unable to develop even average shooters. The Yellow Jackets rank among the nation’s top 10 in both offensive and defensive rebounding percentage, but are 310th in effective field goal percentage, bottoming out with a pathetic 28 points scored at Virginia last Thursday.
• Unsung Heroes: In Clemson’s ugly win over Wake Forest on Saturday, it was fitting that the only basket by either team in the game’s final five minutes came from an unlikely source. Josh Smith has only made 15 baskets all year, but his offensive rebound and layup with 0.5 seconds left gave the Tigers the 59-57 win. Smith, a 6’8″ junior, did more than just make the game-winner, though. With Landy Nnoko battling foul trouble, Smith was forced to play 17 minutes and he responded with six points and a team-high eight rebounds. Credit also goes to Miami’s underrated big man Tonye Jekiri, who had a fine all-around effort in the Hurricanes’ road win over Syracuse. Jekiri, who leads the ACC in rebounding, grabbed 15 boards to go with three blocks and a team-high 13 points. While Miami’s strong perimeter gets most of the attention, the junior Jekiri has quietly developed into one the conference’s best post players.
• Most Efficient Offense/Least Efficient Defense: The most efficient offensive performance of the weekend belonged to Louisville, which scored 1.19 points per possession in its 12-point road win at Pittsburgh. The Cardinals shook off their much-maligned shooting woes and were on fire Sunday afternoon, converting 24-of-34 two-point shots and 6-of-12 from three-point land. Such red-hot shooting was more than enough to overcome 15 Louisville turnovers and a low offensive rebounding total of three. Terry Rozier led the way with a highly efficient performance, scoring 26 points on 12 field goal attempts.
• Most Efficient Defense/Least Efficient Offense: In what has become a recurring theme, Virginia’s great defense kept it in the game with Virginia Tech when the Cavaliers’ shots weren’t falling. So while the competitiveness of the contest was a relatively big surprise, it is no shock that Virginia held the Hokies to a paltry 0.82 points per possession. This performance on the defensive end enabled the Cavaliers to win despite shooting 34.7 percent from the field and only managing 50 points in 57 possessions. Remarkably, the Hokies made 14-of-23 two-point shots, which is normally a performance that results in a successful scoring game. But Virginia forced 14 turnovers, allowed just one offensive rebound, and only put Virginia Tech on the foul line seven times to find other ways to stymie its rival.