CHARLOTTE, N.C. — In the final full day of ACC Tournament action, it had a little bit for every basketball fan.
The top four teams in the conference played their first games, all fighting for a spot in the ACC Tournament semifinals round Friday night. Three of the four seeds are expected to make the 64-team field regardless of their conference tournament result, but teams like Stanford and SMU did their best to make a late case.
Here’s a full run down to what happened in the ACC Quarterfinals.
Game 8: No. 1 Duke 78, No. 8 Georgia Tech 70
A sluggish start from Duke gave Georgia Tech an opportunity to try and upset the ACC’s top squad, but a second-half push ultimately squandered the opportunity.
The Yellow Jackets led by as many as 14 during the first half, with Duncan Powell paving the way. Powell finished the game with 24 points, just behind Duke freshman Kon Knueppel’s game-leading 28 points.
The Blue Devils started the game 0-for-10 from the three-point line, unable to get any sort of long range shot until the final few minutes of the first half. By then, Maliq Brown and Cooper Flagg were both out of the game.
But Duke’s roster has more than just those two stars. Thanks to Knueppel, Khaman Maluach and Isaiah Evans, that trio all reached double figures. Their performance, shooting 9-for-17 from the floor, pushed Georgia Tech away for the quarterfinals win.
“I thought the last four minutes from probably the first four minutes of the second half, the game got away from us a little bit,” Georgia Tech head coach Damon Stoudamire said, “and when I say that, Duke is a team of runs. I thought they did a good job overall collectively in the game withstanding those runs, but those two runs hurt us. We just couldn’t weather the storm.”
Takeaway: Cooper Flagg and Maliq Brown’s status
Both freshman phenom Cooper Flagg and veteran Maliq Brown left the game early against the Yellow Jackets with injuries.
Flagg left the game with a left ankle injury after trying to collect a rebound in the first half. He returned to the bench during the second half, but didn’t play. Duke Athletics shared in a social media post he was “doubtful to return” during halftime.
Maliq Brown was listed out by the Blue Devils during halftime, leaving the game with a left shoulder injury.
Duke head coach Jon Scheyer said during his postgame press conference that Flagg likely will not play the remainder of the conference tournament with an ankle sprain. Flagg was taken for x-rays, which Scheyer said were negative.
Jon Scheyer on Cooper Flagg potentially playing in the remainder of the ACC Tournament:
“It’s not worth it.” pic.twitter.com/2hiq8ohCnG
— Travon Miles (@TrayABC11) March 13, 2025
“It’s not about being ready to go tomorrow,” Scheyer said. “That’s not the most important thing for us. We’ve got to see if we can get him right for this run that we can make in the tournament.”
Brown was stretchered out of Spectrum Center and taken to a “Charlotte area hospital,” according to Scheyer, after a re-dislocation of his left shoulder. The Blue Devils’ leader also said he plans to visit Brown later today.
Game 9: No. 5 North Carolina 68, No. 4 Wake Forest 59
Of all the quarterfinals games played in Spectrum Center, none were as important for postseason implications as North Carolina and Wake Forest.
The two schools took their regular season and conference tournament game to the wire. Hunter Sallis, trying to keep his senior season alive, handled the majority of Wake Forest’s offense. He finished the game with 25 points and five rebounds. Tre’Von Spillers was the only other Demon Deacon to reach double figures, scoring 10 points and nine rebounds.
But Wake Forest’s biggest problem was North Carolina’s strength. Wake Forest was 2-for-22 from three-point range, particularly low for a squad that averages at least five triples per game. Its inability convert the long-range opportunities gave the Tar Heels their window.
North Carolina was 8-for-22 from three — still not to the Tar Heels’ recent standard but better than Wake Forest. RJ Davis contributed a team-high 23 points, with Seth Trimble and Ven-Allen Lubin both scoring 10 points as well.
It took 12 ties and 12 lead changes before North Carolina strung together the game-winning 6-0 run in the final 90 seconds.
Takeaway: NCAA hopes are dashed
Both North Carolina and Wake Forest went into this conference tournament on the bubble to make March Madness. The task was simple — win and keep your Big Dance dreams alive.
Although the Demon Deacons earned the final double-bye, they were a late addition and sit right on the line between being a Quad 1 and a Quad 2 program. Wake Forest is just 2-7 against Quad 1 teams and 6-1 against Quad 2 in the regular season. Its resume already wasn’t strongest, and losing to a Tar Heel squad also fighting for a spot was essentially a death sentence.
“How do you get to the tournament? You have to win,” Wake Forest head coach Steve Forbes said. “You have to win all those Quad 1, Quad 2s for sure. But you just don’t have as many opportunities. So how do we fix that? Well, we have to be creative.”
