Day 3 at the ACC Tournament meant the top seeds finally hit the court for the quarterfinals.
Top-seeded Duke, No. 2 seed Virginia, No. 3 seed Miami and No. 4 seed North Carolina had two days of rest while the rest of the field played games Tuesday and Wednesday. All the teams that played Tuesday were eliminated, leaving only the top eight seeds to fill the eight quarterfinal slots.
Journalists from the News & Observer, Charlotte Observer and The State of Columbia, South Carolina, are on site at Spectrum Center covering the games and the surrounding festivities all week.
Here’s what we saw Thursday:
Clemson beats UNC
No. 5 seed Clemson claimed the final ACC Tournament semifinal berth late Thursday night by defeating No. 4 seed North Carolina, 80-79.
The Tigers (24-9) led 39-31 at halftime and pushed their lead as large as 18 in the second half. They led 73-58 with 3:36 to play when the Tar Heels unleashed a frantic comeback. UNC made its final five shots from the field and pulled within a point on Derek Dixon’s 3-pointer with 2.7 seconds left.
UNC fouled Nick Davidson with 2.4 seconds left. He missed the first attempt. When he missed the second, UNC had to attempt a half-court heave because it had no timeouts remaining. The shot fell well short, and the Tigers advanced.
Five Clemson players scored in double figures, led by Nick Davidson’s 17 points. Henri Veessar scored 28 points with 17 rebounds for UNC.
Cayden Boozer’s putback seals Duke’s nail-biting win over Florida State
It looked good. Almost too good.
Senior guard Lajae Jones took Duke freshman Dame Sarr one-on-one. Sarr slipped. Jones had enough separation to rise up for a clean stepback 3-pointer.
The ball bounced off the rim, sealing Duke’s 80-79 win.
Just a bit before that sequence, Cayden Boozer was responsible for one of the most consequential sequences of the night. His second-chance tip-in layup put Duke up to 80 points, giving the Blue Devils just enough padding to edge the Seminoles.
With the victory, Duke advances to the ACC Tournament semifinals and will face the winner of the Clemson-UNC game, which tips off at approximately 9:30 p.m.
Viral FSU staffers on a roll with successful challenges
They rose to fame suddenly Wednesday night.
In the first half of FSU’s win over Cal in the ACC Tournament second round, broadcast cameras caught Seminole staffers Michael Rubin (no, not that Michael Rubin) and Ryan Shnider celebrating a successful video review with a pretty sweet handshake. The clip soon went viral on social media.
Thursday night, the duo was on a roll again. Just five minutes into the second half against the Blue Devils, Florida State coach Luke Loucks had already run out of challenges. But it was well worth it. His staff — led by Shnider and Rubin — were responsible for two successful challenges, taking full advantage of the new NCAA challenge rule implemented this season.
Those overturned calls — along with plenty of production from Lajae Jones, Chauncey Wiggins and Robert McCray V — helped the Seminoles keep the game close for long stretches against the Blue Devils.
Update on Clemson’s Carter Welling
Clemson men’s basketball confirmed Thursday evening that starting forward Carter Welling tore his ACL Wednesday night against Wake Forest.
There’s “no timetable yet for Welling’s return,” per a school release. In other words, he’s out for the rest of the season.
Welling had an MRI earlier Thursday. It’s a tough break for him ahead of Thursday night’s matchup against UNC and with the NCAA Tournament around the corner.
This marks Clemson’s second season-ending torn ACL injury of the season. Freshman guard Zac Foster also tore his ACL in December.
Duke and Florida State close at the half
Isaiah Evans scored 22 points in the first half against Florida State, but Duke still entered halftime in a tight contest against the Seminoles. After 20 minutes of play, the Blue Devils trailed, 44-43.
FSU hit 46.7% of its 3-point attempts in the opening half, with Lajae Jones leading the Seminoles in scoring with 16 before the break.
Duke has dominated on the boards, outrebounding Florida State 26-11. The Blue Devils are also getting to the line with ease — attempting 20 free throws in the first half.
