Conference tournaments are about basketball but also so much more: the fans, parents, bands, cheerleaders, etc. The ACC Tournament is taking place this week in Washington, DC, and we could not be more excited to be there in person! HoopsHD will be covering all the angles so you can look forward to an abundance of articles in the days ahead. Jon Teitel continues our coverage with a recap of tonight’s ACC title game.
I finished on a high note with the food: street tacos/street corn…both delicious. Let’s tip it off:
NC STATE-NORTH CAROLINA
The crowd is mostly blue but there are plenty of patches of red and are all hyped for tonight’s title game:
North Carolina is the heavy favorite, as NC State is the 10 seed and has not won this tourney since 1987 (when they had a 68-67 win over UNC at the Capital Centre in Landover, MD). After some inconsistent performances earlier this week it was exciting to see all the stars show up big in the 1st half. For the Wolfpack it was their 180-pound DJ (Horne) who made a ton of jump shots and a 3 from the top of the key and their 275-pound DJ (Burns), who not only dominated in the lane but also knocked down the 1st 3-PT shot of his career (he had been 0-9!). The Tar Heels turned to their own dynamic SR duo with RJ Davis making a trio of trifectas (including 1 of the step-back variety followed by a stare-down of the NC State bench) and Armando Bacot scoring plenty of points in the paint. It looked like they would come up just short in the 1st stanza but thanks to a Cormac Ryan corner 3 at the buzzer they held a 40-39 lead at halftime.
Different half, same star-power in the 2nd stanza. Bacot made layups/dunks (finishing with a double-double), Davis made everything else (finishing with a team-high 30 PTS), but it was simply not enough. Horne eventually fouled out but not before converting an old-fashioned and new-fashioned 3-PT play en route to a team-high 29 PTS, while Burns kept backing down Bacot in the post before sinking shots around the hoop (and earning tourney MVP honors). When the confetti settled NC State somehow had won 5 games in 5 days including the final 1 by the score of 84-76 to win its 1st ACC tourney title in 37 years and secure a spot in the field on Selection Sunday. No postgame press conference but check back tomorrow for my best photos from the postgame celebration…but see below for a sneak preview:
