NC State takes down North Carolina in ACC Tournament title to earn automatic bid
NC State entered the ACC Tournament likely needing a championship to reach March Madness. Somehow, they pulled it off.
The 10th-seeded Wolfpack won five straight games, culminating with a 84-76 victory against North Carolina on Saturday to claim to title. Now they’ll continue dancing with an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
DJ Horne and DJ Burns led the effort for NC State, combining for 49 points in the victory. Horne finished with a team-high 29 points while Burns dished out seven assists while adding another 20 points of his own. Mohammed Diarra added a double-double with 11 points and 14 rebounds.
“I’m at a loss for words right now,” Horne told ESPN’s Jess Sims after the game. “I came home with a mission, man. And to just see this right now, all the confetti all over the place, red and white, man. It’s for the city, man. This is for [the] 919, man. I love my brothers. I couldn’t play in the first game because I was hurt, and they got the dub for me and gave me the opportunity to make this happen. And I wouldn’t be here right now if it wasn’t for them.
“I just want to say shoutout Wolfpack Nation, man. The job’s not done. And like I said from the jump, why not us?”
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The ACC Tournament championship is the first for NC State since 1987 and its 11th in school history. Not only did they take down the Tar Heels, who are a projected No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, but also in-state rival Duke en route to the title.
NC State got off to a hot start in the first half and jumped out to a 14-4 lead within the first five minutes. The Wolfpack continued to lead for much of the half, but UNC would chip away at the advantage and actually took a 40-39 lead into halftime.
Things remained neck-and-neck for much of the second but NC State managed to pull away slightly and got its lead back to double digits with 4:05 remaining. From there, North Carolina never came closer than seven points the rest of the way as the Wolfpack closed out the game down the stretch.
On3’s James Fletcher currently has NC State as a No. 12 seed in his updated bracketology projections. He also still has the Tar Heels as a No. 1 seed.