JUST NOW: ACC Recap: Notre Dame’s Ascent Gets More and More Amazing

Micah Shrewsberry is performing exceptionally well.

UNC defeated NC State 79-70, Florida State fell short at Georgia Tech 85-76, Virginia Tech defeated Wake Forest 87-76, Notre Dame defeated Clemson 69-62, and Syracuse defeated Louisville 82-76 in Saturday’s ACC action.

In certain aspects, the Wolfpack performed well enough to prevail, but UNC had a significant edge from the line, outscoring NC State 11–16 while defending admirably 23–27.

This results in foul trouble: Casey Morsell fouled out, while DJ Burns and Bend Middlebrook each had four.

For UNC, four of the five starters scored in the double digits.

With the setback, State falls to 17-12/9-9, and many are wondering if Kevin Keatts will stay in Raleigh in the future. It’s not just one season; since joining in 2017, he’s only made it to the NIT twice and the NCAA tournament twice. It is his first game as an NCAA tournament winner. Although there’s no indication that he’s in immediate danger, the pressure will probably increase because fans are fans. To get in now, State would most likely need to dominate the ACC Tournament.

Georgia Tech led Florida State 44-41 at the half, and the two teams were about tied. However, things changed in the second half.

Both teams were very cold at the beginning of the half, but Georgia Tech warmed up faster, and the Yellow Jackets took a 78-61 lead thanks to a late 11-3 run.

Baye Ndongo scored 15 points and pulled down 14 rebounds, while Naithan George, a rookie, scored 15 points. Tyzhaun Claude and Tamara Gape both finished with eight points and ten rebounds.

Jamir Watkins scored 15 points to lead FSU. In addition, he recorded four steals and seven rebounds.

Following their shock of Duke, which put Wake Forest on the NCAA bubble, the Deacs have already lost to Virginia Tech and Notre Dame, both of which will be detrimental to their record.

Wake really should have/could have won this game. The Deacs had a 15 point lead in the first half and took a nine-point lead into halftime.

However, Virginia Tech owned the second half, outscoring Wake 50-30 and crippling Wake Forest’s tournament chances.

All the good work of the Duke win has largely been undone.

Despite the second-half meltdown, Wake Forest still shot 50 percent overall. Hunter Cattoor scored 26 for the Hokies while Sean Pedulla had 15. Too bad for Wake Forest, but at some point, you have win on the road too. That’s going to be the epitaph for this season for the Demon Deacons.

Pitt continues to build its case. It’s not that BC is a great win, but, well…it is a win. and in this win, the Panthers hit 16 threes. No matter how you slice it, 48 points is pretty great and more so since BC had just 27. That’s a big advantage and freshman Carlton Carrington had seven of those threes himself.

It’s a solid win for Pitt and does nothing to ding their case. BC falls to 15-14 with the loss. A winning season is still possible but it’s getting close.

This is going to sound stupid so hear it out: Notre Dame is a tournament team.

They’re not going unless they run the table in the postseason. However, the Irish have won five of the last six and are playing like a tournament team, plus Markus Burton has emerged as a star. Right now, Notre Dame is as tough as any team in the conference. They’re damned good.

Burton had 21 points, six rebound and four assists. Braeden Shrewsberry had a modest game with just eight points but Tae Davis racked up 18.

PJ Hall finished with 21 and Ian Scheiffelin had 10 points and 14 rebounds for the Tigers.

When it comes to Louisville, we always start with this: who lit them up?

Because it’s going to be somebody.

In this case, it was Chris Bell, who shot 6-9 and hit 3-5 from behind the line for 23 points.

Louisville’s defense is just awful and it doesn’t really seem to get any better: Syracuse as a whole hit 57.8 percent and 5-8 threes (62.5 percent).

Does anyone think they’re going to be patient after this season?

Seems unlikely. Seems like the die is cast.

But if so, who has next? Maybe Dusty May?

We’d like to suggest another name to keep an eye on and that’s App State’s Dustin Kerns. He’s doing a great job.

And if App State does have an opening, well, Payne may be looking. So might Keatts.

No games until Monday when Duke visits NC State.