Josh Parcell breaks down Friday's action.
North Carolina 85, Maryland 69
The Tar Heels showed a lot of resolve to move on Friday. After losing John Henson to injury midway through the first half, Maryland gave the Tar Heels a feisty battle, but a balanced offensive attack keyed the Carolina win. Five Tar Heels scored between 13-15 points, including 14 from James Michael McAdoo (and eight rebounds). Kendall Marshall needed five assists to break the ACC single-season record, and he wasted no time doing so, picking it up less than five minutes into the game. He finished with 12 dimes.
Maryland needed a strong effort from its post players to have a chance in this game, and it didn’t happen. Alex Len and James Padgett failed to score a single point.
Henson is questionable for Saturday’s semifinal game, but as I wrote earlier, Carolina would be wise to sit him out regardless of how his wrist feels. It’s amazing how the Heels have handled the attrition this year and continued to thrive. Including Henson, there were two former McDonald’s All-Americans sitting on the bench Friday with injuries (Dexter Strickland was the other), along with former 2010-11 starter Leslie McDonald.
Despite the depleted roster Friday, Carolina looked like it could make the Final Four anyway. Of course, much of that was the career game from McAdoo and the hot shooting from Kendall Marshall (3-of-4 from 3-point range). If the Heels can pick up consistent scoring from players not named Tyler Zeller or Harrison Barnes, they’ll cut down the nets on Sunday.
NC State 67, Virginia 64
If the Wolfpack make the NCAA Tournament — a reward much more likely now than it was 24 hours ago — it can thank C.J. Leslie for living up to the hype. The ultra-talented sophomore led the Wolfpack in scoring this season (14.4 ppg), but there were plenty of times throughout the season where he acted incredibly disinterested.
Friday was not one of those times. Leslie dominated the Cavaliers with 19 points and 14 rebounds. Virginia had absolutely no answer for him. The ‘Pack knew it had to win this game if it wanted to make the dance, and they played like it. Leslie’s inspired performance was the epitome of that. For once, it seemed like the game mattered to him. If he somehow continues to play with such a mentality, the Wolfpack will be a tough out next week.
As for the Cavaliers, they look like a team just gasping for air at this point. Joe Harris is nowhere close to the same player he was pre-hand injury. Assane Sene is suspended for the rest of the season. Malcolm Brogdon is shut down for the year. Unlike North Carolina, Virginia can’t just snap its fingers and plug in an NBA-caliber talent to the line-up.
Mike Scott even looks worn down, and it’s hard to blame him. He’s carried Virginia all season long; it would be unfair to expect him to maintain such a consistently high level of play. He scored 23 points Friday, but it took him 23 shots to get it. Don’t bet on Virginia to make it very far next weekend. If the season was any longer, the Cavaliers might have played their way out of the dance altogether.
Duke 60, Virginia Tech 56
The token ugly game of the day, Duke did just enough to keep Virginia Tech at bay. Down the stretch, the Blue Devils relied on…Tyler Thornton?
That’s right. Thornton, who averages 3.7 points per game, scored 13 points to help Duke advance to the semifinals and keep its No. 1 seed hopes alive. Sure, he made just 3-of-13 three’s, but two of those came late in the second half as Virginia Tech refused to go quietly. Duke made just 5-of-26 three’s as a team, which typically spells defeat for the guard-oriented club.
However, the Hokies were even worse offensively. Freshman Robert Brown made six of his nine shots for a team-high 16 points. The rest of the team was just 10-of-44 from the field (6-of-35 from inside the arc). Duke’s defensive pressure was tremendous. Again, when Duke shoots poorly, it has a tough time winning. A large reason for that is its typically weak defense. Tonight, the Devils clamped down on defense when it had to do so.
It was an unprecedented season for Virginia Tech, which lost nine games by five points or less in ACC play. Just unbelievably bad fortunes for the Hokies. There is something to be said for failure to execute in clutch moments, but that doesn’t take away from how close the Hokies were to a very successful season. This is an extremely young team that returns all but one player who took the floor Friday night. They won’t top anyone’s preseason conference power rankings list next season, but Seth Greenberg will have the tools he needs in what could be a make-or-break season for his tenure.
Florida State 82, Miami 71
A slow start ultimately doomed Miami against the Seminoles, and realistically cost them a chance at the NCAA Tournament. Florida State jumped out to a 35-23 lead in the first half against a sluggish Miami team. It probably didn’t help the Hurricanes that just a few hours before the game, they learned that starting point guard Durand Scott had been ruled ineligible by the NCAA. In an extremely odd sequence of events, Scott’s absence really damaged the Hurricanes’ chances.
They battled back to within three with less than three minutes to go, but Florida State buckled down defensively and ran (gasp) several very effective offensive sets to extend the lead again and seal Miami’s fate. Shane Larkin finished with 16 points, seven rebounds and five assists and deserves a fair deal of praise for his efforts. However, Kenny Kadji and Reggie Johnson were non-factors on the offensive end, shooting a combined 4-for-12 from the field to manage just 10 points.
Michael Snaer and Ian Miller were tremendous for the Seminoles. The backcourt duo combined to score 38 points in a very impressive overall offensive effort. If only the Seminoles could string together 70-plus-point games on a nightly basis, there’s not telling how far they could go. Of course, it was only the fourth time this season they made at least nine three’s. That always helps.
A strong effort for Bernard James, too. He battled through a bothersome thumb injury to finish with 14 points and seven rebounds, not to mention helping shut down Johnson and Kadji. James continues to be one of the most underrated players in the ACC. He’s an invaluable asset to Florida State’s success.
Florida State now gets a Duke team that hasn’t played a great game since beating the Seminoles on Feb. 23. Andre Dawkins murdered the ‘Noles with six three-pointers in a 74-66 Duke victory. However, the Blue Devils have looked disjointed offensively since then and Florida State knows it has a chance to significantly improve its NCAA seeding, not to mention gain some serious momentum heading into the dance.
