2026 ACC Tournament: Duke wins back-to-back ACC Championships

A furious rally from an 18-point deficit came up just short as No. 19 North Carolina fell 80-79 on Thursday night to Clemson in an ACC quarterfinal thriller.

Nick Davidson scored 17 points as the fifth-seeded Tigers watched a large second-half lead evaporate before holding on to beat the fourth-seeded Tar Heels.

• Box Score

Dillon Hunter had 14 points and went 4-for-4 from the free throw line in the final minute for the Tigers (24-9), who had six players finish in double figures in scoring.

Henri Veesaar had a mammoth game for the Tar Heels with 28 points and 17 rebounds, while Derek Dixon finished with 16 points, including three late 3s to help North Carolina (24-8) climb back into the game.

The Tigers seemed ready to cruise into the semifinals after building an 18-point lead with 11:36 left before the Tar Heels came storming back to cut the lead to 78-76 with 13 seconds left behind a barrage of 3-pointers from Veesaar and Dixon.

Hunter made two free throws with 11.1 seconds left to make it a two-possession game before Dixon added yet another 3 with 3 seconds left.

The Tar Heels fouled Davidson, who missed both free throws with 2.4 seconds. North Carolina's Jarin Stevenson grabbed the rebound, but with the Tar Heels out of timeouts, he was forced to heave the ball from three-quarters court, and it fell well short.

Clemson shot 9 of 19 from beyond the 3-point line, with Davidson a perfect 4-for-4.

The Tar Heels struggled to hit shots all night until the 3s started falling late. Dixon made three 3s and Veesaar two in the final 2:28.

Clemson moves on to Friday night's semifinals against No. 1 Duke, which beat Florida State 80-79 after the Seminoles missed a 3-pointer to win it at the buzzer.

The Associated Press contributed.

N.C. State coach Will Wade said Thursday that he is determined to "win big" with the Wolfpack while shrugging off speculation that he might return to LSU if that job became open.

"Look, we're going to win, and we're going to win big at NC State," Wade said after an 81-74 quarterfinal loss to No. 10 Virginia during the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament. "That's what we're going to do. That's what we're going to do moving forward. We have the resources we need. We have what we need, and it's on me and my staff to get the job done."

The Tigers (15-17) have one winning record in four seasons under Matt McMahon. LSU lost to Kentucky in Wednesday's first round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament.

Wade had coached LSU for five seasons from 2017-22, a run that included three NCAA tournament bids and a regular-season SEC title. But he was fired because of allegations of recruiting violations, rooted in a federal corruption probe of the sport that became public in 2017.

Wade made a successful climb back to prominence with two NCAA bids in as many seasons during a 58-win run with McNeese. He took over the Wolfpack program last spring with a confident news conference promising quick results.

Asked Thursday about online speculation linking him to a potential LSU opening, Wade responded with a question: "Is the job open there? ... Listen, let me be very clear: I'm excited at NC State. I was hired at NC State to do a job. This wasn't going to take one year."

Wade then motioned toward Wolfpack athletic director Boo Corrigan at the back of the news conference room. "I've already met with our administration about next year and some of the changes that we need to make, and some of the things that we need to do to put this program where it deserves long-term. I'm not on social media. I'm not into gossip. I'm not into any of that sort of stuff."

N.C. State (20-13) appears headed to the NCAAs in Wade's first season, though the Wolfpack stumbled down the stretch by losing six of seven to close the regular season. The team beat Pittsburgh to open the ACC Tournament on Wednesday, then hung within reach the entire way against a Virginia team that had led each of the two regular-season meetings by 27 or more points.

"Look, this year hasn't gone exactly how we wanted it to," Wade said. "But we're going to rally, and we're going to work hard, and we're going to have a team next year that's ready to roll."

-- The Associated Press contributed.
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Isaiah Evans made seven 3-pointers and finished with a career-high 32 points, Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year Cameron Boozer added 23 points and 10 rebounds, and No. 1 Duke survived a scare from Florida State to beat the Seminoles 80-79 on Thursday night in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament quarterfinals.

The Seminoles had a chance at an upset after Chauncey Wiggins blocked Boozer with seven seconds left, but Robert McCray V's 3 at the buzzer rimmed out.

• Box Score

Maliq Brown came up with two huge defensive plays to turn the momentum of the game for Duke, and had a 19-2 run in the second half after trailing by eight with 13 minutes left. Brown had 12 rebounds.

The Blue Devils (30-2) outrebounded Florida State 46-25 but needed to overcome 28 points from Lajae Jones and 25 from McCray for their ninth straight win. The Seminoles were 11 of 28 on 3s.

Evans, who played high school basketball at nearby North Mecklenburg High, had 28 points against the Seminoles in Duke's 91-87 victory in January. He was 11 of 20 from the field on Thursday night and 7 of 16 from beyond the arc.

Duke played without starting point guard Caleb Foster, who is out indefinitely with a broken right foot, and starting big man Patrick Ngongba II, who is sitting out this week's Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament while dealing with his own foot issue.

Florida State led 44-43 at halftime and carried the momentum into the second half, building a 59-51 lead seven minutes in behind 10 quick points from McCray.

But Boozer scored on an offensive rebound and then drilled a 3 from the top of the key on consecutive possessions to ignite a 19-2 run. Brown, the ACC's defensive player of the year and sixth man of the year, had two steals during the run leading to Duke layups.

But Florida battled back to cut the lead to 80-79 behind Jones before McCray's miss at the buzzer.

Duke will face the winner of Clemson and No. 24 North Carolina on Friday.

-- The Associated Press

Clemson said forward Carter Welling suffered a torn knee ligament in the Tigers' opening game of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament.

The school announced Thursday that Welling had torn the ACL in his right knee. He was hurt when he attempted to drive late in the first half of Wednesday's second-round win against Wake Forest, when he collapsed to the court.

The 6-foot-11, 240-pound junior was helped from the court and later had a brace on his right leg and crutches. He had an MRI on Thursday.

Welling has averaged 10.2 points and 5.4 rebounds for the fifth-seeded Tigers, who are headed to the NCAA tournament. The program announced Welling's diagnosis before Thursday's quarterfinal against No. 19 North Carolina.

-- The Associated Press contributed.