Senior guard TyreseRice scored a team-

high 21 points on 7-of-13 shooting inSunday’s 80-74 win over visiting Duke.The performance enabled Rice tobecome the seventh player in programhistory to eclipse the 2,000-pointmilestone. With 61 more points, he willsurpass former teammate Jared Dudleyfor fifth place on the school’s all-timescoring list.

Virginia prevented theTigers from garnering their

fourth conference road win of theseason with Sunday’s 85-81 overtimewin at John Paul Jones Arena. Clemson,which had won seven consecutive gamesin the state of Virginia, has not won fourACC road games in a season since the1996-97 campaign.

Sophomore forward KyleSingler collected a season-

high 25 points, eight rebounds, twoblocks, two steals and one assist inSunday’s six-point loss at BostonCollege. It was the 12th game thisseason that the 6-foot-8 Singlerregistered at least one point, rebound,block, steal and assist.

In the programs’ firstgame featuring ranked

teams since Jan. 24, 1998, theSeminoles suffered an 86-63 setbackthis past Saturday at Wake Forest. OnFeb. 9 Florida State moved into the APTop 25 for the first time in more than 11years and vaulted into the Top 25 of theESPN/USA Today poll for the first timein more than five years.

The Yellow Jacketsregistered a season-high 16

steals, but N.C. State shot an opponent’sseason-best 61.4 percent from the fieldin this past Saturday’s 86-65 victory.The 16 steals were the most registeredby a Georgia Tech team in an ACC gameand tied for the fourth-most in programhistory.

Junior forward LandonMilbourne converted

eight of his 11 field-goal attempts andtied a career high with 23 points in thispast Saturday’s 83-73 win over visitingVirginia Tech. The game marked the10th time this season that theconference’s sixth-leading shooter hasled Maryland in scoring or tied for theteam lead in scoring.

Senior guard Jack McClintonregistered his third

consecutive season high in points with35 in Sunday’s 69-65 loss to visitingNorth Carolina. McClinton, who earnedACC Player of the Week honors afterscoring 32 and 34 points, respectively,against Wake Forest and Duke, is thefirst Miami player in 20 years to postthree consecutive 30-point games.

The Tar Heels’ victoryover Miami on Sunday

was Roy Williams’ 200th game as thehead coach of his alma mater. Williams’165 wins are the most by a conferencehead coach in his first 200 games at anACC school.

The Wolfpack claimed itsninth victory in the past

13 games against Georgia Tech onSaturday, but their 21-point margin ofvictory did not follow the series’ recenttrend. The previous 11 meetings hadbeen decided by an average of 5.9 pointsand three of the previous six had beendecided by no more than three points.

Freshman SylvenLandesberg reached

double figures for the 17th time thisseason and played all 45 minutes inSunday’s overtime win over Clemson.Landesberg, who finished with 23points, is the first Virginia player sinceSean Singletary against Virginia Techin 2005 to play an entire game.Coincidentally, the school retiredSingletary’s No. 44 on Sunday athalftime.

With the loss to Maryland,the Hokies dropped to 3-1

this season in games played on the 14thof a month. In a scheduling quirk,Virginia Tech played games this seasonon Nov. 14, Dec. 14, Jan. 14 and Feb. 14.If Seth Greenberg’s club advances to theACC Tournament semifinals, it will playon March 14.

This past Saturday’s23-point win over

Florida State was the Demon Deacons’largest in conference play this seasonand their most lopsided win against anACC foe since an 87-48 victory over theSeminoles on Feb. 12, 2005.

Distributed by Universal Press Syndicate • For release Feb. 16, 2009

ACC STANDINGSThrough Feb. 15

ACC ALL PF PANorth Carolina 9-2 23-2 91.8 71.6Duke 7-4 20-5 78.4 63.4Clemson 6-4 20-4 78.6 66.1Wake Forest 6-4 19-4 81.9 68.5Florida State 6-4 19-6 67.8 63.7Virginia Tech 6-4 16-8 72.7 68.6Boston College 7-5 19-8 76.5 71.1Maryland 5-5 16-8 72.2 67.1N.C. State 4-6 14-9 73.6 67.8Miami 4-7 15-9 75.1 66.0Virginia 2-8 8-13 72.1 73.8Georgia Tech 1-10 10-14 70.8 69.3

TEAM LEADERS(Average per game)

FIELD-GOAL PERCENTAGEWake Forest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .492North Carolina . . . . . . . . . . . . . .486N.C. State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .472Clemson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .462Boston College . . . . . . . . . . . . . .454Duke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .450Virginia Tech. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .444Miami . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .436

FIELD-GOAL DEFENSEWake Forest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .378Florida State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .384Miami . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .386Georgia Tech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .400North Carolina . . . . . . . . . . . . . .403Virginia Tech. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .411Duke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .413Maryland. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .416

FREE-THROW PERCENTAGEMaryland. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .778North Carolina . . . . . . . . . . . . . .756Virginia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .740Boston College . . . . . . . . . . . . . .723Duke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .723N.C. State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .721Wake Forest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .710Virginia Tech. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .708

