ACC

ACC Basketball News & Notes: Heading toward March

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It won’t be long before we put a wrap on what has been a difficult season for all in the Atlantic Coast Conference. But as we begin the second half of February, the tournament is starting to look everyone straight in the face. This may be a good thing as teams get a chance to press the reset button and take one more shot at salvaging their season. Yes, there is more Covid news to report as games keep getting postponed. Tuesday night’s match-up between Virginia Tech and North Carolina will not take place. A positive test inside the Virginia Tech program is the cause. Wednesday night’s game between Clemson and Notre Dame also will not be played. A positive test inside the Clemson program is the reason.

The match-up of the week took place on Monday night as #7 Virginia went on the road to battle #16 Florida State in a heavyweight match. The Seminoles came into that contest as the highest-scoring offense at 79.1 points a game. Virginia came in as the top defense in the league at 59.6 a game. That number also is fourth-best in the country. Virginia is also ranked in the top-ten in fewest turnovers (3rd, 9.5), free throw percentage (4th, 80%), 3-point percentage (5th, 39.9%), and assist/ turnover ratio (10th, 1.54). The Seminoles played this game with a 23-game ACC home winning streak which is the second-longest in league history. The streak dates back to Jan.22, 2019, vs Clemson.

The ACC Player of the Week and Rookie of the Week both come from Florida State. The player of the week is junior forward RaiQuan Gray. On Saturday, in an overtime win vs Wake Forest, Gray had season highs in both in points, with 24, and rebounds with 12. He was 7-of-10 from the field and was a perfect 10-for-10 from the foul line. His free throw performance made him the fifth player in school history to finish perfect from the line with at least 10 attempts in a league game.

The Rookie of the Week is Scottie Barnes. In the Wake Forest win, Barnes had 13 points, four rebounds, four assists, and two steals. He sent the game to overtime with a reverse lay-up with less than a second left in the game. He dropped 11 of his points after halftime including five in the overtime session. Barnes was big-time down the stretch scoring four of the Seminoles last five points in the final 1:18 of the second half to send the game to extra time.

On Saturday, senior forward Steffon Mitchell of Boston College recorded his third double-double of the season at Syracuse. His 12 points and 10 rebound performance gives him 17 double-doubles for his career at the Height. It is the most of any active player in the conference. However, it was not enough to help his team on Saturday as the Eagles lost to the Orange by a 75-67 score. It would also be the final game for head coach Jim Christian who was relieved of his coaching duties on Monday by the school.

Georgia Tech has some firepower in their starting lineup. Three of the five members of the starting five have reached the 1,000 point club. Michael Devoe joined the group on Sunday in the win over Pittsburgh. Devoe now stands at 1.008. The others who already have one thousand points are Jose Alvarado (1,336) and Bubba Parham with 1,421. Not all the points were scored in a Yellow Jacket uniform. One more member of the starting unit, Moses Wright is not far away at 991.

Pittsburgh is more than Justin Champagnie. There is sophomore guard, Ithel Horton, who by scoring 18 points in a loss to Yellow Jackets recorded his eighth double-figure scoring game of the season. He has dropped 10 or more points in four of his last five games averaging 13.8 in that span.

Next week more from the ACC.

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