CHARLOTTE, N.C. — For the 23rd time in program history, Duke took home the ACC Tournament championship.
After Louisville held a small, but mighty, halftime lead, No. 1 Duke used Kon Knueppel and Tyrese Proctor to score a total 37 points for the second Blue Devils ACC Tournament Title under head coach Jon Scheyer.
The win gives Duke the automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament and the guarantee of taking one of four No. 1 seeds.
“Really proud of our team to win this ACC championship,” Scheyer said. “To win an outright regular season and then to win in the tournament is special.”
Takeaway 1: The block heard around Spectrum Center
The Cardinals’ lightning-quick offense was exactly how they planned to take down the Blue Devils. Using lob passes into the paint, making contested shots along the perimeter — Duke struggled to keep up at times during the first half.
Then Patrick Ngongda denied Terrence Edwards Jr. inside the paint.
The block triggered a 12-0 Duke run that inevitably became the game-winning offensive push.
Duke switched to a zone defense at the end of the first half, a change Duke Scheyer said was an “overreaction,” that led to Louisville taking a halftime lead.
“I think I screwed us up a little bit in the first half,” Scheyer said. “I thought our defense was actually pretty good, and they hit tough shots, and I probably overreacted, and we went zone and it was awful.”
That one play by Ngongda gave a jolt of energy to the Blue Devils squad that needed a spark inside Spectrum Center. All of a sudden, Duke was getting more stops, shots were falling and the Blue Devils had fans on their feet once again.
Duke switched right back into its original plan in the second half, trying to shut down Edwards Jr. and allowing the Blue Devils enough speed to move in transition without any issues.
“In the second half, we did what we do,” Scheyer said.
Takeaway 2: The Terrence Edwards Jr. impact
He put the Group of Five world on notice as a senior, and is putting the entire college basketball world on notice with Louisville.
Edwards Jr. earned an All-ACC First Team selection and an All-Tournament First Team honor after scoring a game-leading 29 points in the ACC Championship.
At first, Chucky Hepburn scored Louisville’s first seven points. Then Edwards Jr. made his first basket.
“Going into here, I just left everything on the line,” Edwards said. “Sometimes you don’t get the outcome you want, but if you keep doing that, something good will happen. Like Coach said, we’re far from done.”
Edwards scored over 20 points in all three conference tournament games, leading the Cardinals in points each time out. Heading into the NCAA Tournament, he’ll be averaging 16.6 points and 4.1 rebounds per game.
But averaging 24 points per game in a conference tournament will give Louisville the perfect shot in the arm for its upcoming March Madness appearance.
“He’s on a tear for sure,” Louisville head coach Pat Kelsey said. “He’s just so much more than a scorer. You talk about 24 points a game over the last however many games … You saw the quality young man that he is. He’s a great leader. He’s become an exceptional defender.”
Takeaways 3: Flagg and Smith didn’t play, but expected to return for March Madness
During a conversation with CBS’ Seth Jones, NCAA Senior Vice President of Men’s Basketball Dan Davis said Duke told the Selection Committee that Cooper Flagg would be available for the start of the NCAA Tournament.
Then, following the end of the championship, Louisville’s Reyne Smith revealed he plans to return from injury in time for March Madness. Kelsey echoed Smith’s statement during the postgame press conference.
Here’s Reyne Smith on the decision to sit out of tonight’s ACC Tournament championship while recovering from a sprained ankle and his experience watching from the bench this week in Charlotte: pic.twitter.com/gky9aehMkI
— Brooks Holton (@brooksHolton) March 16, 2025
Smith participated in warmups roughly an hour before tip-off, then again during warmups a half hour before tip-off. Then, he walked back off the court and was ruled out for the game. Smith has missed the last four games with an ankle injury.
Flagg left the Blue Devils’ quarterfinals game in the first half with an ankle injury after awkwardly falling on it while collecting a rebound against Georgia Tech. Duke head coach Jon Scheyer confirmed to the media on Thursday that Flagg’s x-rays were negative, and that he would likely miss the remainder of the ACC Tournament.
Takeaway 4: Will Duke be the No. 1 overall seed?
With Auburn losing to Tennessee in the SEC men’s basketball semifinals, Duke is in a prime opportunity to claim the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament.
The Blue Devils entered Championship Week as the No. 1 team in the country by the Associated Press’s weekly poll, sliding up one spot after the SEC Tigers dropped their season finale to Alabama.
Though Flagg is still expected to play in the Big Dance, but even if his return is delayed, Duke has proven it can win without its superstar freshman. In fact, Knueppel stole the spotlight and won the tournament MVP award. Without Brown, Khaman Maluach and Patrick Ngongba took on larger roles in the paint.
Duke showed off its depth, reminding the selection committee and college basketball fans that there’s more than just two top players on the Blue Devils roster. And it should help cement their case for that No. 1 overall seed.
“I think the thing I told them, though, you don’t have to try to do anything special, you just have to do the simple things really well and then those special plays will naturally happen,” Scheyer said. “I thought that’s exactly what happened for Khaman and Kon and some of our other guys tonight.”
ACC Basketball All-Tournament First Team
- Kon Knueppel, Duke (MVP)
- Khaman Maluach, Duke
- Terrence Edwards Jr., Louisville
- Chucky Hepburn, Louisville
- Andrej Stojakovic, California
ACC Basketball All-Tournament Second Team
- Chase Hunter, Clemson
- Ian Schieffelin, Clemson
- Tyrese Proctor, Duke
- Duncan Powell, Georgia Tech
- Ven-Allen Lubin, North Carolina
All-Tournament teams were voted by members of the media in attendance during the ACC Championship game.