This may be the late-in-the-season game that Clemson needed to show off next year's cornerstones. Junior Milton Jennings scored 15 points and grabbed 5 rebounds in 23 minutes while freshman K.J. McDaniels scored 10 points in 13 minutes as the Tigers overcame a down night for leading scorer Andre Young. While Young is graduating this year, Jennings, McDaniels, and Devin Booker seem to be the face of this talented team going into next season. The Tigers have now won 3 of 4 including a win over Virginia. If they can win two of their final three they could quietly grab the number five seed in the ACC tournament.
For Georgia Tech this marks now losing 9 of 10 and 14 of 16. Georgia Tech is bad and worse with Glen Rice, Jr. suspended. The good that came out of it is the continuing improvement of sophomore Kammeon Holsey, who led the team with 12 points and 8 rebounds. Holsey has now put up double digit point totals in 4 of Tech's last 5 games.
North Carolina 86, NC State 74-
Kendall Marshall can score. The point guard and nationally-leading assist getter led the Tar Heels with a career high 22 points. He also dished out 13 assists while committing no turnovers. The sophomore was 7-8 from the field including 4-5 from deep. Teams have been daring Marshall to shoot and if he can put out even half of his effort from three point land the rest of the country is in trouble. The Tar Heels asserted dominance over the Wolfpack in the last season the two teams will meet twice, beating their Raleigh rivals by a combined 31 points.
For an impressive performance in a losing effort, one looks to NC State's CJ Leslie. The forward led the team with 24 points and 12 rebounds while not committing any turnovers. This team has to become Leslie and point guard Lorenzo Brown's. Brown's 18 point, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists were good enough to put him in the same category as Marshall when looking at ACC point guards. Mark Gottfried has done a good job in his first season at Raleigh but just lost three straight to the best the conference has to offer and NC State's bubble is quickly popping.
Maryland 75, Miami 70-
Maryland may have the harshest crowd in the conference. The team rode the momentum of the screaming fans to a clutch victory. James Padgett was the hero, grabbing an offensive rebound and completing a three point play in the closing minute to help the Terps secure their sixth ACC victory. Sean Mosley may have been the most impressive Terp, scoring 15 points while dishing out 6 assists and grabbing 5 boards. The conference's leading scorer Terrell Stoglin scored 20 points on 6 of 17 shooting after Mark Turgeon claimed the star sophomore "gets his" while not necessarily looking for the team win.
Miami may have just fell off the NCAA train. The Hurricanes were riding their victory at Duke hard in order to stay on the bubble and now have dropped to 7-6 in ACC play. They clearly missed Durand Scott after he fouled out in the final minute as they wasted an opportunity to tie with a Shane Larkin turnover. Kenny Kadji scored 16 points and grabbed 8 rebounds in the losing effort.
Virginia 61, Virginia Tech 59-
Virginia righted the ship by not allowing a Virginia Tech sweep of the season series. Virginia did it with their defense, holding the Hokies scoreless for an eight minute stretch to overcome a three point halftime deficit. Both teams were cold in the last four minutes and the Cavaliers defense outdid the Hokies'. Mike Scott led all scorers with 20 points while grabbing 9 boards. Sammy Zeglinski helped out with 13 but Virginia still won this almost entirely with defense.
Erick Green continues to impress, scoring 17 of his 19 points in the second half. Green has endured a rough season, becoming a complete player while his team is far from a finished project. The junior has to use this momentum into next season though, as he will be joined by sensational freshman Dorian Finney-Smith and sophomore Jarell Eddie, who showed his athleticism with a block on possible ACC player of the year Mike Scott.
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