Wednesday Night ACC Hoops

Nolan Smith drives to the basket.

#4 DUKE 92, N.C. STATE 78 – Nolan Smith scored 22 points to help No. 4 Duke beat North Carolina State on Wednesday night, avenging last season’s surprising road loss to the Wolfpack.

Kyle Singler added 18 points for the Blue Devils (17-1, 4-1 ACC), who dominated early to lead by 14 at halftime then turned away a second-half comeback to extend their recent dominance in the series. Duke has won 29 of 34 meetings with N.C. State (11-7, 1-3) since 1995 and improved to 5-2 against Sidney Lowe’s Wolfpack.

N.C. State earned a surprisingly easy 88-74 win against the Blue Devils last season in which Tracy Smith scored 23 points and the Wolfpack shot 58 percent. That said, the Blue Devils held the Wolfpack to 22 percent shooting in the first half to build a double-digit lead.

Then, after N.C. State closed within five, Smith led a 7-0 spurt that took back control of the game for the Coach K-ians.

Tracy Smith and one of the Plumlees.

Duke shot 51 percent for the game and had plenty of balance with Miles Plumlee (13 points, nine rebounds) and Ryan Kelly (11 points, eight rebounds) backing up the Blue Devils’ senior stars.  The Blue Devils out-rebounded N.C.S.U. 44-34.

BOSTON COLLEGE 70, VIRGINIA 67 – Reggie Jackson hit a key 3-pointer late to become the 39th player in Boston College history with 1,000 points and sealed it with four free throws in the closing seconds, lifting the Eagles to a win over Virginia on Wednesday night.


Jackson, the ACC player of the week the past two weeks, finished with 16 points, seven rebounds and seven assists despite spraining his ankle late in a loss at Miami on Saturday.


Joe Trapani led the Eagles (14-5, 4-1 ACC) with 18 points and six rebounds. Biko Paris scored 12 and Corey Raji had 10.


Mustapha Farrakhan led the Cavaliers (10-8, 1-3) with 14 points and seven assists. KT Harrell had 13 points.


Jackson’s 3-pointer from the left wing with 3:35 to play pushed BC ahead 61-58 and gave him 1,001 points.

Wake Forest's head coach who wishes to remain anonymous.

GEORGIA TECH 74, WAKE FOREST 39 – Look, we know the Deacs aren’t good, but 39 points – 13 in the second half?  Really?  Yike.

Wake Forest made 14 of 54 shots (26 percent) from the field, 9 of 26 (35 percent) at the foul line and had no one in double figures. It was the school’s lowest-scoring game since a 44-34 loss to North Carolina on Jan. 8, 1959.

Glen Rice Jr. scored 21 points, Iman Shumpert had 20 and the Yellow Jackets (9-8, 2-2 ACC) didn’t have a letdown coming off a 78-58 win over North Carolina on Sunday. They led by as many as 42 and eclipsed their previous mark for largest conference win, a 31-point blowout of Florida State in 2002.

Of course, it helped to be playing Wake Forest (7-12, 0-4), which lost for the eighth time in nine games and hasn’t come close in ACC play, losing by an average of 26 points.

Georgia Tech hardly tried to run it up, clearing the bench and scoring its final points with 5:27 remaining.

Durand Scott

#“Others Receiving Votes” FLORIDA STATE 55, MIAMI 53 – Almost ranked Florida State missed its first 10 shots but rallied from a 10-point second-half deficit, scoring 11 consecutive points down the stretch and beating the Miami in a wild finish on Wednesday night.

The Canes Durand Scott missed driving shots on back-to-back possessions in the final 10 seconds.

Florida State (14-5 overall, 4-1 ACC) is off to its best start in the league since 1993.  

Miami (12-6, 1-3) shot 1 for 8 over the final 6 1/2 minutes and lost for the first time in nine home games this season. Malcolm Grant scored 20 for the Hurricanes.

Florida State won with only one player in double figures—Terrance Shannon had 10 points. The game was nearly 10 minutes old before the Seminoles sank a basket, but they trailed only 11-7 because of Miami’s sputtering offense.

Deividas Dulkys’ four-point play started the 11-0 run and cut the margin to 48-47. Derwin Kitchen’s driving layup gave the Seminoles their first lead, 49-48, and they led the rest of the way.

Florida State missed its final five free throws over the last 1:53 but survived a frantic finish.

Grant sank a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 55-52 with 42 seconds left, and when Chris Singleton missed the front end of a one-and-one, the Hurricanes got the ball back.

Scott missed an off-balance layup with 10 seconds left, but Bernard James missed two free throws for Florida State. Scott grabbed the rebound and drove the length of the floor, then missed a reverse layup.

Buzzer.

Game over.