The Next Play: Key road games for ACC basketball teams, Hurricanes highlight busy week
The next week in Triangle sports, by comparison to previous weeks — and looking ahead to the week after — is kind of a sleep-inducing lull, depending on who you follow closely.
Sure, Duke will play its requisite ACC basketball games, and yes, the N.C. State women are chasing an ACC title, as well. UNC? The men might be playing for their tournament lives, while the women bolstered their potential resume with a big win last week, but this week? Just a pair of games.
So, what should we watch for this week?
The non-rivalry rivalry
Let’s start on the ACC men’s basketball beat, with UNC in a precarious position.
No, the Tar Heels’ late-week game against N.C. State isn’t going to help them get into the tournament if they win, but maybe, secretly, the Wolfpack might take a little joy in disrupting UNC’s path to the NCAA tournament.
Saturday, the Pack hosts UNC in the teams’ final meeting of the season, and will try to build some momentum toward the end of an otherwise forgettable season. The Heels, meanwhile, need to start thinking about winning out as the safest path to the big dance.
Key road games
Duke is going to be in the NCAA tournament. What chances it has at a No. 1 seed are probably gone, but a run of wins to end the season wouldn’t hurt.
This week, the Blue Devils hit the road for a pair of key ACC games, first headed to Virginia and then to Syracuse, two teams with venues in which it can be very hard to play.
Coach K’s health scare this past week bears watching as the team goes forward, despite his insistence that he’s “back.”
Speaking of road games
The Carolina Hurricanes have been a puzzle of a team since returning from the All-Star Break. The Canes won four games in a row leading up to the break, though each only by a single game.
Since then, they’ve lost four of five, two of those in overtime. Whatever was working in tight games before the stoppage, they need to find that magic again as they plod forward on a very tight schedule the rest of the way.
That tight schedule starts right away this week with a back-to-back set in Pennsylvania. The Canes start the week in Pittsburgh on Sunday against the red-hot Penguins, and follow that on the other side of the state Monday in Philadelphia. A three-day break — one of three remaining this season — ensues before a set of home games against Columbus and Edmonton.
The crack of the bat
NCAA baseball started in earnest this past weekend, and N.C. State, coming off a College World Series appearance last summer, will be in full swing coming up this week.
Midweek games against nearby High Point and Longwood serve as an appetizer for a weekend set against Quinnipiac of Connecticut.
Defending ACC tournament champion Duke plays a rare early-season road set this coming weekend. After a home game against Appalachian State on Tuesday, the Blue Devils head out to Waco, Texas, to face Baylor in a three-game set.
This story was originally published February 20, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
