ACC

ACC Basketball: Two Teams Have Reached the Sweet 16

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Survive and advance if you are a college basketball program. That is the motto you lived by in the month of March. When the field of 68 for the NCAA Tournament was announced, seven teams from the ACC were in the field. By the time the wrap-around weekend was over, only two were left standing. Florida State, the #4 seed in the East, and Syracuse the #11 seed in the Midwest moved along to the Sweet 16 that gets underway on Saturday. How did they do it? Let’s take a look at how these ACC teams did.

The Seminoles tournament got started with a match-up against the #13 seed UNC-Greensboro. Behind 17 points from redshirt junior Raiquan Gray, the Seminoles advanced with a 64-54 victory. For Gray, it was the fifteenth game this season that he scored in double-figures. He is now averaging a career-high 12.2 points per game. For the Seminoles, the win in the opening round was their sixth straight opening-round win. Two key reasons for the win were they held Greensboro to 32% shooting (19-of-60 from the field) and outscored UNCG in the paint by a 44-16 margin. In their second-round game vs Colorado, Florida State received a career-high 22 points from Anthony Polite to advance to their third straight sweet sixteen appearance with a 71-53 victory. The defense once again played a key role in the win holding the Buffaloes to 36% shooting for the game. Next up is a rematch of the 2018 Elite Eight meeting between Florida State and Michigan which was won by Michigan.

Syracuse reaches the Sweet 16 thanks in large part to the shooting of Buddy “buckets” Boeheim. He lit it up from the field in wins over #6 seed San Diego State and #3 seed West Virginia. In the win over the Aztecs, Boeheim was a one-man wrecking crew. He dropped 30 on San Diego State knocking down a career-high seven three-pointers. His 30 point night was the second most point total in an NCAA Tournament game since Wes Johnson scored 31 in a second-round win over Gonzaga in the 2010 Tournament. The 2-3 zone also played a role in the win as San Diego State had trouble with it all night long. The Aztecs were held to 22% shooting (7-of-31) from behind the arc, including 3-of-20 15% in the first half. From there, Syracuse took on an old friend from their days in the Big East, West Virginia who was the #3 seed in the tournament, was waiting in the wings. Boeheim was on target again scoring 25 points including three key free throws in the final thirty seconds of the game to give his team a 76-72 win over the Mountaineers. Boeheim was one of four Syracuse players in double-figures while the defense recorded six blocked shots. The win marks the 20th appearance for Syracuse in the Sweet 16 under head coach Jim Boeheim. The Orange will next meet the #2 seed Houston Cougars on Saturday night.

Let’s take a seat and see if any of these teams from the ACC make it to the Elite Eight.

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John Doucette
John Doucette

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