ACC Roundup – UNC Nearly Blows A 32 Point Second-Half Lead

SB Nation

In Monday’s only ACC Action, UNC built up a huge second half lead then gave most of it up but held on to win, 87-77.

The Tar Heels were up 72-40 with 9:56 to play only to watch Syracuse cut that down to just

6 with :42 to play.

Syracuse outscored UNC 37-15 in that stretch. Wow. Hubert must have been tearing out what’s left of his hair. The UNC faithful must not have been very happy either.

Speaking of unhappy, we have a few. #1: Carmelo Anthony, a Syracuse legend, is not pleased with what’s going on with Orange basketball. It hurts on at least three levels: first, he might be their best player ever, second, he has contributed millions to the program and third, his son, Kiyan, is a freshman on this year’s team.

None of this helps coach Adrian Autry, who, like UNC’s Davis, faces a restless fan base.

Caleb Wilson had 22 for UNC, with 10 coming from the line. He also had 9 rebounds. Henri Veesaar had 17 and 11.

Donnie Freeman had 23 to pace Syracuse.

Unhappy #2: The scandal at NC State involving former sports medicine director, Robert Murphy, hasn’t really registered but it’s starting too. Like we’ve seen at Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Indiana, San Jose State and USA Gymnastics, Murphy is accused of inappropriate contact with with student-athletes. The civil trial will have to play out, but it’s not a good look, obviously, and if true, it’s an unconscionable betrayal.

Unhappy #3: this one involves a former ACC member. We barely pay attention to Maryland as a Big Ten team, but they got back on our radar last spring with the bitter breakup/breakdown with Kevin Willard, now at Villanova.

Maryland went through some of what Louisville went through when fan pressure led them to hire alum Kenny Payne. Maryland alums like Len Elmore pushed to hire one of their own, a la Louisville.

The Cards went with Payne of course and that ended up in a flaming dumpster fire. Maryland went with Buzz Williams and that ended up in…a flaming dumpster fire – so far, anyway.

Williams is definitely struggling. In the Big Ten standings, Maryland is a half game above dead last, and a half game behind their rival, Rutgers. Fans are not happy and some articles suggest that he has not connected with the fans. However, he has a six-year contract and if Maryland fires him, they have to pay the full balance, so they’re probably stuck with him for at least a few years.

Of course he could turn things around, but the Terps are 8-13 and are getting blown out a lot: Maryland lost to Gonzaga 100-61, Alabama 105-72, Michigan 101-83, Michigan State 91-48 and Purdue 93-63.

That’s just brutal.

If something changes, they might look at former Terp guard Duane Simpkins, who played at DeMatha under Morgan Wooten, at Maryland under Gary Williams and certainly paid his dues as a high school coach and as an assistant too. He knows the DMV from A to Z and is currently at American, with a three-year record of 51-38.

He’d most likely be welcomed back, he could recruit locally and clean up, and he is bound to have learned a lot from Wooten and Williams. Seems like a winner. Keep an eye on him.

Two games on Wednesday as Pitt visits Virginia and NC State is off to SMU. Virginia seems vulnerable lately but should win while NC State and SMU could be really interesting. Both teams could use a decent win.

Wednesday’s ACC Action