ACC Roundup - Tar Heels Smash Hokies In Chapel Hill

The Hokies are not yet a road-worthy ACC team.

Our instinct when we thought about Virginia Tech playing in Chapel Hill was simple: prove it.

Prove that you’re a competent ACC team on the road, Virginia Tech.

So far, it hasn’t happened. In ACC road play, Virginia Tech has barely beaten Georgia Tech and had its bell rung by Virginia and now UNC.

Virginia throttled the Hokies by 22 and UNC did it by 21. Toss in the loss to Penn State, now 7-12, and the problems are clear.

You can’t be a legitimate ACC power and not win road games. Syracuse has fought to get into the NCAA Tournament several times recently, but no one takes them for granted. You still have to beat them as Duke found out last week.

Despite all of its promise, Virginia Tech is just not there yet.

And it looked so promising.

The Hokies went up by nine early before UNC just exploded and ripped off a 20-0 run. By halftime, it was over with UNC up 45-31.

Worse, the Hokies seemed to lose composure and to make unforced mistakes and they picked up way too many fouls.

It’s not the end of the world and it’s not even the end of the season. They can turn this around. But they have to show more heart than they did against Virginia and UNC.

Coby White was sensational with 27 points, seven rebounds, six assists and four steals. That’s a superb outing.

Nassir Little got 23 points in 20 minutes.

All in all, as encouraging for UNC as it was discouraging for the Hokies.

Four games on Tuesday night as Clemson heads south to Tallahassee, Notre Dame visits Atlanta for a date with defensive-minded Georgia Tech, Duke jets up to Pitt for a first game against former player and assistant Jeff Capel and Wake Forest travels to Charlottesville to be dismantled by Virginia.

Florida State is in a near desperate situation and really has to win. We don’t have a feel for Georgia Tech and Notre Dame but would give a slight edge to the Irish. And after losing at Duke there’s no way in hell Virginia will be distracted enough to let Wake Forest steal one.

We don’t bet but if we did we’d be tempted to bet the rent money on that.

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