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Five Takeaways From Day Two of the ACC Tournament

By Mike McDaniel | March 10
Five Takeaways From Day Two of the ACC Tournament
Courtesy: Maggie Boulton

Records, blowouts, and an upset.

Day Two of the ACC Tournament did not disappoint. The two Tobacco Road schools (North Carolina and Duke) were led by their frontcourt to convincing wins, with records set in the process.

Miami shot the lights out of the building once again en route to a second consecutive upset victory over Clemson.

Syracuse, meanwhile, manufactured a blowout victory over NC State, thanks in large part to the coach's kid becoming unconscious shooting the basketball.

For a full recap of all of the Round Two games, make sure to check out Grant Mitchell's awesome recap here.

Let's dive into our five takeaways from Wednesday's ACC action, shall we?

1. THE BUDDY BOEHEIM GAME

That deserved to be in all caps.

Syracuse was one of several teams to enter ACC Tournament play sitting squarely on the bubble with some work to do in order to make it into The Big Dance. The Orange have had an up-and-down season, with some quality wins coupled with some head-scratching losses.

Losing to a similar (but still inferior) opponent in NC State would have all but doomed Syracuse's NCAA tournament chances, and Buddy Boeheim was NOT going to let that happen.

Buddy, a junior guard and the son of 76 year old Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim, finished with 27 points on 10-of-16 shooting, including a 6-of-12 mark from three, guiding the Orange to a 21-point victory over NC State in the first game of the day.

Syracuse has a monumental task ahead on Thursday in the ACC Quarterfinal round, as they meet top seed Virginia at noon. The Orange will need to continue to shoot the ball well as a team (they shot 57% from the floor on Wednesday) to stretch out Virginia's pack-line defense and open up opportunities on the interior. If 'Cuse is able to turn in a similar offensive performance, an upset may be on the horizon.

2. Miami's offense continues to exceed expectations

In Miami's first round victory over Pittsburgh on Tuesday, all five Hurricanes starters finished in double digits, led by the 20-point effort of Isaiah Wong.

On Wednesday in Round Two, three of Miami's five starters finished in double figures, led yet again by another 20-point effort from Isaiah Wong.

More importantly, the Hurricanes did exactly what they needed to do against a good Clemson defense: shoot the ball well.

Miami finished the game shooting 53.7% from the floor, and it was a major reason that they were able to move forward into the ACC Quarterfinals. The offense is getting hot at the right time, which could make Thursday's tilt with red-hot Georgia Tech one of the most intriguing matchups of the day.

3. Clemson...what the hell?

This team has been maddening all season long.

On one hand, Clemson has beaten North Carolina, Florida State, Alabama, and Louisville, which are all likely to be holding a bid to the NCAA Tournament by Sunday evening.

On the other hand, Clemson has lost to mediocre Duke in a blowout, to Georgia Tech before they were good, and now Miami in the ACC Tournament.

Even in some of the lower profile wins, Clemson hasn't always looked as convincing as the record may indicate.

Clemson had no business losing this game to Miami on Wednesday, but at the same time, played exactly how I thought they could play...

Down to their opponent.

This team is an enigma under Brad Brownell. They can either make a deep run in the tournament later this month, or they could lose in the Round of 64. It's all on the table, and I can't wait to see how it all turns out.

4. Tobacco Road frontcourt dominance

Let's dive into a few frontcourt stat lines from the rival schools on Tobacco Road, shall we?

Duke forward Mark Williams: 23 pts. 19 rebs.

Duke forward Matthew Hurt: 20 pts. 5 rebs.

North Carolina forward Armando Bacot: 20 pts. 13 rebs.

North Carolina forward Day'Ron Sharpe: 14 pts. 10 rebs.

North Carolina forward Walker Kessler: 16 pts. 12 rebs. 8 blks. in 21 minutes

The frontcourt play of both Tobacco Road programs was the story of the night in the ACC Tournament, with pivotal performances from some of the best big men in the ACC.

Duke forward Mark Williams' near 20-20 double-double stole the show in the early part of the evening, while North Carolina freshman big man Walker Kessler was the star of the nightcap. Kessler put together an unreal 16-12-8 stat line in only 21 minutes of playing time, setting multiple records in the process.

Kessler's eight blocks were both an ACC Tournament freshman record, as well as a UNC ACC tournament record. North Carolina's three bigs became the first Tar Heel trio to record a double-double in the same game since 1963.

It was a wild night of records in the two blowout wins for Duke and North Carolina, which helped set the stage for ACC Quarterfinals appearances for these two Research Triangle institutions.

5. Forty-Two to Four

This was the brunt of the scoring run that North Carolina went on to put Notre Dame's brutal 2020-21 season out of its misery. The final tally of the run was 42-11 over the game's final 17:22.

After leading by 14 at halftime, North Carolina outscored Notre Dame 51-23 to in the second half to blow Notre Dame out of the Greensboro Coliseum on Wednesday night.

The story of the game was rebounding. Notre Dame had 31 total rebounds as a team, while North Carolina had 25 offensive rebounds alone. In total, UNC held the rebounding edge 54-31, imposing their size on the Irish to really make matters difficult for Mike Brey's bunch.

The talking point on Thursday morning will be the scoring run that North Carolina went on in the second half - where everything went right for them and everything went wrong for Notre Dame. But this game was won on the offensive glass, where the Tar Heels feasted on second-chance opportunities in the first half to build a lead, and used the same advantage in the second half to bury the Irish.

North Carolina now advances to play the #3 seed Virginia Tech on Thursday night in the ACC Quarterfinals, while Notre Dame's season ends with an 11-15 record. The Tar Heels are a legitimate player here in Greensboro, with an opportunity to move forward and potentially win the ACC Tournament.

Notre Dame, meanwhile, will miss the NCAA Tournament for the fourth-straight season, leading many to wonder if Mike Brey's time is up in South Bend.

"Year 22 (next season) is like Year 7. The line is drawn in the sand, and we have to get back. I've been in that mode before," Brey said in the postgame press conference.

Notre Dame went 24-8 in Year 7 after missing three straight tournament appearances.

"A year from Sunday, we need to show up in that bracket, plain and simple."

Only time will tell if Brey, the winningest coach in program history, will be awarded that opportunity.