A note for those watching at home: Evans’ career-high 28 points came earlier this year against — you guessed it — Florida State. Evans blitzed the Seminoles on Jan. 3 with six triples, matching his career best for treys in a single game.
Duke will take all it can get from the Fayetteville native and Third Team All-ACC selectee as the Blue Devils look to gain some separation in the second half.
Duke’s Patrick Ngongba and Caleb Foster both arrive in boots
When Patrick Ngongba and Caleb Foster arrived with top-ranked Duke at the Spectrum Center on Thursday night, both of them rolled in on scooters to prop up their booted right feet.
The Blue Devils lost Foster, their starting point guard, to a broken right foot — an injury he suffered in Duke’s regular-season finale on Saturday. He will be out for an extended period of time and rolled in Thursday with a bulky black boot on his right foot.
Just ahead of him, Ngongba had a matching boot on his right foot — albeit a bit lighter — and also entered the Blue Devils’ visiting locker room on a scooter.
Duke’s coaching staff has offered a bit more optimism on Ngongba’s status for this ACC Tournament. The sophomore forward had been dealing with foot soreness that crept up in the win at N.C. State. He was listed as a game-time decision for the Blue Devils’ game against UNC on Saturday but ended up sitting out.
He’s being held out of the ACC Tournament with the intention of resting him for the NCAA Tournament.
“That’s our focus,” Scheyer said Tuesday. “We’re going to get him right so that he’s able to join us when we go for the real thing here in the NCAA Tournament.”
John Lucas II, Allen Iverson among the stars in attendance
John Lucas II was merely a spectator on Thursday afternoon, watching his son Jai Lucas coach No. 3 seed Miami to a 78-73 win over No. 6 seed Louisville, but the player and coach in him came out, too.
He stood up to protest calls. He gripped the railing in front of him during critical Hurricanes free throw attempts down the stretch. Finally, when the win was sealed, he threw both arms up in celebration and smiled.
“It’s different to see him in a different role,” Jai Lucas said after Miami’s win Thursday. “I mean, I’ve always been the one following him and being with him in the gym… now that he’s older, you just get to kind of see him love being around and just being a part of it.”
John Lucas II is a native of Durham who broke “Pistol” Pete Maravich’s state high school scoring record at Hillside High School before becoming the first point guard ever drafted first overall in the NBA in 1976. His playing career gave way to a legendary coaching career with stops in San Antonio, Philadelphia and Cleveland.
But he wasn’t the only NBA royalty at the Spectrum Center Thursday, as Allen Iverson sat courtside to watch the N.C. State-Virginia matchup at noon.
Miami defeats Louisville
Playing No. 6 seed Louisville for the second time in six days, Miami led the entire second half to complete a 78-73 win in Thursday’s second quarterfinal.
No. 3 seed Miami took a 44-41 lead to intermission and pushed it to as many as nine points in the second half on the way to gaining revenge after losing 92-89 at home to Louisville in last Saturday’s regular-season finale.
Malik Reneau scored 24 points to pace the Hurricanes (25-7) while Tru Washington added 17 points. Ryan Conwell scored 22 points to lead Louisville (23-10), which shot just 41.5% after halftime. The Cardinals committed 13 turnovers in the loss.
Virginia knocks out N.C. State
Unlike their regular-season meetings that turned lopsided, Virginia needed nearly every second of Thursday’s ACC Tournament quarterfinal game before subduing N.C. State, 81-74.
In the teams’ two regular-season meetings, Virginia won 76-61 and 90-61.
But Paul McNeil poured in 26 points, hitting 6 of 11 3-pointers, as the Wolfpack trailed by just four points in the final minute. McNeil’s 3-pointer with 27 seconds cut Virginia’s lead to 78-74. But the Cavaliers hit three free throws from there to close out the win.
Malik Thomas led Virginia (28-4) with 16 points while Thijs De Ridder added 15.
Ven-Allen Lubin had a solid game inside for the Wolfpack (20-13) with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
Will the Wolfpack upset?
N.C. State head coach Will Wade watched members of his and Virginia’s teams warm up prior to the Wolfpack-Cavaliers quarterfinal matchup.
