It’s Duke-North Carolina in ACC semifinals
NEW YORK — The biggest rivalry in men’s college basketball is coming to Brooklyn, thanks to the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament and a big comeback by the Duke Blue Devils.
With an emotional lift from revitalized junior guard Grayson Allen, Duke rallied from 12 points down in the second half of Thursday’s ACC quarterfinal against Louisville to win 81-77 and set up a semifinal with top-seeded, sixthranked North Carolina today.
“We’re two of the great programs. We’re accustomed, they’re accustomed to playing in buildings that have a lot of energy, for or against them,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “So to be in that moment (today), the people who were in the stands, they have a chance to enjoy that, because those moments don’t happen all the time. Our two programs have created a lot of them.”
Separated by about 10 miles, fifth-seeded, 14th-ranked Duke (25-8) and North Carolina are one ACC tourney title apart for most in the conference — Duke has won 19 and North Carolina 18.
Duke is 12-8 against North Carolina in the ACC tournament, but the Blue Devils have not met the Tar Heels in the postseason event since beating them in the 2011 title game. This will be only the fifth time they have played outside the state of North Carolina.
The teams split this season, with each winning on its home floor.
“The atmosphere will be great, the fans will be great,” Duke’s Luke Kennard said. “We have great fans who travel with us; they have fans who travel with them.”
Jayson Tatum scored 25 points to lead the Blue Devils past fourth-seeded, 10th-ranked Louisville. Kennard had 24, including some big 3-pointers down the stretch, and Allen — who was nursing a sore ankle and had drawn technical fouls each of his past two games — added 18 in his best performance in a month.
“I love Grayson,” said Krzyzewski, who earned his 59th ACC tournament victory to pass late North Carolina coach Dean Smith for most in league history. “Grayson, I’ve got his back all the time. And everyone in our program has his back all the time. The public eye on our program is a blessing and can be a curse. So we have to be able to deal with all of it.”
Deng Adel scored 21 points to lead Louisville (24-8), which struggled from the free-throw (15-for-26) and 3-point lines (4-for-21). The Cardinals had a chance to tie it late, but Quentin Snider missed a shot with four seconds left as he leaned into a defender trying to draw contact.
“I’m heartbroken we lost today,” said Louisville coach Rick Pitino, whose team lost any hope of grabbing a No. 1 seed for the NCAA tournament. “We have got to cure these free-throw shooting woes.”
Any hope Louisville had of grabbing a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament is gone.
“We lost a game mentally tonight a little bit,” Pitino said.
› North Carolina 78, Miami 53: Isaiah Hicks scored 19 points, ACC player of the year Justin Jackson added 12 and the Tar Heels (26-6) certainly looked like national championship contenders in their tournament opener.
North Carolina held the smaller Hurricanes, seeded ninth, to 36 percent shooting and showed off some skilled passing by finishing with 21 assists on 28 field goals. Point guard Joel Berry II added 11 points and five assists, while Kennedy Meeks contributed 10 points and seven rebounds.
Freshman guard Bruce Brown had 21 points and seven rebounds for Miami (21-11).
The Tar Heels are trying to become the first team to repeat as ACC tournament champion since Duke (2009-11).
› Florida State 74, Virginia Tech 68: Dwayne Bacon scored 17 points and Jonathan Isaac had 11 with 12 rebounds to lead the second-seeded, 14th-ranked Seminoles (25-7) into the ACC semifinals.
Terrance Mann also had 11 points, along with nine rebounds, and Xavier Rathan-Mayes nine points with six assists for Florida State, which trailed 35-33 at halftime.
Zach LeDay’s 22-point, nine-rebound performance paced the seventh-seeded Hokies (22-10), who got 17 points from Seth Allen and 14 from Justin Robinson.