Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
No one from Notre Dame on this list.
We’ve reached the halfway point of February. That means teams only have a month left to build their NCAA Tournament resumes. If teams aren’t on track to make that tournament, they at least want to play strong over the next month. Here are the players most likely to help their teams do that:
No Notre Dame players.
We’re getting into the first full week of February now. It doesn’t seem like we already should be at this stage of the season, but we are. It’s another reminder for ACC teams that haven’t made their moves yet that the clock continues to tick. If they don’t, they’ll be put in their place by players like these conference statistical leaders:
Another dull loss for the Irish.
It would have been nice to see Notre Dame sweep the season series with Virginia. But unlike the first meeting a month ago, Wednesday’s game was in Charlottesville, which alone made it a tall order. Also, the Cavaliers were prepared for the Irish this time and won, 65-53.
The Irish (7-14, 2-8) never led in this game, but they never trailed the Cavaliers (16-5, 7-3) by more than 16, indicating that they could make a run anytime. But they never scored more than four unanswered points and were routinely bullied by a strong defense from the Cavaliers, who scored 20 points off 18 Irish turnovers.
The Cavaliers also made a season-high 13 3-pointers, a far cry from when they tied their season low with two in South Bend. So while the Irish hung around, few if any felt they were going to complete the season sweep. They proved their inexperience yet again in this game by looking completely outmatched. Plus, the moment was just too big for them.
Reece Beekman led the Cavaliers with 21 points. He also had six assists and four steals, showing why he’s the ACC leader in those two categories. Isaac McKneely scored nine of his 11 points on three 3-pointers to prove that he leads the conference in 3-point shooting. Off the bench, Jacob Groves got all 18 of his points on a career-high six 3s.
[autotag]Markus Burton[/autotag] paced the Irish with 17 points. [autotag]Braeden Shrewsberry[/autotag] came off the bench and scored 16 points, including four 3s.
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No Notre Dame players.
We have reached the point in the season where the calendar flips to another month. The contenders and pretenders slowly are starting to distinguish themselves from each other. February will separate the pack even further. Until that happens, here are the major statistical leaders in the ACC:
No Notre Dame players.
College basketball is entering the final full week of January. Not to worry about the games ending anytime soon though. We still have a long way to go this season, and there are many things to decide. There’s no sense in missing any of it.
Here are the leaders in the ACC right now:
No Notre Dame players.
The ACC season has reached the middle of December. Time is running out for players to get their numbers up before conference play really begins. If they don’t do it now, it might be more difficult for them to do so. Here are those who have answered the call though:
No Notre Dame players.
ACC teams are about to get to the middle of December. Full-time conference play isn’t here yet, but it’s creeping closer. Now is the time for all teams to get their mistakes out of the way before the games really start to count. For now though, here are the players atop the major statistical leaderboards:
No Notre Dame players.
All ACC teams got a taste of what conference play will look like during the past week. We also started to see some more stability atop the statistical leaderboards as the criteria for making them tightened a bit. That means the numbers we’re seeing are a bit more honest. Here’s who we have atop those leaderboards right now;
