What a day of ACC Tournament basketball we just had – capped by a pair of 80-79 games in the night session of Thursday’s quarterfinals involving Duke and North Carolina.
Duke, playing short-handed, without two starters – point guard Caleb Foster, center Patrick Ngongba – rallied, then held on, surviving a last-second shot – to beat Florida State, 80-79.
We’ve been saying for a while that nobody wanted to have to play FSU in this tournament.
Clemson led by 15 late, then had to hold off North Carolina, 80-79, in the final game of the day.
Virginia, in the opening game of the day, notched its third win of the season over North Carolina State, 81-74, ahead of Miami getting a 78-73 win over Louisville.
ACC Tournament: Friday night preview
#2 Virginia (28-4, 16-3 ACC) vs. #3 Miami (25-7, 14-5 ACC), 7 p.m. ET, ESPN2
The game between Virginia and Miami three weeks ago in Charlottesville was, all of us who were there to see it, a second weekend NCAA Tournament-quality game.
Friday night, it’s an ACC Tournament semifinal game.
Virginia won the first one, 86-83, on Feb. 21,. on three free throws from Chance Mallory with 3.2 seconds left.
- KenPom: Virginia 75-72
- BartTorvik: Virginia 74-71
- ESPN BPI: Virginia +2.6
#1 Duke (30-2, 18-1 ACC) vs. #5 Clemson (24-9, 13-6 ACC), 9:30 p.m. ET, ESPN
Duke beat Clemson, 67-54, in the lone game between these two in the regular season, back on Feb. 14, holding the Tigers to 35.1 percent shooting.
- KenPom: Duke 73-61
- BartTorvik: Duke 71-61
- ESPN BPI: Duke +11.9
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Chris Graham
