After two straight weekends full of buzzer-beaters and furious comebacks, this was a much quieter weekend in the ACC. In the headline event on Saturday night, Virginia held off Louisville in a defensive struggle. Earlier in the day, Duke blew out Notre Dame at Cameron Indoor, gaining big-time revenge for the Irish’s win over the Blue Devils in South Bend 11 days prior. Elsewhere, North Carolina was sluggish early at Boston College but came on strong in the second half to beat the Eagles in another Saturday game. After all of this, Virginia is now two games clear in the loss column in its quest for a second straight ACC regular season title, with four schools behind the Cavaliers tied with three losses each. Pittsburgh also overtook visiting Syracuse; Georgia Tech beat Wake Forest in Atlanta; and Florida State won on the road at Virginia Tech. In the only Sunday ACC action of the weekend, Miami got a much-needed home win over Clemson. Here are some of the other highlights from the ACC’s weekend action.
Pittsburgh’s Jamel Artis has become an All-ACC candidate with his strong recent play.
(AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)
- Most Outstanding Player: We listed Pittsburgh’s Jamel Artis as an unsung hero after a solid weekend performance a couple of weeks ago. Now, after streaking together a series of outstanding games, it’s time to list the sophomore forward among the ACC’s elite players. Saturday afternoon’s contest in the Peterson Events Center was a perfect example of how well Artis is playing in many areas — he finished the game with 20 points, 10 boards, three steals, and five assists. Syracuse led by as many as 10 points in the first half before Artis led the Panthers all the way back to the lead and the victory. His 14 points after intermission were punctuated by a dagger three to give Pitt up a five-point lead with a minute to go in the game.
- Best Win: There wasn’t an obvious choice for this award since pretty much all the favored teams won, so let’s go with a team that probably needed a win more than anyone else. Even though Miami was favored to beat Clemson on Sunday night in Coral Gables, the Hurricanes’ 56-45 victory over the red-hot Tigers was huge for Jim Larranaga’s squad. By snapping a three-game losing streak, Miami moved back over .500 in ACC play and keeps the Hurricanes’ NCAA Tournament hopes alive. Clemson entered the game having won four straight and led by a point at the half, but the Tigers couldn’t contain Miami’s shooters down the stretch as the Hurricanes shot 55 percent after intermission. Sheldon McClellan led Miami with 19 points, while Tonye Jekiri ruled the paint, grabbing 16 rebounds.
- Worst Loss: On a weekend devoid of upsets or heart-breaking defeats, we will go with a key personnel loss, that of Virginia’s Justin Anderson. The Cavaliers will be without their second leading scorer (13.4 PPG) and best three-point shooter (48.4%) for four to six weeks because of a fractured finger on his shooting hand. He suffered the injury late in the first half of the Louisville game and did not return, as Virginia was able to withstand a late rally to hang on to a five-point home victory. Junior Evan Nolte stepped into Anderson’s spot on the wing but he was largely invisible, taking only two shots and finishing with three points and a single rebound. Nolte and freshman Marial Shayok will probably be asked to take most of the junior’s minutes, but expect starting guards Malcolm Brogdon and London Perrantes to also step up their offense. There will be no replacing the athletic forward on the defensive end of the floor, but that drop-off should merely take the Cavaliers from one of the nation’s two best defenses to still a very good one. Anderson should be able to stay in good game-shape with only a hand injury, but his projected return coincides with the start of postseason play. You have to wonder if he will be able to regain his offensive touch quickly enough to help Virginia realize its Final Four aspirations.
- Unsung Heroes: This week we honor a trio of sophomores that came up big when their teams needed a boost. Early in Pittsburgh’s game with Syracuse, the Panthers lost senior Cameron Wright to an ankle injury. Sheldon Jeter, a 6’8″ transfer from Vanderbilt, came through in Wright’s stead, scoring a season best 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting to support the comeback win. North Carolina’s Isaiah Hicks made only his second career start and responded with a career high 18 points of his own. The Tar Heels needed that offensive spark on an afternoon when Marcus Paige, the team’s leading scorer, failed to score for the game’s first 18.5 minutes. Finally, Duke’s Matt Jones also had his career-best scoring day with 17 points in the Blue Devils’ blowout win over Notre Dame. More importantly, Jones had 15 of those points in the first half when Duke broke the game open, as star center Jahlil Okafor was on the floor for only eight minutes due to foul trouble.
- Most Efficient Offense/Least Efficient Defense: Thanks to a huge first half offensive explosion, Duke cruised to its win over Notre Dame with a outstanding mark of 1.45 points per possession. The Blue Devils carved up the Irish’s defense in the first half to the tune of 50 points in only 27 possessions, making 10-of-13 two-pointers, 7-of-8 threes, and 9-of-12 free throws with only three turnovers.
- Most Efficient Defense/Least Efficient Offense: As expected, Virginia’s win over Louisville was a defensive slugfest with the Cavaliers holding the Cardinals to 0.85 points per possession. Like Duke’s offense, Virginia’s defense did its best work before intermission, as Louisville managed only 13 points on 28 first half possessions. In fact, the Cardinals were unable to score in any way in the last 10 minutes of the first stanza. During that drought, Louisville missed 11 shots, committed four turnovers, did not get to the foul line, and only managed one offensive rebound. Ouch.
- Bonus – Impressive Stat of the Weekend: Virginia only turned the ball over twice against a Louisville defense that forces 19 miscues per game. Granted, with the Cardinals’ anemic first half, the Cavaliers rarely had to face Louisville’s full court pressure until later in the game. But even when the pressure came, Virginia handled the ball flawlessly. Special credit goes to the backcourt of Malcolm Brogdon and London Perrantes, who shared primary ball-handling duties against two of the best ballhawks in the ACC, Chris Jones and Terry Rozier. The Cavaliers duo each played 38 minutes and never wilted in the face of the relentless pressure.