ACC Basketball power rankings: Dukes falls down, NC State and Pittsburgh moves up
1. Virginia Cavaliers – 19-4 (11-3)
In a regular-season title race that at one point had seven legit candidates, Virginia always seemed to be the team that folks bet on. And last week, they had the chance to clear some of the field on their own, with home matchups against both NC State and Duke.
Against the Wolfpack, the vintage pack-line defense stifled the guards early and often. NC State, who has scored 90+ points on several occasions, was limited to a season-low 50 points in a 64-50 victory for the Cavaliers. Jayden Gardner led the way with 18 points, while Reece Beekman had 15 points and four assists.
The game against Duke was the marquee ACC Basketball matchup on the weekend, with the game going down to the wire. Virginia seemingly got away with a missed foul call in the last seconds of the game, with it going to overtime. The veteran Cavaliers made use of their second chance, winning 69-62. Armaan Franklin had 23 points to lead the team, while Kihei Clark had 16 points and five assists.
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Virginia is now tied for first place in the ACC standings and has two easy games coming up next. First is on the road at Louisville, who did give Miami a fight this past weekend. Next is Notre Dame at home, which has the offense to make things interesting.