As Coronavirus Steals headlines, favorites advance in acc tournament

Jake Lyman

March 12, 2020

GREENSBORO, N.C. - With the world focused on the coronavirus outbreak, the four higher seeds in Wednesday’s ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament’s quarterfinals advanced to the semifinals.

No. 5 North Carolina State, No. 6 Syracuse, No. 7 Notre Dame and No. 8 Clemson were all able to pick up wins in their first game of the week. They will face the top four seeds in the tournament on Thursday.

The ACC announced during the second session of games on Wednesday that fans will not be allowed to attend the remainder of games in the tournament. This has also raised questions over whether the remainder of the tournament will be played.

However, the second round showcased the four higher-seeded teams advancing and North Carolina’s improbable run ending before it even started.

Clemson Sneaks by Miami in Eight/Nine Matchup

The Clemson Tigers knocked off the Miami Hurricanes 69-64 to move on to Thursday’s quarterfinals and face Florida State.

“The longer the game went, I thought we got into a better rhythm,” said Clemson head coach Brad Brownell. “I thought our pace was better and certainly the ability to make free throws down the stretch by Al was big, as well.”

Al-Amir Dawes led the way for the Tigers with 18 points, including a perfect performance from the charity stripe. Dawes made all eight of his chances at the free-throw line, six of which came in the final four minutes of the contest.

“The free throws were big,” Brownell said. “You're trying to close out games and really we were aggressive in executing our offense, and so we made a lot of drives. I think Al made a great back cut off a post feed, and so we made aggressive offensive plays that resulted in drawing fouls.”

Clemson struggled offensively in the first half, shooting 37.5 percent from the field, amounting to only 21 points.

However, they figured it out in the final 20 minutes.

The Tigers shot over 50 percent in the second half and scored 48 points, which was just enough to pull out the victory.

“In the first half, we got sped up a little bit and that kind of gave them the opportunity to come back a little bit and make their run because when you speed up and play fast on offense, it creates opportunities for transition and stuff,” said Clemson forward Aamir Simms. “I think in the second half, once we slowed down, we showed poise and just played together and kind of controlled the pace of it.”

Miami didn’t know whether they would have star point guard Chris Lykes entering Wednesday’s contest. Lykes had missed Saturday’s game against Syracuse with a facial injury that brought his postseason availability into question.

Although he wasn’t in the starting lineup, Lykes did play in the game and played a large part in the Hurricanes keeping pace with Clemson. The junior scored 21 points, including 15 in the second half, while making five of his ten shots from long range.

“I put the mask on, and I got cleared to play, so I was able to get out there and play on the court,” Lykes said. “Once I'm out there, it's no restrictions, it's no complaints. I've just got to do what I know I can do, and my teammates did a good job of getting me in a rhythm early and just telling me to keep going.”

Clemson was able to limit Lykes and the Hurricanes just enough and will move on to the quarterfinals where they will face the top-seeded Florida State Seminoles at 12:30 p.m. Thursday.

NC State Blows Out Pittsburgh in Must-Win Game

The NC State Wolfpack pulled away from Pittsburgh, 73-58, to keep themselves inside the bubble and advance to the quarterfinals.

“It's always tough playing your first game, even though you're playing against a team that played the day before and they may be a little bit tired, but obviously that first game is always tough in the tournament,” said NC State head coach Kevin Keatts. “I thought our guys did a tremendous job and we can obviously survive and advance.”

The game turned in the Wolfpack’s favor when Pitt guard Xavier Johnson was called for a flagrant foul driving into the lane, his fourth of the game. At the time of the foul, the Panthers trailed by just four points, with Johnson accounting for a large portion of the team’s scoring. After that point, NC State outscored Pitt by 16 points up until the final minute of the game.

“I think if you take anyone's starting point guard off their team, there's going to be a drop. I thought Xavier was doing some good stuff for us,” said Pitt head coach Jeff Capel. “He was getting in the paint, he was creating offense for us, and when he goes out, our offense changes.”

