Around the ACC: Week 13 (Basketball)

Story posted February 18, 2021 in CommRadio, Sports by Charlie Murray

This week in the ACC, the big game of the week will be on Saturday night as No. 7 Virginia takes on Duke in Durham.

The Cavaliers are coming off an 86-60 loss against No. 26 Florida State on Monday night. Led by Senior forward Sam Hauser, Virginia has been a top team all year and is a final four contender yet again. The Cavaliers had been on a four-game win streak prior to their Monday game, so they will look to try and bounce back against the Blue Devils on Saturday.

This will be the first time Virginia and Duke have faced each other this season.

Saturday’s game won’t be an easy one for Virginia, as Duke comes into this one winning two in a row against NC State and Wake Forest. Although Duke isn't playing at its normal high-level, the Blue Devils are still a threat to take down one of the top teams in the nation. They tend to play well at home and coach Krzyzewski always has something in his back pocket when Duke plays in primetime.

No. 18 Virginia Tech, Clemson and Boston College have all found positive COVID-19 tests within their programs, so they will not be in action this week. Clemson was supposed to travel to take on Pitt this weekend. To make up for this, the conference has scheduled No. 16 Florida State to take on Pitt this Saturday.

Boston College was scheduled to host North Carolina this upcoming Tuesday, but that game has since been postponed. This is the latest of COVID-19 outbreaks within programs across the NCAA and has been a constant issue for teams across all conferences.

Notre Dame will travel up to Syracuse to take on the Orange this Saturday. Both teams are on two game win streaks. These two middle of the pack teams still have potential to move up on the ACC rankings, as they are only four and five games back from first place, respectively.

The Irish have had a pretty lackluster season so far, losing to all ranked opponents they have faced. However, they have won five of their last seven games, including a win over Duke last week.

The same is true for Syracuse, winning five of its last seven. This good stretch of games is highlighted with a win over No. 18 Virginia Tech, a game in which the Orange convincingly won by 18 points.

Though they have struggled in conference play, Syracuse still has a 12-6 record on the year and will presumably still be going to the NCAA tournament if they can keep up a decent record.

As for other teams in action this weekend, UNC will host Louisville, NC State will travel to take on Wake Forest and Georgia Tech takes a trip to Coral Gables to take on Miami on Saturday.

 

Charlie Murray is a freshman majoring in journalism. To contact him, email charliemurray175@gmail.com.