In a brief, good-natured interaction, Wade didn’t exactly inspire confidence in his squad, which was blown out in the two regular season meetings.
“We’ve played Virginia twice, you know how it (expletive) looks,” he said, ribbing on his team.
Several bracketologists have N.C. State in the NCAA Tournament field after its win against Pittsburgh on Wednesday. They say a third loss to the Cavaliers shouldn’t do much, and an upset would likely only move the team up one seed line.
Why ACC changed tournament schedule
Traditionally, since the ACC adopted the 15-team tournament format a decade ago, the No. 1 team made its debut in the noon game on Thursday.
With Duke in the No. 1 slot again this season, the ACC and ESPN agreed to a flex option to set tournament times differently for quarterfinals and semifinals.
Thus, the top-seeded Blue Devils play Florida State at 7 p.m., followed by No. 4 seed North Carolina facing No. 5 seed Clemson.
The league’s logic, in conjunction with its television partner, is sound.
Duke is the most-watched team in the nation this season in terms of television audience. Three of the top-four most-watched games involved the Blue Devils, topped by Duke’s 80-71 win over Arkansas on Thanksgiving night that drew 6.8 million viewers on CBS
Duke’s 68-63 win over Michigan on Feb. 21 is No. 2 on the list, with 4.3 million tuning in. That’s the most-watched game on ESPN all season.
UNC was part of the second-largest television audience as 6.5 million people watched its 74-68 loss to Michigan State on Thanksgiving Day on FOX.
Of course, the two Duke-UNC battles are also among the top four television audiences, with 3.51 million watching the Tar Heels’ 71-68 win on Feb. 7 in Chapel Hill and 3.42 million tuning into ESPN for Duke’s 76-61 win at Cameron Indoor Stadium last Saturday night.
So, the Blue Devils and Tar Heels are in prime time tonight and, if they advance, would meet in a 9:30 p.m. game in Friday night’s semifinals.
That doesn’t mean Duke coach Jon Scheyer is happy about the new schedule.
“Proud of this win,” Scheyer said after the Blue Devils edge Florida State on Thursday. “We have to recover quickly. We’re not playing the noon game this year. We’re the only 1 seed not to be playing early in the country. But it’s a quick turnaround, and we’re going to work on keeping this thing going.”
ACC Tournament schedule
At Spectrum Center, Charlotte
Tuesday’s results
Game 1: Pittsburgh 64, Stanford 63
Game 2: SMU 86, Syracuse 69
Game 3: Wake Forest 95, Virginia Tech 89
Wednesday’s results
Game 4: N.C. State 98, Pittsburgh 88
Game 5: Louisville 62, SMU 58
Game 6: Florida State 95, California 89
Game 7: Clemson 71, Wake Forest 62
Thursday’s quarterfinals
Game 8: Virginia 81, N.C. State 74
Game 9: Miami 78, Louisville 73
Game 10: Duke 80, Florida State 79
Game 11: Clemson 80, North Carolina 79
Friday’s semifinals
No. 2 Virginia (28-4) vs. No. 3 Miami (25-7), 7 p.m. (ESPN2)
No. 1 Duke (30-2) vs. No. 5 Clemson (24-9), 9:30 p.m. (ESPN2)
Saturday’s game
Championship: 8:30 p.m. (ESPN)
This story was originally published March 12, 2026 at 11:53 AM.
Steve Wiseman was named Raleigh News & Observer and Durham Herald-Sun sports editor in May 2025. He covered Duke athletics, beginning in 2010, prior to his current assignment. In the Associated Press Sports Editors national contest, he placed in the top 10 in beat writing in 2019, 2021 and 2022, breaking news in 2019 and explanatory writing in 2018. Before coming to Durham in 2010, Steve worked for The State (Columbia, SC), Herald-Journal (Spartanburg, S.C.), The Sun Herald (Biloxi, Miss.), Charlotte Observer and Hickory (NC) Daily Record covering beats including the NFL’s Carolina Panthers and New Orleans Saints, University of South Carolina athletics and the S.C. General Assembly. He’s won numerous state-level press association awards. Steve graduated from Illinois State University in 1989.
