NC State completes miracle run, wins ACC men’s title
WASHINGTON – It must be March. North Carolina State capped a miraculous ACC tournament run with an 84-76 win over North Carolina on Saturday night, stealing a spot in the NCAA Tournament.
The Wolfpack, who lost seven of their last nine regular-season games, arrived in Washington as the No. 10 seed in the ACC tournament, needing to win five games in five days to prolong its season. With an upset of Duke, an overtime victory over Virginia and its smothering of the Tar Heels, it managed to pull it off.
“Why not us? We carried that mantra into the tournament,” fifth-year guard Casey Morsell said. “We knew we were the underdog, but we love that feeling. We love being the underdogs. We were like 10-point underdogs today. We love that. We love it all.”
The Wolfpack were led Saturday by fifth-year guard DJ Horne, who racked up 29 points on 9 of 15 shooting while navigating foul trouble for much of the second half. He fouled out with a little more than a minute remaining, when the game was all but in hand.
DJ Burns Jr., listed at 6-foot-9 and 275 pounds, also caused frequent issues for UNC with his bruising play in the post, finishing with 20 points, seven assists and four rebounds.
The result was N.C. State’s first ACC Tournament championship since 1987 – more than a decade before any of the current players on the team were born. That Wolfpack team was coached by Jim Valvano. “We’ve been getting crushed – when I say we, N.C. State – by not delivering any championship in 37 years,” coach Kevin Keatts said. “Well, they can’t say that now because we got one tonight.”
Before the team boarded its flight to Washington, Keatts instructed every player to bring something lucky with them. They knew the challenge that was ahead of them and that a few good-luck charms wouldn’t hurt.
The run started off simply enough, with wins over middling opponents Louisville and Syracuse. Then it kicked into overdrive with Thursday’s win over second-seeded Duke, which had been considered one of the favorites entering the week. And with a buzzer-beating 3pointer from Michael O’Connell that sent Friday’s game against Virginia into overtime, a hint of magic emerged.
“Everybody expected this to be Carolina and Duke,” Keatts said after the Virginia game, which his team ultimately won 73-65. “Well, it’s Carolina and N.C. State. We play pretty good basketball at N.C. State, too.”
Keatts said he ate at the same restaurant, The Capital Burger, every day during the week to keep the mojo going.
Perhaps the most impressive aspect of the run isn’t just the teams that N.C. State knocked off, but the fact that it played five games in five days.
With the win, N.C. State injected a bit of chaos into the NCAA Tournament field less than 24 hours before the bracket was revealed. The Wolfpack were expected to join North Carolina, Duke and Clemson as the ACC teams in the field; its win could amount to disaster for Virginia, which was among the key teams on the bubble.
Some NC State players were already looking ahead. “I think if we stay consistent like this, we will make a run – like we just did,” O’Connell said. “We’ve got to still focus on small details.”