NC State Completes Miracle Run, Upsets UNC Men’s Basketball in ACC Tournament Final

Carolina’s quest for its first ACC Tournament title since 2016 will have to wait.

The Tar Heels couldn’t keep up with hot-shooting NC State in the conference championship game Saturday night in Washington, D.C., as the Wolfpack completed a miraculous five-game run through the field with an 84-76 win.

The Wolfpack shot 28-51 (54.9 percent) as a team, racing out to a lead as large as 10 points early in the first half on a barrage of three-pointers. Though Carolina kept pace in the first half – and even took the lead going into halftime – an ugly 11-39 (28.2 percent) shooting performance in the second half doomed the Tar Heels. By contrast, the Wolfpack shot an even 50 percent: 11-22.

“We just couldn’t guard them tonight,” said head coach Hubert Davis. “They shot 55 percent from the field. That’s just not gonna get it done.”

R.J. Davis led the Tar Heels with 30 points, though he needed 26 shots to do it. No other Tar Heel took more than 11 shots. Armando Bacot contributed a sturdy double-double of 18 points and 12 rebounds, but struggled to contain NC State’s hulking center D.J. Burns. Burns finished with 20 points on 9-12 shooting while dishing out seven assists.

“I just allowed him to catch the ball where he really wanted to,” Bacot said. “When he gets it at that point, it’s really tough to guard him.”

D.J. Horne led the Wolfpack with 29 points before fouling out late in the game. Among other things, NC State earned the foul-shooting edge, finishing 22-29 at the line compared to 18-23 from Carolina. The Wolfpack shot 27 free throws in the second half alone.

NC State’s win is its 11th ACC Tournament title and first since 1987. Ironically, that win also came against Carolina in the D.C. metro area. The Wolfpack are the first ACC team to win five games in five days and win the conference tournament. If the No. 10 seed had any fatigue, it didn’t show on the court.

“It doesn’t matter how many overtimes, how many games you play in a row,” Hubert Davis said. “We knew that they would play with great energy. And they did from the start and throughout the entire game.”

Carolina will now await its NCAA Tournament assignment on Sunday.

Featured image via Todd Melet

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