State was led offensively by Devon Daniels, who scored a game-high 23 points on 9-of-14 shooting. Daniels contributed 15 of his points in the first half, which helped the team get through a difficult start shooting the ball.

“I feel like we got stagnant on offense,” Daniels said. “I feel like we started getting really aggressive on defense and were getting a lot of steals, a lot of deflections, not getting easy baskets. I feel like we turned it around in the second half.”

Possibly the most important aspect of NC State’s game was their ability to limit Justin Champagnie.

The freshman forward dropped in 31 points in Tuesday’s opener and led the Panthers to their win over Wake Forest. However, he only scored nine points against the Wolfpack, all of which came in the first half.

“I did tell our guys that he had 31 yesterday and played great, but I thought we did a really good job not just on him but most of their guards, forcing them into tough shots,” Keatts said. “Even the shots they made were tough shots.”

NC State moves on to the quarterfinals Thursday to take on the Duke Blue Devils.

The Wolfpack knocked off Duke in Raleigh back in February, 88-66, but lost their most recent matchup in Durham by 19. A win would all but lock NC State into the field for next week’s NCAA Tournament.

Notre Dame Holds Off Boston College and Pulls Away Late

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish halted a late comeback by Boston College to finish off a blowout victory, winning 80-58.

“I'm thrilled with how we played on both ends,” said Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey. “I thought we were really ready, really focused. I thought our defense kind of sparked us, and I thought our zone helped us.”

After the Irish led by as much as 18 points in the first half, Boston College cut the lead to just seven midway through the second half. Notre Dame regained their spark after the Eagles’ run, however, and put the game away in the final ten minutes

The Irish had a balanced attack with five players in double-digits.

T.J. Gibbs led the way with 16 points and five assists to key the Notre Dame offensive attack. Point guard Prentiss Hubb nearly had a double-double as well with 14 points and nine assists.

“Any time we can get that thing to 80 and make double-digit threes, that's how we have to advance and beat people in this league,” Brey said.

Notre Dame found out shortly after their game that they will not be playing their quarterfinal matchup in front of fans. They’ll face off with No. 2 Virginia at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday in an empty Greensboro Coliseum.

“It's definitely going to be different. Coach said it's going to be more like a scrimmage than it is an actual game, but we can't have that mindset, we have to come out and play like our lives are on the line still,” Gibbs said. “We play for the fans, it's going to be, not sad, but just a little bit of a different environment.”

Syracuse Blows Out North Carolina, Ends Bid for Magical Run

To finish off day two, Syracuse silenced Greensboro with an 81-53 win over North Carolina and advanced to play Louisville in the quarterfinals.

“I thought our perimeter defense was good tonight, and they missed some shots. I mean, that's part of the game,” said Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim. “Offensively, Elijah [Hughes] and Marek [Dolezaj] got us off to a good start and we got control of the game early and just never let it up. It was a great win after what just happened not very long ago in Syracuse.”

Hughes was dominant offensively with 27 points, including four triples that helped the Orange build their lead over Carolina. Dolezaj and Buddy Boeheim combined for 30 more points as Syracuse piled on against the blue blood.

“We came out today wanting to take it a little personal,” Hughes said. “They came to our home court and they beat us, and we just wanted to take it personal.”

North Carolina hoped to win five games in five days to return to the NCAA Tournament, despite their uncharacteristic down year. However, after blowing out Virginia Tech on Tuesday, they couldn’t string together back-to-back wins to survive and advance in Greensboro.

“We didn't play very well, and I certainly didn't coach very well. Syracuse came out early and made shots, and we got in foul trouble in the first five minutes,” said North Carolina head coach Roy Williams. “I think that we played them 10 or 11 days ago and played extremely well, and they may have had more incentive to come back or they may have just played better and coached better today.”

Syracuse will continue their run against No. 3 Louisville on Thursday in an attempt to finish off their season with a deep run in the tournament.

The top eight seeds are still alive, which builds towards a great finish in Greensboro this weekend.