For the fourth straight week, Virginia basketball checks in at No. 2 in the latest AP Poll. The Cavaliers are of Tony Bennett are one of five ACC teams in this week’s poll. After the weekend loss at Madison Squad Garden, Duke drops to No. 9 — but remains inside the top 10. Miami, winners of four out of five, returns back to the top 25.
- No. 2 Virginia
- No. 9 Duke
- No. 16 Clemson
- No. 21 North Carolina
- No. 25 Miami
Quick Thoughts
- Virginia improved to 11-0 in ACC play with a 59-44 win over Syracuse on Saturday. The Orange scored just 14 points in the middle 20 minutes of game play — the final 10 minutes of the first half, and the first 10 minutes of the second half. In total, Virginia held Syracuse to 0.79 points per possession, according to KenPom; this was the ninth time in ACC play that UVA has held its opponent under one point per possession.
- Redshirt freshman forward De’Andre Hunter was exceptional attacking the middle of Syracuse’s zone — as he added to his case for ACC Sixth Man of the Year. Hunter scored 15 points on six field goal attempts — his seventh game of 10-plus points in ACC play. According to Synergy Sports, Hunter is shooting 58 percent on cuts this season.
- Duke clobbered St. John’s on the offensive glass (48.3 percent offensive rebound rate), but the Blue Devils struggled defending ball screens. Shamorie Ponds scored 33 points, and according to Synergy, the Red Storm ran 30 ball-handler pick-and-roll possessions. For the season, Duke is allowing 0.79 points per possession to pick-and-roll ball handlers this season, per Synergy.
- Clemson’s Gabe DeVoe scored 24 points and made five three-pointers in the win over Wake Forest — his third straight game of making five three-balls. In ACC play, DeVoe is top 10 in the league in effective field goal percentage (59.6 percent) and true shooting rate (61.5 percent).
- Anthony Lawrence scored a career-best 25 points (on 10 field goal attempts) in Miami’s win over Virginia Tech. It was just the 58th time this season a Division I player has scored 25 or more points on 10 or fewer field goal attempts. Also, Lawrence is now shooting 46 percent on spot-up possessions this season, per Synergy.
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