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NC State Takes Down Virginia in OT Thriller

@SpectacularMag

WASHINGTON- Michael O’Connell kept NC State’s NCAA Tournament hopes alive by the slimmest of margins, banking in a wild 3-pointer at the buzzer to force overtime in a 73-65 victory over Virginia in the 2024 Atlantic Coast Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament semifinals Friday night.

The 10th-seeded Wolfpack (21-14, 9-11 ACC) are one victory from pulling off an epic five-wins-in-five-days run for the ACC’s automatic bid, and if they do it, they’ll remember this escape for a while. With the score 58-55, Isaac McKneely missed the front end of a 1-and-1 for Virginia. O’Connell rushed the ball up the left sideline and shot from in front of his team’s bench.

The shot banked off the glass, then rolled around the rim and in.

It was the second straight night a team made a shot at the buzzer against Virginia to force overtime, but on Thursday the Cavaliers were able to beat Boston College.

In overtime, it was the D.J. Burns Jr. show. Time and again, NC State would give the ball to the 6-foot-9, 275-pound post player, who would slowly back his way down, he and his defender repeatedly bouncing off each other. Burns scored seven points in overtime and 19 in the game on 8-of-11 shooting.

The Wolfpack take on top-seeded North Carolina for the tournament championship on Saturday night.

NC State shot 3-of-17 from 3-point range, but O’Connell made the one the Wolfpack needed, and the Cavaliers (23-10, 13-7 ACC) were done in by their poor free throw shooting.

With 1:10 remaining, Virginia had a five-point lead, and after a flagrant foul called on Burns, the Cavaliers got two shots and the ball. Reece Beekman missed both attempts though, and when he was fouled on the ensuing possession, Beekman made only one of two.

Then Ryan Dunn fouled a 3-point shooter, and Casey Morsell made all three free throws to cut the lead to three.

After a defensive stop, NC State had a chance to tie, but when Morsell missed a 3-pointer and McKneely rebounded, Virginia needed one free throw to ice the game. It never came.

Of Note

  • NC State advances to the ACC Tournament championship game for the 18th time in program history. The Wolfpack have a 10-7 record all-time in the title game.
  • NC State looks to win its first ACC Tournament championship since 1987, when the Wolfpack defeated North Carolina, 68-67, in Landover, Maryland.
  • The 10th-seeded Wolfpack will be the second-ever double-digit seed to play for an ACC Tournament title. In 2007, No. 10-seed NC State fell to top-seeded North Carolina, 89-80. NC State looks to become the first double-digit seed to ever win the ACC Tournament.
  • With their win, the Wolfpack becomes the first team to play five games in five days in the ACC Tournament.
  • No double-digit seed has ever won a Power Six conference tournament. On only five occasions has a double-digit seed reached the conference tournament finals (Big Ten, 3; ACC, 1; Big 12, 1).
  • The Wolfpack now have a 7-2 record all-time in ACC Tournament games played in Washington, D.C.
  • With the win, NC State boasts a 15-3 record all-time against Virginia in the ACC Tournament.
  • It was the second overtime meeting of the season between NC State and Virginia. The Cavaliers won the previous contest, 59-53, in Raleigh, North Carolina.
  • Led by 19 points from DJ Burns Jr., four members of the Wolfpack scored in double-figures.
  • For the third straight night, Mohamed Diarra recorded at least 12 rebounds.
  • Diarra has tallied 46 rebounds throughout the ACC Tournament, setting a tournament record for the first four games. His total surpassed the previous mark of 39 rebounds set by Derrick Favors of Georgia Tech in 2010.
  • Virginia became the first ACC team to play in back-to-back overtime games in the ACC Tournament since Boston College did so in 2022.
  • Since 1999, teams coming off an overtime win in the ACC Tournament are 3-14 in their next contest.
  • For the second straight night, Virginia’s Reece Beekman recorded a double-double with points and assists. He finished the evening with 17 points and 11 assists.
  • With 22 assists, Beekman set an ACC Tournament record for any player who played in only two games. The previous record of 20 was shared by Virginia’s John Johnson (1987), Maryland’s Steve Blake (2001) and Syracuse’s Symir Torrence (2022).

(Courtesy of the Atlantic Coast Conference)