Wake Forest could be a potentially high-ranked seed in the NIT if the Demon Deacons remain one of the two highest, non-NCAA Tournament appearing ACC squads (earning the bid based off the tournament’s new rules announced in October). But that option is there only if the Demon Deacons take it.
For the Tar Heels, the win over Wake Forest gives North Carolina a slight edge with the selection committee, but it’s unsure if a quarterfinals win will be enough to be one of the 64.
Game 10: No. 2 Louisville 75, No. 7 Stanford 73
The battle of the Cardinals.
After trailing Stanford by 15 in the second half, Louisville climbed back throughout the final 20 minutes and took down the West Coast Cardinals in a buzzer-beating jumper by Chucky Hepburn.
AT THE BUZZER‼️‼️‼️‼️
LOUISVILLE TO THE SEMIFINALS‼️‼️‼️ pic.twitter.com/LZm5HRVEo8
— ACC Men’s Basketball (@accmbb) March 14, 2025
The newly-minted ACC Defensive Player of the Year intercepted the ball from Chisom Okpara with less than a second to play. Hepburn finished the game with 20 points and 4 assists, just behind Terrence Edwards Jr., who scored a game-high 25 points and 5 rebounds in the win.
Stanford’s Maxime Raynaud dealt with foul trouble early in the second half, playing just nine minutes before fouling out of the game. He scored 17 points and 5 rebounds, good for second-best on the Cardinals’ squad. Oziyah Sellers was 4-for-6 from distance, and ended the game with 22 points and 4 rebounds.
“That was obviously a heartbreaking loss for us,” Stanford head coach Kyle Smith said. “But when you give your best, you can never be that disappointed. I felt like our guys really did give their best.”
Louisville’s win marks the first time the program has made it to the ACC Tournament semifinals round since the program joined the ACC in 2014.
Takeaway: Cardiac Cardinals strike again
The reigning ACC Coach of the Year continues to prove the college basketball world wrong.
Pat Kelsey’s squad as a first-year head coach for Louisville has catapulted the Cardinals from worst to one of the best in the conference. Players like Hepburn, Edwards Jr. and James Scott have all stolen the spotlight in different ways.
But this wasn’t the first time Louisville’s won a game from a buzzer-beater. Noah Waterman gave Louisville a win over Eastern Kentucky with the game-winning shot coming just before the buzzer.
Essentially, Louisville knows how to win games when it comes down to one final shot.
“You talk about this great season that we’re having, it could be totally different if that ball doesn’t go in at the end of the Eastern Kentucky game,” Kelsey said. “Noah makes that shot, and then Chucky makes this one tonight. Hopefully, there’s more luck in the genie bottle moving forward, too.”
Game 11: No. 3 Clemson 57, No. 6 SMU 54
Even with SMU’s 40 points in the paint, it couldn’t outlast Clemson’s second half defensive prowess.
Chase Hunter and Jaeden Zackery both in double figures for Clemson, scoring a combined 32 points to lead the Tigers. Ian Schieffelin grabbed 11 boards and nine points, just one point short for his 10th double-double of the year.
Every Mustangs player who entered the game scored at least one field goal against the Tigers, led by Matt Cross’ 11 points. Boopie Miller scored 10 points for the Mustangs, and both of SMU’s top scorers registered 4 assists.
Dillon Hunter left the game in the first half with a finger injury, and was ruled out for the second half by Clemson Athletics. Hunter played just eight minutes against the Mustangs, but averages 5.3 points per game while playing between eight and 33 minutes of action in conference play.
The Tigers had a one-point halftime lead over SMU, before trailing to the Mustangs for most of the second half. Clemson started its game-winning rally with 11 minutes to play, eventually overtaking SMU with three minutes to go.
SMU made one final push, but the ball trickled off a Mustang’s fingers and went out of bounds. Originally, SMU had possession, but a lengthy review overturned the call. Clemson just needed to inbound the ball successfully,
Takeaway: Incoming dogfight for a championship berth
It didn’t really matter who Louisville would face in the semifinals — the Tigers’ win sets up another fast-paced battle for a shot at the championship game.
Most of the games throughout this conference tournament have been defense-forward. Aside from a select few, it’s been low scoring from the top down. Putting two teams against each other that score a lot will either mean a high-scoring shootout or yet another defensive bloodbath.
But regardless, these two teams will have everything to win and everything to lose.
Seminfinals Game 1: 1. Duke vs. 5. North Carolina at 7 p.m. EST
Semifinals Game 2: 2. Louisville vs. 3. Clemson at 9:30 p.m. EST