By R.L. Bynum
After sweeping No. 11 Duke in the regular season, No. 22 North Carolina is a win away from taking on the Blue Devils at the ACC tournament in Greensboro for their third meeting this season.
The No. 7-seed Tar Heels (20–9, 11–7 ACC) will need to win a second-round game to make that happen. They play at the Greensboro Coliseum at 6 p.m. Thursday against the winner of Wednesday’s 3:30 first-round game between No. 15-seed Pittsburgh (10–29, 3–15) and No. 10 Clemson (16–14, 7–11).
“I know these guys are ready for March,” UNC coach Courtney Banghart said. “We’ve been through it a little bit.”
UNC won its only meeting with both in successive road games, beating the Panthers 72–57 on Jan. 26 and the Tigers 69–58 on Jan. 29.
The Blue Devils (24–5, 14–4) came into Sunday with a chance to win the regular-season title with a win over Carolina. After UNC won 45–41, Duke still had an opportunity to share the regular-season title, but Notre Dame earned it outright with a 68–65 win at Louisville.
If UNC prevails on Thursday, it will face No. 2-seed Duke at 6 p.m. in Friday’s quarterfinals.
Banghart’s reaction to that possibility? “Awesome,” she said. “Can’t wait.”
Pittsburgh-Clemson is one of three first-round matchups on Wednesday, beginning with No. 12 seed Wake Forest (14–15) vs. No. 13 seed Virginia (15–14) at 1 p.m. In the third game, No. 14 Georgia Tech (13–15) meets No. 11 Boston College (15–16) at 6:30.

In the other three second-round games on Thursday, No. 5 Florida State (23–8) meets the Wake Forest-Virginiah winner at 11 a.m., No. 9 Syracuse (18–11) faces No. 8 N.C. State (19–10) at 2 p.m. and No. 6 Miami (18–11) takes on the BC-Georgia Tech winner at 8:30.
In the other three quarterfinals on Friday, No. 4 Louisville (21–10) takes on Thursday’s 11 a.m. winner at 11 a.m., No. 1 Notre Dame (24–4) meets the State-Syracuse winner at 2 p.m. and No. 3 Virginia Tech (23–4) meets the 8:30 Thursday winner at 8:30.
In Saturday’s semifinals, the Friday afternoon winners play at noon and the Friday night winners play at 2:30. That means a 2:30 game for UNC if it makes the semifinals.
The championship game is at 1 p.m. Sunday on ESPN, with all other games airing on ACC Network.

ACC standings
ACC standings
Team | League | Overall | NET |
---|---|---|---|
No. 6 Notre Dame | 16–2 | 25–4 | 4 |
No. 7 N.C. State | 16–2 | 24–5 | 19 |
No. 11 Duke | 14–4 | 23–7 | 7 |
No. 14 North Carolina | 13–5 | 25–6 | 18 |
No. 22 Florida State | 13–5 | 23–7 | 23 |
Louisville | 13–5 | 20–9 | 36 |
California | 12–6 | 24–7 | 39 |
Georgia Tech | 9–9 | 21–9 | 29 |
Virginia Tech | 9–9 | 18–11 | 48 |
Virginia | 8–10 | 16–14 | 75 |
Stanford | 8–10 | 16–13 | 49 |
Boston College | 6–12 | 15–16 | 70 |
Clemson | 6–12 | 13–16 | 65 |
Syracuse | 6–12 | 12–17 | 91 |
Pittsburgh | 5–13 | 13–18 | 141 |
Miami | 4–14 | 14–15 | 82 |
SMU | 2–16 | 10–20 | 124 |
Wake Forest | 2–16 | 9–20 | 98 |
Sunday’s games
Virginia 78, No. 14 North Carolina 75
No. 6 Notre Dame 72, Louisville 59
No. 7 N.C. State 69, SMU 45
Pittsburgh 79, Wake Forest 63
Virginia Tech 78, Clemson 76
Syracuse 82, Boston College 57
Stanford 87, Georgia Tech 82
California 81, Miami 61
No. 11 Duke 71, No. 22 Florida State 57
ACC tournament in Greensboro
Wednesday’s first round (ACC Network)
No. 12 Boston College (15–16) vs. No. 13 Syracuse (12–17), 1 p.m.
No. 10 Virginia (16–14) vs. No. 15 Pittsburgh (13–18), 3:30
No. 11 Stanford (16–13) vs. No. 14 Clemson (13–16), 6:30
Thursday’s second round (ACC Network)
No. 5 (No. 14 ranked) UNC (25–6) vs. BC-Syracuse winner, 11 a.m.
No. 8 Georgia Tech (21–9) vs. No. 9 Virginia Tech (18–11), 1:30
No. 7 California (24–7) vs. Virginia-Pittsburgh winner, 5 p.m.
No. 6 Louisville (20–9) vs. Stanford-Clemson winner, 7:30
Friday’s quarterfinals
No. 4 (No. 22 ranked) Florida State (23–7) vs. UNC, BC or Syracuse, 11 a.m., ESPN2
No. 1 (No. 7 ranked) N.C. State (24–5) vs. Georgia Tech-Virginia Tech winner, 1:30, ACC Network
No. 2 (No. 6 ranked) Notre Dame (25–4) vs. California, Virginia or Pittsburgh, 5 p.m., ESPN2
No. 3 (No. 11 ranked) Duke (23–7) vs. Louisville, Stanford or Clemson, 7:30, ACC Network
Saturday’s semifinals (ESPN2)
Winners of first two quarterfinals, noon
Winners of last two quarterfinals, 2:30
Sunday’s championship
Semifinal winners, 1 p.m., ESPN