REBOUNDSNorth Carolina . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42.6Miami . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42.1Georgia Tech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41.3Wake Forest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41.2Duke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38.9Maryland. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38.2Virginia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38.1Clemson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37.8

ASSISTSNorth Carolina . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19.3Boston College . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.4N.C. State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.0Maryland. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.8Georgia Tech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.7Clemson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.6Duke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.2Wake Forest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.8

BLOCKSClemson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.3Florida State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.0Wake Forest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.8North Carolina . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.7Georgia Tech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.0Virginia Tech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.8Boston College . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.6

INDIVIDUAL LEADERSSCORING

Tyler Hansbrough, North Carolina . . . 21.1Toney Douglas, Florida State . . . . . 20.3Jack McClinton, Miami. . . . . . . . . 20.3Jeff Teague, Wake Forest . . . . . . . 20.2Malcolm Delaney, Virginia Tech . . . . 18.6A.D. Vassallo, Virginia Tech . . . . . . 18.4Tyrese Rice, Boston College . . . . . . 18.0Sylven Landesberg, Virginia . . . . . . 18.0

REBOUNDSGani Lawal, Georgia Tech . . . . . . . 10.1Trevor Booker, Clemson . . . . . . . . . 8.9Jeff Allen, Virginia Tech . . . . . . . . 8.8Alade Aminu, Georgia Tech . . . . . . . 8.5Al-Farouq Aminu, Wake Forest . . . . . 8.3Kyle Singler, Duke . . . . . . . . . . . 8.1Ben McCauley, N.C. State . . . . . . . . 7.9

FIELD-GOAL PERCENTAGETrevor Booker, Clemson . . . . . . . . .559Ty Lawson, North Carolina. . . . . . . .556Gani Lawal, Georgia Tech . . . . . . . .544Alade Aminu, Georgia Tech . . . . . . .528Tyler Hansbrough, North Carolina . . . .522Landon Milbourne, Maryland . . . . . .519James Johnson, Wake Forest . . . . . .506

FREE-THROW PERCENTAGEGreivis Vasquez, Maryland . . . . . . . .882Malcolm Delaney, Virginia Tech . . . . .867Jack McClinton, Miami. . . . . . . . . .863Tyrese Rice, Boston College . . . . . . .858Jon Scheyer, Duke . . . . . . . . . . . .852Landon Milbourne, Maryland . . . . . .845Tyler Hansbrough, North Carolina . . . .839

ASSISTSTy Lawson, North Carolina . . . . . . . 6.4Tyrese Rice, Boston College . . . . . . . 5.5Iman Shumpert, Georgia Tech . . . . . 5.2Greivis Vasquez, Maryland . . . . . . . 4.6Jeff Teague, Wake Forest . . . . . . . . 3.9Malcolm Delaney, Virginia Tech . . . . . 3.6Demontez Stitt, Clemson . . . . . . . . 3.6

BLOCKSTrevor Booker, Clemson . . . . . . . . . 2.3Solomon Alabi, Florida State . . . . . . 2.1Ed Davis, North Carolina . . . . . . . . 1.8Assane Sene, Virginia . . . . . . . . . . 1.7James Johnson, Wake Forest . . . . . . 1.7

Now that North Carolina has entrenched itself as thetop team in the Atlantic Coast Conference, neithervisiting Wake Forest nor Duke can afford a slip-up

when they meet at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Sundaynight.

The Demon Deacons won their first 16 games of theseason, the best start in program history, allowing themto ascend to the No. 1 spot in both national polls.However, consistency has eluded Wake Forest during thepast month, and another loss would essentially end theirhopes of the regular-season conference championship.

Two weeks after Wake Forest achieved its first No. 1ranking in school history, Duke became the third ACCteam this season to claim the top spot. Ironically, a 70-68loss to the Demon Deacons on Jan. 28 led to Duke, likeWake Forest, lasting only a week at the top.

Revenge and remaining in the conference title chaseare two big parts of the equation for the Blue Devils, whowent 2-4 in the six games since reaching the top of thepolls. Duke has developed a reputation in recent years asa team that peaks too soon, but Wake Forest gives theBlue Devils the opportunity to prove that they are aNCAA Championship contender.

Records: Wake Forest 19-4 (6-4 ACC); Duke 20-5 (7-4ACC). Coaches: Wake Forest’s Dino Gaudio (104-141);Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski (823-272). Tip-off: 7:30 p.m. ETSunday. TV: Fox Sports Net.

Outlook: Wake Forest sophomore guard Jeff Teagueovercame a woeful 3-of-13 showing to register his 27thconsecutive double-figure scoring performance in thispast Saturday’s 86-63 win over Florida State. The startingfrontcourt of Al-Farouq Aminu, L.D. Williams and ChasMcFarland combined for 36 points as the DemonDeacons enjoyed a 40-24 edge in the paint. The frustra-tion of Florida State’s inside players was evident with14:07 left when Solomon Alabi was ejected for elbowingMcFarland. Both North Carolina and Boston Collegeexposed Duke’s defense en route to victories on Feb. 11and Sunday, respectively. The Tar Heels and Eagles, whowere the first two teams to convert at least 30 field goalsagainst the Blue Devils, outscored Duke in the secondhalf by a combined margin of 105-72.

