ACC Tuesday Night Basketball: UNC Impressive In Raleigh Win

MARSHALL (Ethan Hyman/Raleigh News & Observer)

#7 NORTH CAROLINA 68, N.C. STATE 74 -- Like a blast from the past, N.C. State celebrated their 1988-89 team (even the two guys, Tom Gugliotta and Chris Corchiani, who were tossed out of the RBC Center by veteran ACC ref Karl Hess on Saturday) while North Carolina fans were reminded that it was the late-developing three point-shooting of point guard Ty Lawson that turned the 2009 NCAA Men’s Basketball Division 1 National Champions from very good to unbeatable...

Current Tar Heel point guard Kendall Marshall had a career-high 22 points and 13 assists combined with ZERO turnovers as UNC posted one of their most impressive wins of the year.  Marshall made seven of his eight shots including four out of five from behind the three-point line.  

The Heels came out blazing, making three-pointers as if Wayne Ellington and Danny Green and snuck in the gym and dressed as Reggie Bullock and Harrison Barnes.  In a furiously paced 46-41 first half, North Carolina was 7-14 from behind the arc.  

BARNES (Gerry Broome/AP Photo)

The Wolfpack survived the initial onslaught (an early 19-5 North Carolina lead) closing the gap to five points at halftime, but it seemed unlikely they could stand the typical Roy Williams’ coached-team’s torrid pace.

Harrison Barnes added 20 points for the Tar Heels (24-4, 11-2 ACC), who extended their domination of their nearby rivals. North Carolina has won 12 straight meetings and hasn't lost to the Wolfpack (18-10, 7-6) in five years.

For the game, the Tar Heels shot 51 percent, including 10 for 19 from three-point range.  N.C. State stayed even with UNC on rebounds (40-40), but only shot 41.7% for the game making just 3 of 9 three-pointers.  

HUDSON and ZIBLINSKI (Don Petersen/AP Photo)

#25 VIRGINIA 61, VIRGINIA TECH 59 -- With the score 47-39 it lookied like the Hokies had their in-state rivals number and were headed for a sweep of the series.  But, Virginia outscored Virginia Tech 17-1 during a crucial second half stint as the Cavs (21-6, 8-5 ACC) rallied for the win. 

Mike Scott scored 20 points and Sammy Zeglinski had 13, all in the second half.

For the second game in a row, the Wahoos, with the Hokies’ help, held an opponent scoreless for more than eight minutes in the second half to rally. They did it to Maryland for 8:18 on Saturday, and to VT for 8:25 - starting at the 13-minute mark last night.

Virginia Tech (15-13, 4-9), which came in having played three consecutive games decided by a point, led 49-44 after Erick Green's floater with 13 minutes to play. When Robert Brown finally broke the drought with two free throws with 4:35 left, the Cavaliers had built a 56-51 lead.

CLEMSON 56, GEORGIA TECH 37 -- Shades of the Big East as the Jackets muster a mere 37 points...the fewest allowed by a Clemson team in an ACC regular season game. 

ANDRE YOUNG (John Bazemore/AP Photo)

The win improved Clemson's record to 14-13 on the season, 6-7 in the ACC. With the loss, Tech dropped to 9-18, 2-11 in conference play.  Did we hear yawning?

Clemson was led in scoring by junior forward Milton Jennings, who produced 13 of his 15 points in the first 20 minutes of play. Jennings made 6-of-11 shots, including 2-of-5 from three. 


Tanner Smith scored eight and added six rebounds and six assists. The Yellow Jackets were led by Kammeon Holsey's 12 points and 11 from guard Brandon Reed.

Georgia Tech jumped in front 4-3 after a media timeout, but the Tigers responded with a 12-3 run. Clemson got threes from Young and Jennings during the run. Tech pulled to within three at 16-13, but a miss on a jumper and long rebound to Smith led to a break where he found freshman Bernard Sullivan inside for a layup.

Game over.

PADGETT (Kenneth K. Lam/Baltimore Sun)

MARYLAND 75, MIAMI 70 -- Speaking of scoring droughts, the Canes when without a basket for over nine-minutes losing two five point leads and eventually the game.  After shaking of the first scoring drought, Miami only scored four points in the final 2:04 losing a 66-61 lead.

James Padgett scored 16 points, including a pivotal three-point play in the final minute.

Maryland (16-11, 6-7 Atlantic Coast Conference) trailed 66-61 before rallying with a 10-0 run during the final two minutes. A 3-point shot by Sean Mosley and a three-point play by Padgett preceded two three throws by Mosley and two more by Terrell Stoglin.

Stoglin finished with 20 points on 6-for-17 shooting and Mosley contributed 15 points.