Saturday was a day for home cooking in the ACC as all six road teams went down to defeat. In the only meeting between top-half teams, Notre Dame ended Florida State’s three-game winning streak. In other action, Louisville rallied late to beat Miami, Syracuse lost at Pittsburgh in a payback game, and Duke held off Clemson on the game’s final possession. The best game of the weekend came Sunday night as Virginia Tech rallied from 14-point halftime deficit to beat Virginia in a two-overtime thriller. Here are the highlights from the weekend around the ACC.

Mike Brey had a lot of positive things to discuss after Notre Dame’s impressive win over Florida State. (espn.com)

• Best Win I: After Notre Dame’s 84-72 win over Florida State, Irish head coach Mike Brey noted: “That was probably the best we’ve played in league play on both ends of the floor.” Considering that the Seminoles had won their previous three games by an average margin of 33.0 PPG, it’s difficult to find fault with Brey’s statement. The Irish did a great job on the boards (+7) against the taller Seminoles and used superb foul shooting to maintain a comfortable margin throughout the game. Notre Dame converted 19 of its 21 attempts from the stripe while Florida State only made 7-of-22 (31.8%)

• Best Win II: Normally we use this space for a ‘worst loss’ but Virginia Tech’s dramatic Sunday evening victory over Virginia deserves special recognition. Not only did the Hokies come back from as many as 14 points behind to force overtime, they finished the game with their top two frontcourt players on the sideline (Zach LeDay and Chris Clarke). Seth Allen picked up the slack with a team-high 20 points, including the game-winning jumper with three seconds remaining. Just 11 short days ago, Virginia had easily manhandled Virginia Tech, 71-48, dominating the Hokies on the backboards (+15). Buzz Williams’ club more than held its own in the paint this weekend, finishing the game with a +3 rebounding margin.

Bonzie Colson came through with a dominating performance in Notre Dame’s victory on Saturday.
(AP Photo/Robert Franklin)

• Most Outstanding Player: Notre Dame’s Bonzie Colson is making a very strong case for his inclusion on the all-ACC first team this season. His 33-point, 13-rebound performance in the Irish’s big win over Florida State on Saturday will certainly help his case. Furthermore, Colson was extremely efficient, shooting 12-of-18 from the field and making all eight of his free throw attempts. He has now posted a league-leading nine double-doubles in ACC play, leading the conference in rebounding at only 6’5″.
• Unsung Heroes: Freshman Justin Moore came off the bench for 27 strong minutes — logging five points, eight rebounds and six assists — in Georgia Tech’s comeback win over Boston College. For most of the season, Sheldon Jeter has been an effective but low-scoring role player for Pittsburgh. His last two outings, however — both Pitt wins — have resulted in 17 points versus Boston College and 14 points and 11 boards against Syracuse.
• Most Efficient Offense/Least Efficient Defense: An N.C. State opponent once again put together a banner offensive outing, as Wake Forest scored at a rate of 1.21 points per possession in the Deacons’ 30-point pounding of the Wolfpack on Saturday afternoon. Wake Forest, led once again by star big man John Collins‘ 23 points, made 57.9 percent of its twos and 47.8 percent of its threes. Collins has now posted eight consecutive outings in which he has put up at least 20 points.
• Most Efficient Defense/Least Efficient Offense: Both Georgia Tech and Boston College struggled offensively in Atlanta, but the Eagles’ output of 0.68 points per possession takes the crown this weekend. The Yellow Jackets performed only slightly better at 0.82 points per possession, but that’s been a normal occurrence for Josh Pastner’s club this year. There have been a total of four ACC conference match-ups this season in which both squads scored fewer than a point per possession. Georgia Tech has been involved in all four of those games, with three turning out to be home wins for the Yellow Jackets.

• Monday 2/13 – Louisville at Syracuse (7:00 ET, ESPN)
• Wednesday 2/15 – Duke at Virginia (9:00 ET, ESPN2)
• Saturday 2/18 – Virginia at North Carolina (8:15 ET, ESPN)
• Sunday 2/19 – Syracuse at Georgia Tech (6:30 ET, ESPNU)

Brad Jenkins (383 Posts)

This entry was posted on Monday, February 13th, 2017 at 2:01 pm by Brad Jenkins (@bradjenk) and is filed under acc, feature, microsites. Tagged: acc, bonzie colson, boston college, clemson, duke, florida state, georgia tech, John Collins, justin moore, louisville, miami, mike brey, n.c. state, north carolina, notre dame, pittsburgh, seth allen, sheldon jeter, syracuse, virginia, virginia tech, wake forest. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.