Monday Morning Shootaround: Duke, Clemson, and Butler all get upset

Sylvan Landesberg scored 23 points, including six in OT, as Virginia won their first game since early January 85-81. Virginia was up eight at the half, but Clemson rallied in the second half scoring the first 14 points. At the end of regulation, the Cavs were down two when Landesberg hit a spinning lay-up in the lane with 13 seconds on the clock, which eventually forced OT after Clemson misfired on three shots at the other end. Trevor Booker, Terrence Oglesby, and KC Rivers combined for 48 points, but it wasn't enough as Clemson could never find their rhythm offensively or defensively.

The loss drops the Tigers into a four-way tie in third place in the ACC (with Florida State, Virginia Tech, and Wake Forest) two and a half games behind UNC. Coming in third and fourth is going to be so important come March because they get first round byes in the ACC tournament, while fifth and sixth place have first round games. Clemson has their work cut out for them - they still play each of the other three this year.

Duke blew a double-digit first half lead as Boston College knocked off another top ACC team 80-74 in front of a packed house in Beantown. After a Kyle Singler lay-up tied the game at 74, Reggie Jackson scored with 47 seconds left to give BC their last lead. On Duke's next possession, Tyrese Rice grabbed the defensive rebound and was fouled, knocking down both shots to essentially close out the game. Singler finished with 25, while Gerald Henderson had 20 in a losing cause. Joe Trapani, the BC transfer from Vermont, finished with 20 and 7 boards.

Tyrese Rice was the best player on the floor, finishing with 21 points and 6 dimes. But it was more than just the point and assist production. Rice led BC to this win. He helped settle his team down when Duke's press was killing them in the first half. He handled the ball down the stretch, even hitting a number of big shots (including a three that gave BC a 74-72 lead). While he still turned the ball over too many times, Rice made great decisions down the stretch, leading the Eagles to the win.

Duke has now lost three of four, and has fallen two games behind UNC for the ACC lead. The biggest reason? Defense. For the second straight game, a team shot right around 60% (58.8% yesterday) and Duke has given up a total of 181 points. That is not an acceptable number for a team that allows just 62.7 ppg.

The rest of Sunday's hoops action:

• Loyola IL 71, Butler 67: Loyola built a 34-16 lead in the first half in large part because Butler could not hit anything from the field. Matt Howard scored a career-high 30 as the Bulldogs cut the lead all the way down to 69-67, but Justin Cerasoli hit two free throws to ice it and give Butler their second Horizon League loss.
  
• Illinois 65, Indiana 52: The Illini went up by as much as 21 in the first half and held off a feisty Indiana team as Bruce Weber's squad improved to 21-5, 9-4 in the Big Ten. Mike Davis and Mike Tisdale each had 16 for Illinois.
• Notre Dame 67, South Florida 57: The Irish improved to 5-7 in the Big East as 19 and 11 from Luke Harangody powered them to their second consecutive victory.
• Michigan 70, Northwestern 67 OT: Manny Harris scored 25 of his 26 points after halftime (8 in OT) as the Wolverines picked up a much needed win on the road. Michigan came in to this one losers of seven of their last nine. Kevin Coble hit a leaning three at the end of regulation to send the game into OT.
• Louisville 99, DePaul 54: The Cardinals scored the first 13 points of the game and never looked back from there. Earl Clark led the way with 12 points, 11 boards, 8 dimes, 2 steaks, and 2 blocks.
• North Carolina 69, Miami 65: Ty Lawson took over in the second half, scoring 17 of his 21 points, as the Heels barely hung on against the Hurricanes. UNC opened up a 54-40 lead in the second half, but led by Jack McClinton's 35 points, the 'Canes cut it to 64-63 before Ty Lawson hit a huge three to all but seal the win. This was a pretty devastating loss for the Canes, who now are 4-7 in the conference and may need to win out to reach the Dance.
• Arizona State 65, USC 53: The Sun Devils were able to avenge a 61-49 loss to USC last month with the win over USC thanks in large part to Derek Glasser, Jeff Pendergraph, and Jeff McMillan. The Trojans Daniel Hackett hounded James Harden all day, holding him to 13 points on just six shots. But Glasser, McMillan and Pendergraph were up to the task, scoring 41 combined points.