2025 ACC Tournament: No. 1 Duke beats Louisville 73-62 to win its 23rd ACC tourney

No. 1 Duke meets rival North Carolina on Friday night in a semifinal matchup with huge implications for the Tar Heels.

While the Blue Devils would, of course, like to win another ACC championship, UNC (22-12) can likely clinch an NCAA tournament bid with a win against Duke.

It's a tall task for UNC, which was swept in the regular season by Duke, losing on Feb. 1 in Durham in an 87-70 drubbing that was all but decided before halftime, and an 82-69 loss in Chapel Hill on March 8.

Duke (29-3) likely won't have ACC Player of the Year Cooper Flagg, who sprained his ankle on Thursday against Georgia Tech. The Blue Devils also will probably be without Maliq Brown, who suffered a shoulder injury.

Duke holds a 14-9 advantage in ACC Tournament meetings with UNC, including an 8-3 record in semifinals.

Chase Hunter scored 21 points, Jaeden Zackery added 11 points and No. 10 Clemson battled back to beat SMU 57-54 on Thursday night for its ninth straight win to reach the Atlantic Coast Conference semifinals.

Ian Schieffelin chipped in with nine points and 12 rebounds for the Tigers (27-5), who are seeking their first ACC Tournament title.

Matt Cross led SMU (23-10) with 13 points, while Boopie Miller had 10.

SMU led most of the second half, but Viktor Lakhin's lane jumper gave the Tigers a 52-51 lead with 4:50 left in the game.

SMU had a chance to tie or take the lead after Hunter missed a 3 with 17 seconds left. The Mustangs called timeout with 12.5 seconds left, but Chuck Harris missed a corner 3. There was a battle for the rebound before the ball went out of bounds. It was initially ruled the ball went off a Clemson player, but after reviewing the play officials ruled SMU touched the ball last.

Hunter was fouled on the inbounds play and made a free throw with 2.1 seconds. Cross' full-court heave at the buzzer fell short.

• Box Score

Takeaways

SMU: Cross picked up his fourth foul midway through the second half, but the Mustangs didn't waiver and stayed right with the Tigers until the end.

Clemson: Starting guard Dillon Hunter appeared to jam a finger late in the first half and did not return. Coach Brad Brownell said after the game Hunter might have broken his hand. Hunter had an ice bag on his right hand in the locker room after the game. He will have X-rays on Friday.

Key moment

Hunter drove through the lane, stopped and then hit a turnaround jumper to put Clemson up by four with less than two minutes remaining.

Key stat

SMU finished 1 of 14 from 3-point range.

Up next

Clemson moves on to face No. 13 Louisville, a 75-73 winner over Stanford, in the semifinals. SMU looks to be headed to the NIT.

Chucky Hepburn's putback jumper at the buzzer helped No. 13 Louisville overcome a 15-point second-half deficit to beat Stanford 75-73 on Thursday night and advance to the semifinals of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament.

Terrence Edwards scored 25 points and Hepburn added 20 for the Cardinals (26-6), who've won 10 straight. Noah Waterman and James Scott each had 12.

• Box Score

Oziyah Sellers had 22 points and Maxime Raynaud added 17 points for Stanford (20-13), which was playing in its first ACC Tournament.

Stanford led 33-30 at halftime and appeared ready to pull away in the second half, building a 52-37 lead in the second half behind an 11-0 run.

But Raynaud picked up his fourth foul with 13 1/2 minutes left and Louisville capitalized, battling back to take the lead 70-65 with 3 minutes remaining after Hepburn knocked down a 3 and then fed J'Vonne Hadley for a layup. Raynaud fouled out on the ensuing possession, but Stanford tied the game on Chisom Okpara's three-point play with 32 seconds left.

Edwards missed a 3-point shot, but as players collapsed for the rebound the ball bounced out directly to Hepburn, who caught it and buried a 15-footer for the win.

The Cardinals played without guard Reyne Smith, their third-leading scorer at 13.4 points per game, because of an ankle injury. Smith's absence seemed to affect Louisville's chemistry, particularly in the first half.

Louisville will face the Clemson/SMU winner in the semifinals. Stanford is likely headed to the NIT.

The Associated Press contributed

North Carolina, playing for its postseason lives, outfought Wake Forest 68-59 to advance to the ACC Tournament semifinals.

RJ Davis had 23 points and five 3-pointers, Ven-Allen Lubin added 10 points and 13 rebounds, and No. 5 seed North Carolina gave head coach Hubert Davis his 100th victory with the program.

• Box Score

Jae'Lyn Withers rattled in a 3-pointer from the corner with 4:35 left to give North Carolina a 57-56 lead and the Tar Heels never trailed again.

North Carolina went ahead 63-57 with 2:04 left after six straight points. Ven-Allen Lubin went 1 of 2 at the free-throw line, but he blocked a shot at the other end and Davis sank his fifth 3-pointer in six attempts. Lubin capped the run with an alley-oop dunk.

After Hunter Sallis ended Wake Forest's field-goal drought that lasted nearly five minutes, Lubin threw down a putback dunk to make it 65-59 with 1:27 left.

North Carolina guard Drake Powell jumped to intercept an inbounds pass and Seth Trimble was fouled with 31.8 left before making 1 of 2 free throws for a seven-point lead.

Davis turned his left ankle with 6:49 left in the second half when he stepped on the foot of Juke Harris on a drive. After a short break, he made two free throws to give North Carolina the lead at 54-53.

Next, the Tar Heels (22-12) get rival Duke on Friday, which will likely be without ACC Player of the Year Cooper Flagg, who sprained his ankle earlier against Georgia Tech.

RJ Davis scored 23 points and made 5-of-6 3-point tries to pace the Tar Heels. Van-Allen Lubin had 13 rebounds to go with 10 points.

UNC is considered a bubble team for the NCAA tournament but the Heels improved their chances by beating the Demon Deacons, who had beaten them 67-66 on Jan. 21. UNC has won eight of its last nine games, losing only to Duke in that late-season push.

Wake Forest (21-11) was looking to advance to its first ACC Tournament semifinals since 2006 and now will likely await a bid to the NIT.

Sallis led Wake Forest with 25 points. Tre'Von Spillers had 10 points and nine rebounds, and Efton Reid III grabbed 10 rebounds.

The Associated Press contributed.