THE REST OF THE MATCHUPSBoston College at Miami

Records: Boston College 19-8 (7-5 ACC); Miami 15-9 (4-7ACC). Coaches: Boston College’s Al Skinner (367-271);Miami’s Frank Haith (84-69). Tip-off: Noon ET Saturday.TV: ACC Regional Sports Network.

Outlook: Boston College’s Tyrese Rice and Miami’sJack McClinton were far from spectacular in the firstmeeting between the two schools on Jan. 10. Rice scoreda game-high 21 points in a losing effort, while McClintonwas one of five Miami players in double figures with 12points on 4-of-12 shooting. Boston College’s RakimSanders and Reggie Jackson combined for 32 points inthe first game against the Hurricanes, but forward JoeTrapani, who had his 21st double-figure scoring perform-ance of the season against Duke, was limited to two fieldgoals on seven attempts. A season-best showing of 27-of-33 from the foul line propelled the Hurricanes to theirfirst win in 10 years at Boston College.

Virginia at N.C. StateRecords: Virginia 8-13 (2-8 ACC); N.C. State 14-9 (4-6ACC). Coaches: Virginia’s Dave Leitao (141-124); N.C.State’s Sidney Lowe (49-41). Tip-off: 1 p.m. ET Saturday.TV: Raycom Sports.

Outlook: If Sunday’s 85-81 overtime win over Clemsonis any indication, balance may be the key for Virginia.Freshman Sylven Landesberg led five double-figure scor-ers with 23 points as the Cavaliers snapped an eight-gamelosing streak. The game marked the first time since an88-84 overtime win over Georgia Tech on Dec. 28 thatVirginia had five players score at least 11 points. Withsophomore guard Javier Gonzalez serving as the offen-sive sparkplug, N.C. State scored at least 82 points duringa four-game stretch from Feb. 3 to this past Saturday thatsaw it win three games. Sophomore forward Tracy Smithtallied a double-double with 18 points and 10 reboundsand was one of six Wolfpack players in double figures thispast Saturday against Georgia Tech.

North Carolina at MarylandRecords: North Carolina 23-2 (9-2 ACC); Maryland 16-8(5-5 ACC). Coaches: North Carolina’s Roy Williams(583-136); Maryland’s Gary Williams (620-351). Tip-off:3:30 p.m. ET Saturday. TV: ABC.

Outlook: The Terrapins scored a season-high 91points, but they were unable to match North Carolina’sfirepower in a 17-point loss at the Dean Smith Center onFeb. 3. Guard Wayne Ellington knocked down seven ofhis team’s 16 treys and was one of three Tar Heels to col-lect at least 21 points against Maryland. The gamemarked the first time since March 12, 2004, that NorthCarolina had three players score 20-plus points. This pastSaturday’s 83-73 win over Virginia Tech capped a three-game stretch that saw Maryland average nine turnoversper game. The Terrapins entered the week 15-4 whencommitting fewer turnovers than their opponents.

Florida State at Virginia TechRecords: Florida State 19-6 (6-4 ACC); Virginia Tech 16-8(6-4 ACC). Coaches: Florida State’s Leonard Hamilton(325-302); Virginia Tech’s Seth Greenberg (317-248). Tip-off: 8 p.m. ET Saturday. TV: ACC Regional Sports.

Outlook: Neither team led this past Saturday as WakeForest snapped the Seminoles’ three-game winning streakand Maryland clipped the Hokies’ two-game winningstreak. Florida State’s senior All-ACC candidate ToneyDouglas scored 22 points on 8-of-19 shooting against theDemon Deacons, while the rest of his teammates werejust 14-of-39 from the field. Virginia Tech’s A.D. Vassalloand Malcolm Delaney combined for 36 points against theTerrapins, who frustrated the third member of theHokies’ “Big Three.” Forward Jeff Allen was 3-of-9 fromthe field and committed four turnovers against two assistsin 27 minutes before fouling out.

Clemson at Georgia TechRecords: Clemson 20-4 (6-4 ACC); Georgia Tech 10-14(1-10 ACC). Coaches: Clemson’s Oliver Purnell (370-263);Georgia Tech’s Paul Hewitt (218-153). Tip-off: 1 p.m. ETSunday. TV: Raycom Sports.

Outlook: A huge free-throw differential and points offturnovers helped the Tigers post a 73-59 victory in thefirst meeting between the two programs on Jan. 25.Clemson made 13 more free throws than the YellowJackets and generated 22 points off 18 turnovers. GeorgiaTech has two of the conference’s top four shooters insophomore Gani Lawal and senior Alade Aminu, but thispast Saturday’s 86-65 loss to N.C. State was the 15th con-secutive game in which it failed to shoot at least 50 per-cent from the floor. Hewitt said that his team settled fortoo many jump shots and his guards’ inability to work theball inside prevented players such as Lawal and Aminufrom taking advantage of matchup advantages.

Duke, Wake still in huntIllustration © 2009 Bruce Plante (planteink.com)

© 2009 Sports News Bureau Inc.

G A M E O F T H E W E E K

Wake Forest at Duke