Not solid competition either.
In Sunday’s ACC Action, almost everybody won: Virginia Tech sank Navy 80-72, Miami hosed Presbyterian 94-75 and Boston College nipped mighty Stonehill 73-69.
Only Georgia Tech lost, falling to Northwestern, 71-60.
On the other hand though, that was the only Sunday opponent that was likely to be tourney worthy.
Virginia Tech won its second straight game and more importantly, the bench is starting to contribute. Ben Burnham, who played for Louisville’s Pat Kelsey at Charleston, had 17 and the bench racked up 46 to 24 for the starters. Former Blue Devil Jaden Schutt had 11, hitting 2-6 from the floor (2-5 on threes) and 5-5 from the free throw line.
For the season, Schutt is hitting 38.1 percent overall, 37.3 percent from deep and pulling down 3.5 rpg. He’s also getting 2.2 assists.
A lot of losing is bound to be soul sucking. Well, Miami hadn’t won since November 17th, so beating Presbyterian was bound to feel good, even it was, well, the Blue Hose. Miami shot a ridiculous 67.3 percent including 50 percent from behind the line (7-14). Matthew Cleveland shot 9-12 overall and 2-3 for threes for 24 while Lynn Kidd had 22 points and 11 boards.
Don’t make too much of it because it was the Blue Hose, but still, after losing seven straight, Miami needed this one.
Speaking of losing streaks, BC just came off a three game skid themselves. Quick summary here: first half close, second half BC got some separation, but down the stretch the Skyhawks nearly pulled off a comeback. It’s good to see Donald Hand getting healthy: he had 12 points, five rebounds and two assists. Chad Venning had 13 and Chas Kelley had 12 off the bench.
Important to note: Stonehill nearly pulled this off despite their leading score, Josh Morgan not being available. He had 20 at Marquette, so the Eagles were lucky he was out. He transferred from Immaculate Word, incidentally, the team Duke beat last week.
Georgia Tech fell behind Northwestern early, going down 16-4, and Chris Collins has become an excellent defensive coach. No way the Wildcats were letting Tech back in this one.
Georgia Tech was held to 39.3 percent overall and 29.2 percent from behind the line. We expect this team to be built around Baye Ndongo and Naithan George, but Ndongo only had four points and five boards while George managed just three points on 1-6 shooting. He did however manage seven assists and seven rebounds. Ryan Mutombo had 10 points and seven boards off the bench and, yes, two blocks. Wag that finger!
No games until Tuesday but some good ones as UNC plays Florida and Clemson takes on ancient rival South Carolina. We’ll look at the rest later.
