Tar Heels’ Williams reaches 900 in style
North Carolina knocks off No. 11 Florida State, handing coach Roy Williams his 900th career victory and boosting its NCAA tournament chances.
North Carolina 78, No. 11 Florida State 70
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Freshman Walker Kessler scored a season-high 20 points to help North Carolina earn a needed victory to boost its NCAA tournament chances while giving coach Roy Williams his 900th career victory.
The 7-foot-1 freshman had 14 of his points after halftime in an huge performance off the bench, providing a game-changing spark for a team that was down 16 with 2 ½ minutes before halftime.
Trailing 41-29 at halftime, the Tar Heels (15-8, 9-5 ACC) shot 50% after halftime. But more importantly, they rode Kessler’s production to better production in the paint while cutting down on the turnovers that undercut any offensive flow in the opening half.
RaiQuan Gray scored 17 points to lead the Seminoles (14-4, 10-3).
Georgia Tech 84, Syracuse 77
ATLANTA — Moses Wright dunked his way to 31 points, tying his season high, and Georgia Tech strengthened its NCAA tournament chances by posting its fourth consecutive win.
Wright scored 19 points and had six of his seven dunks in the second half when the Yellow Jackets (13-8, 9-6 ACC) were able to pull away from the Orange (13-8, 7-7), who saw their NCAA chances dissipate further with their second straight loss.
A day after the NCAA overturned multiple sanctions levied against the Georgia Tech men’s basketball program via an appeal ruling, the Yellow Jackets took a needed step in their quest to return to the NCAA tournament for the first time in 11 years.
Clemson 66, Miami 58
CLEMSON, S.C. — Aamir Simms and Al-Amir Dawes each scored 19 points as the Tigers (15-5, 9-5 ACC) beat short-handed Miami for their fifth straight victory.
Brad Brownell picked up his 200th win as the Tigers’ coach. Isaiah Wong led Miami (7-15, 3-15), which only had six scholarship players, with 28 points on 10-of-18 shooting.
Boston College 94, Notre Dame 90
BOSTON — Jay Heath scored 19 points and Boston College sank seven of eight free throws in the final 45 seconds to give interim coach Scott Spinelli a victory in his first game as a college head coach.
DeMarr Langford had 17 points and six rebounds. He sunk two clinching free throws with 6 seconds left to ice it.
“A great win, but even more than that was how enjoyable that was for the seniors,” said Spinelli, who had spent most of the past 25 years as an assistant before taking over when Jim Christian was fired.