In Friday’s ACC Action, Virginia nipped Maryland, 87-83, Georgia beat UNC in the Dean Dome, 78-70, Clemson lost to Georgetown, 85-78, Pitt took Butler at Hinkle, 76-64, Miami trounced North Alabama, 94-52, Virginia Tech left Mount St. Mary’s in the dust, 82-62, Florida State crushed Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 84-60, NC State salted Troy, 81-62, UNLV handled Stanford, 76-68, and SMU stayed undefeated with a 90-65 win over Ball State.
Maryland really played quite well in the first half, but Virginia rallied in the second, shooting 76.9 percent after the break, and outscoring Maryland, 51-36.
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Buzz Williams is not loved by Maryland fans, at least so far, and to make matters worse, he’s now 0-10 vs. ranked teams since arriving in College Park.
Williams summed it up succinctly: “We did not have the physical, mental, emotional stamina, endurance from start to finish that’s required.”
Virginia has now won 10 of its last 11 games against Maryland, going back to 2010-11.
UNC didn’t fare much better.
The Tar Heels shot just 29 percent in the first half, tying its third-lowest field-goal percentage in a half in Smith Center history.
After being down 38-31 at the half, UNC opened the second with a 29-13 run, then hit a 4 1/2 minute drought.
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After the game, UNC coach Michael Malone noted that Georgia’s Blue Cain (6-5), and Marcus Millender (6-1) both outrebounded UNC’s 7-1 Sayon Keita. He pointed out that UNC’s habits are not good right now, including not boxing out, “comical” turnovers, and not tracking Georgia’s shooters. It was just a poor performance all around.
Georgetown went on an 18-0 run in the first half behind the play of 7-1 Vince Iwuchukwu.
Clemson caught up in the second half and went up 66-64 with 6:23 left to play, but the Tigers couldn’t get over the hump. Ace Buckner had 20 points, and Cole Certa finished with 14.
Clemson showed a lot of heart, but unfortunately, it wasn’t enough.
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Playing in Hinkle is never easy, and the Bulldogs took it to Pitt for the first half. But Pitt wiped out a 12-point deficit to come back, win, and move to 4-0.
Butler was up 42-34 at the half, but Pitt won the second, 42-22. Pitt’s interior play, rebounding and defense carried the day, limiting Butler to 1-11 at one point.
The Panthers moved to 4-0 on the young season.
Miami hit 20 threes, which accounted for 60 of its 94 total points. Pretty amazing, given that Miami was shooting just 22.2 percent coming into the game. Brent Bland hit five threes over a 3:23 stretch. The ‘Canes took 47 threes, which is probably not healthy.
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On the other hand, if you’re hot, you’re hot. You just can’t expect to be that hot very often.
Virginia Tech forced 23 turnovers to put Mount St. Mary’s on notice, then ripped off a late 15-2 run to seal the deal. The Hokies were generally impressive vs. Mount St. Mary’s. Amani Hansberry finished with 20 points.
Florida State, by contrast, shot 2-21 from behind the line, but it didn’t much matter. FSU hit 36 free throws, forced 14 turnovers, and dominated the boards, 58-25. Sebastian Rancid led the way for the ‘Noles with 17 points.
NC State was a bit sluggish in the first half, but still led wire-to-wire. Paul McNeil scored 16 to lead the Pack. Troy shot just 20-58 overall, so perhaps Justin Gainey’s defensive talents are shining through.
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Stanford fell behind by 18 in the first half as UNLV came to play, but the Cardinal came back and cut the lead to 39-33 at the half. UNLV was the better team, but Stanford fought back and was in position to steal the game late, down just 69-66, after Aziz Olajuwon hit a three.
Unfortunately, UNLV’s Isaac Williamson hit a three of his own, and then the Rebels iced the game at the line.
A major factor was this: Rebels shot very well (57.8 percent from the floor and 58.3 percent from behind the line) while Stanford didn’t, hitting just 3-21 from behind the line (14.2 percent).
SMU thrashed Ball State despite missing Rowan Brumbaugh with an abdominal strain. The Mustangs started off with a 24-1 run, and if you can do that, generally speaking, you’re going to win.
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SMU has been the worst team in the league with turnovers, but had just eight here.
All five starters finished in double-figures.
Three games on Saturday, as UNC Asheville visits Georgia Tech, Southern Utah flies out to take on Wake Forest, and Utah Tech stops off in Berkeley to take on the Cal Bears.
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UNC Asheville vs. Georgia Tech || 4:00 || ACCNX
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Southern Utah || 4:00 || ACCNX
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Utah Tech vs. Cal || 5:00 || ACCNX
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
