ACC Weekend Review: 03.07.16 Edition
Posted by Brad Jenkins on March 7th, 2016The ACC regular season came to an end on Saturday, and despite persistent congestion at the top of the league standings for much of the campaign, we finished with an outright champion as North Carolina claimed its first regular season conference title since 2012. The Tar Heels collected this year’s title in a similar fashion to how they did so that season, beating archrival Duke in Cameron Indoor Stadium after suffering an earlier crushing home loss to the Blue Devils. Miami was not able to tie the Tar Heels for the league’s top spot because of another poor showing on the road — this time at the hands of surging Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. Virginia also easily handled Louisville for the second time this season. The Cavaliers (now ranked #1 in KenPom) are perhaps the favorite to win the upcoming ACC Tournament in Washington, D.C. Here are some of the highlights from a busy weekend around the league.
Brice Johnson slams home two of his 18 points to help North Carolina dominate Duke in the paint. (Mark Dolejs/USA TODAY Sports)
- Best Win: There was a lot at stake for North Carolina in its annual season-ending meeting with Duke. Not only were the Tar Heels playing their archrival for a regular season crown and a potential #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, Roy Williams’ team was also playing to prove its toughness against good competition — something this squad has struggled with. The game certainly wasn’t pretty (both teams shot less than 40 percent from the field), but North Carolina finally got over the hump to notch the big win (Duke had won 11 of their 14 previous meetings). To say that the Tar Heels dominated the glass would be a gross understatement. Led by Brice Johnson’s 21 boards, North Carolina held an incredible +35 edge in that category. Duke never led but managed to stay close by making 13 threes and committing eight fewer turnovers. The Tar Heels iced the game by going 8-of-8 from the foul line in the last 30 seconds of play. Saturday’s outcome continued an interesting recent trend in this rivalry. Over the last 14 seasons, Duke and North Carolina have split their regular season games eight times. On seven of those occasions, the Tar Heels claimed the season finale.
- Worst Loss: In the biggest surprise of the day, Virginia Tech dominated Miami by a score of 77-62, costing the Hurricanes a share of the ACC regular season title. On the 10th anniversary of George Mason’s historic run to the Final Four , there has been a recent national outpouring of respect for Jim Larranaga, the presumptive front-runner for ACC Coach of the Year. Given this outcome, however, the Hokies’ Buzz Williams has probably jumped ahead in that race — despite being picked 14th in the preseason standings, the second-year head coach led the Hokies to a surprising 10-8 ACC record. In Saturday’s game, Miami allowed Virginia Tech to shoot over 50 percent from both sides of the arc, and Hokies’ freshman Justin Robinson (15 points, eight assists) outplayed Miami senior point guard Angel Rodriguez (five points, two assists). Larranaga must be troubled to enter postseason play with a veteran team that has been beaten by double figures on the road four times.
- Most Outstanding Player: For the second time this season, North Carolina’s Brice Johnson had his way against Duke. The Tar Heels senior finished with 18 points and 21 rebounds, including 12 on the offensive end, as North Carolina completely dominated the paint. This performance capped what is likely to be an All-American season for Johnson, who leads the ACC in rebounding and field goal shooting percentage. Mike Krzyzewski probably hopes he has seen the last of the UNC star — in two games against Duke this year, he has averaged 23.5 points and 20.0 rebounds per game.
Mike Tobey had a career-best performance as Virginia cruised past Louisville on Senior Night in Charlottesville. (Lance King/Getty Images)
- Unsung Heroes: Two seniors and a freshman earn our praise as unsung heroes this week. Virginia’s Mike Tobey had perhaps the best game of his career on his senior night, finishing with 15 points and a career-high 20 rebounds to lead the Cavaliers to an easy victory over Louisville. Another senior playing in his last home game was Georgia Tech’s Nick Jacobs, who contributed his second double-double (19/12) of the year in a victory over Pittsburgh. Up north, Notre Dame was struggling against North Carolina State and may have been in big trouble without Matt Ryan’s early contributions. The freshman forward scored all of his season-high 17 points before the half, making four three-pointers to keep the Irish within contact of the Wolfpack. Eventually, Notre Dame’s stars got going and Mike Brey’s team finished them off late.
- Most Efficient Offense/Least Efficient Defense: We certainly aren’t surprised that Saturday’s top offensive performance was turned in by Notre Dame. The Irish have the ACC’s best offense and they were facing a team in North Carolina State that owns the league’s worst defensive unit. Brey’s squad scored 1.24 points per possession with great shooting from all over the floor — 52.8 percent on two-pointers; 46.2 percent on three-pointers; 83.3 percent from the foul line. This represented a much-needed breakout game for the Irish, who had only averaged 0.96 points per possession in their four previous outings.
- Most Efficient Defense/Least Efficient Offense: Boston College‘s regular season finale with Clemson was also par for the course. The Tigers held the league’s most anemic offense to 0.78 points per possession by forcing the Eagles into a 36.4 percent shooting performance from the floor. Eagles’ star guard Eli Carter (16.1 PPG) was kept in check by Clemson’s perimeter, finishing with just six points on 2-of-11 shooting.
- Up Next – 2016 ACC Tournament (Washington, D.C.): Here’s the bracket.
