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WASHINGTON (WTVD) — Michael O’Connell kept NC State’s NCAA tournament hopes alive by the slimmest of margins, banking in a wild 3-pointer at the buzzer to force overtime. Then, DJ Burns Jr. took over in the extra time as the Wolfpack stunned Virginia 73-65 in a raucous ACC Tournament semifinal Friday night.
The Wolfpack looked dead in the water Friday night with four seconds left before O-Connell’s prayer kissed the backboard and nestled softly into the net to send the game to extra time and the Wolfpack bench and fans into delirium.
“I had a direct view of it,” N.C. State coach Kevin Keatts said. “As it went up I was like, man, that shot is going in, it’s going in, and then luckily it did and obviously sent us to overtime.”
The 10th-seeded Wolfpack (21-14) are one victory from pulling off an epic five-wins-in-five-days run for the ACC’s automatic bid, and if they do it, they’ll remember this escape for a while. With the score 58-55, Isaac Mckneely missed the front end of a 1-and-1 for Virginia. O’Connell rushed the ball up the left sideline and shot a high-archer in front of his team’s bench.that will long be remembered in Raleigh.
It was the second straight night a team made a shot at the buzzer against Virginia to force overtime, but on Thursday the Cavaliers were able to beat Boston College.
NC State’s DJ Burns Jr. shoots against Virginia forward Jordan Minor on Friday night in the ACC Tournament semifinals.
Nick Wass
“They got momentum because we missed the free throw and they were coming down, and once they got down we did not want to foul in the act of shooting,” Virginia coach Tony Bennett said. “We just were worried about that.”
In overtime, it was the Burns Jr. show. Time and again, N.C. State would give the ball to the 6-foot-9, 275-pound post player, who would slowly back his way down, he and his defender repeatedly bouncing off each other. Burns scored seven points in overtime and 19 in the game on 8-of-11 shooting.
The Wolfpack take on old rival and top-seeded North Carolina for the tournament championship on Saturday night. The Tar Heels swept the regular season meetings.
NC State’s DJ Horne drives past Virginia’s Reece Beekman on Friday night in the ACC Tournament semifinals.
Nick Wass
Perhaps feeling the fatigue of playing four games in four nights, N.C. State shot just 3 of 17 from 3-point range, but O’Connell made the one the Wolfpack needed, and the Cavaliers (23-10) were done in by their poor free-throw shooting.
With 1:10 remaining, Virginia had a five-point lead, and after a flagrant foul called on Burns, the Cavaliers got two shots and the ball. Reece Beekman missed both attempts though, and when he was fouled on the ensuing possession, Beekman made only one of two.
Then Ryan Dunn fouled a 3-point shooter, and Casey Morsell made all three free throws to cut the lead to three.
After a defensive stop, N.C. State had a chance to tie, but when Morsell missed a 3-pointer and Mckneely rebounded, Virginia needed one free throw to ice the game. It never came.
The teams split their regular season meetings, each winning at home but in an arena full of Cavaliers fans, the Wolfpack won the one that mattered most.
The Wolfpack and Cavaliers look to book their spot in Saturday night’s ACC championship game.
UNC 72, PITT 65
Top-seeded North Carolina survived a stern test Friday night against fourth-seeded Pitt 72-65 to advance to the ACC Tournament championship game.
The No. 4 Tar Heels (27-6), who also hope to get a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, inched closer to that goal and will look for a first ACC title since 2016 on Saturday night.
Armando Bacot and RJ Davis provided the bulk of the offense for the Tar Heels. Davis led the team with 25 points and Bacot was strong in the paint with 19 points and 11 rebounds.
Armando Bacot hangs on the rim after scoring two of his 19 points against Pitt on Friday night at the ACC Tournament.
Nick Wass
“RJ, he’s been our closer all year and he hit some huge shots,” Bacot said.
Davis and Bacot scored UNC’s final 18 points of the game.
“Just super excited to get a chance to play in the championship,” said Bacot. “It was a tough game, and it got close down in the stretch and I think me and RJ just really wanted to make plays so we can win the game.”
The Panthers led by as many as nine in the first half and kept punching back until late, tying it at 62 with about four minutes left until Davis hit just his second 3-pointer to put the Tar Heels ahead.
After seven lead changes throughout, they never trailed again, with Davis grabbing a crucial rebound and hitting a long 3 in the final minutes to help put it away. The unanimous ACC Player of the Year scored 19 of his points in the second half.
“The player of the year stepped up and made plays,” Pitt coach Jeff Capel said. “You have to tip your hat to him. He made a deep 3, a 28-footer, some pullups. He just made plays.”
Carlton Carrington led Pitt with 24 points, and Jaland Lowe had 17. The Panthers, who were up early thanks to some hot 3-point shooting, were hurt by three fouls in the first 14 minutes on Federiko Federiko, keeping the center on the bench for long periods.
UNC’s tenacious defense made life hard for Pitt star Blake Hinson, who made only 2 of 12 shots and missed all five of his 3-point attempts.
Nick Wass
The Tar Heels never let Pitt’s Blake Hinson get into a rhythm, harassing him into a 2-for-12 shooting night. Hinson missed all five of his 3-point attempts.
“All year, I’ve been taking pride in trying to be the best defensive big man in the country,” Bacot said. “And today, it’s always tough playing against them because they’ve got so many skilled guards, they’ve got bigs that can shoot, so today we had to switch, and after the first half, I was a little sloppy, in the second half I wanted to take the challenge and thought I did a good job.”
UNC, winners of eight consecutive games, will face old rival NC State in the final. The Tar Heels won both regular season matchups against the Wolfpack.
“We set goals in the beginning of the year, and for us to be one more game away means a lot,” Davis said. “But the job’s not finished.”
The Panthers (22-11) now wait to see whether they get invited to the NCAA tournament.
“We’ll see if we’re in,” Capel said. “We have become a really good basketball team. We could be a team that could be dangerous in the tournament.”
Guard Ishmael Leggett added, “I 100% believe that we’re an NCAA Tournament team, regardless of what anybody says.”
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The Associated Press contributed.
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