Date | Month/day | Time/score | Opponent/event (current ranking) | Location | Record |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
November | |||||
9 | Wednesday | W, 91–59 | Jackson State | Home | 1–0 |
12 | Saturday | W, 75–48 | TCU | Home | 2–0 |
16 | Wednesday | W, 93–25 | South Carolina State | Home | 3–0 |
20 | Sunday | W, 76–65 | James Madison | Harrisonburg, Va. | 4–0 |
Phil Knight Invitational | |||||
24 | Thursday | W, 85–79 | Oregon | Portland | 5–0 |
27 | Sunday | W, 73–64 | No. 17 Iowa State | Portland | 6–0 |
December | ACC/Big Ten Challenge | ||||
1 | Thursday | L, 87–63 | No. 2 Indiana | Bloomington, Ind. | 6–1 |
7 | Wednesday | W, 64–42 | UNCW | Home | 7–1 |
11 | Sunday | W, 99–67 | Wofford | Home | 8–1 |
16 | Friday | W, 89–47 | USC Upstate | Home | 9–1 |
Jumpman Invitational | |||||
20 | Tuesday | L, 76–68 | No. 18 Michigan | Charlotte | 9–2 |
ACC season begins | |||||
29 | Thursday | L, 78–71 | Florida State | Home | 9–3, 0–1 ACC |
January | |||||
1 | Sunday | L, 68–65 | No. 4 Virginia Tech | Blacksburg, Va. | 9–4, 0–2 ACC |
5 | Thursday | L, 62–58 | Miami | Coral Gables, Fla. | 9–5, 0–3 ACC |
8 | Sunday | W, 60–50 | No. 10 Notre Dame | Home | 10–5, 1–3 ACC |
12 | Thursday | W, 70–59 | Virginia | Charlottesville, Va. | 11–5, 2–3 ACC |
15 | Sunday | W, 56–47 | N.C. State | Home | 12–5, 3–3 ACC |
19 | Thursday | W, 61–56 | No. 13 Duke | Home | 13–5, 4–3 ACC |
22 | Sunday | W, 70–57 | Georgia Tech | Home | 14–5, 5–3 ACC |
26 | Thursday | W, 72–57 | Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh | 15–5, 6–3 ACC |
29 | Sunday | W, 69–58 | Clemson | Clemson | 16–5, 7–3 ACC |
February | |||||
2 | Thursday | W, 73–62 | Virginia | Home | 17–5, 8–3 ACC |
5 | Sunday | L, 62–55 | Louisville | Louisville | 17–6, 8–4 ACC |
9 | Thursday | L, 75–67 | Syracuse | Syracuse | 17–7, 8–5 ACC |
12 | Sunday | W, 73–55 | Boston College | Home | 18–7, 9–5 ACC |
16 | Thursday | L, 77–66, OT | N.C. State | Raleigh | 18–8, 9–6 ACC |
19 | Sunday | W, 71–58 | Wake Forest | Home | 19–8, 10–6 ACC |
23 | Thursday | L, 61–59 | No. 4 Virginia Tech | Home | 19–9, 10–7 ACC |
26 | Sunday | W, 45–41 | No. 13 Duke | Durham | 20–9, 10–8 ACC |
March | ACC Tournament | ||||
2 | Thursday | W, 68–58 | Clemson | Greensboro | 21–9 |
3 | Friday | L, 44–40 | No. 13 Duke | Greensboro | 21–10 |
NCAA tournament | |||||
18 | Saturday | W, 61–59 | St. John’s | Columbus, Ohio | 22–10 |
20 | Monday | L, 71–69 | No. 12 Ohio State | Columbus, Ohio | 22–11 |
Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics Communications