Tar Heels begin ACC women’s tournament play Thursday; win earns rematch with Duke

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.

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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 Tournament

Greensboro Coliseum
Final on ESPN; all other games on ACC Network
Wednesday’s first round
No. 12-seed Wake Forest 68, vs. No. 13-seed Virginia (15–15) 57
No. 10 Clemson 71, No. 15 Pittsburgh (10–20) 53
No. 11 Boston College 62, No. 14 Georgia Tech (13–16) 57
Thursday’s second round
Wake Forest 65, No. 5 Florida State (23–9) 54
No. 8 N.C. State 83, No. 9 Syracuse (18–12) 58
No. 7 North Carolina 68, vs. Clemson (17–14) 58
No. 6 Miami 84, vs. Boston College (16–16) 69
Friday’s quarterfinals
No. 4 Louisville 74, Wake Forest (16–16) 48
No. 1 Notre Dame 66, N.C. State (20–11) 60
No. 2 Duke 44, North Carolina (21–10) 40
No. 3 Virginia Tech 68, Miami (19–11) 42
Saturday’s semifinals
Louisville 64, Notre Dame (25–5) 38
Virginia Tech 58, Duke (25–6) 37
Sunday’s final
Virginia Tech (26–4) 75, Louisville (23–11) 67


ACC standings

TeamLeagueOverall
No. 10 Notre Dame15–324–4
No. 11 Duke14–424–5
No. 9 Virginia Tech14–424–4
No. 23 Florida State12–623–8
Louisville12–621–10
No. 22 North Carolina11–720–9
Miami11–718–11
N.C. State9–919–10
Syracuse9–918–11
Clemson7–1116–14
Boston College5–1315–16
Wake Forest5–1314–15
Virginia4–1415–14
Georgia Tech4–1413–16
Pittsburgh3–1510–19


Thursday’s results
No. 9 Virginia Tech 61, No. 22 North Carolina 59
No. 10 Notre Dame 76, Georgia Tech 53
No. 23 Florida State 61, Wake Forest 60
Syracuse 85, Pittsburgh 55
Louisville 71, Miami 50
Clemson 79, Virginia 69
No. 11 Duke 77, N.C. State 62
Sunday’s results
No. 22 North Carolina 45, No. 11 Duke 41
No. 10 Notre Dame 68, Louisville, noon, ESPN3
Miami 84, Virginia 75
Boston College 73, Wake Forest 63
Clemson 74, No. 23 Florida State 61
N.C. State 68, Pittsburgh at 63
No. 9 Virginia Tech 65, Georgia Tech 52
End of regular season


DateMonth/dayTime/scoreOpponent/event
(current ranking)
LocationRecord
November
9WednesdayW, 91–59Jackson StateHome1–0
12SaturdayW, 75–48TCUHome2–0
16WednesdayW, 93–25South Carolina StateHome3–0
20SundayW, 76–65James MadisonHarrisonburg, Va.4–0
Phil Knight Invitational
24ThursdayW, 85–79OregonPortland5–0
27SundayW, 73–64No. 17 Iowa State Portland6–0
DecemberACC/Big Ten Challenge
1ThursdayL, 87–63No. 2 IndianaBloomington, Ind.6–1
7WednesdayW, 64–42UNCWHome7–1
11SundayW, 99–67WoffordHome8–1
16FridayW, 89–47USC UpstateHome9–1
Jumpman Invitational
20TuesdayL, 76–68No. 18 MichiganCharlotte9–2
ACC season begins
29ThursdayL, 78–71Florida StateHome9–3, 0–1 ACC
January
1SundayL, 68–65No. 4
Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, Va.9–4, 0–2 ACC
5ThursdayL, 62–58MiamiCoral Gables, Fla.9–5, 0–3 ACC
8SundayW, 60–50No. 10
Notre Dame
Home10–5,
1–3 ACC
12ThursdayW, 70–59VirginiaCharlottesville, Va.11–5,
2–3 ACC
15SundayW, 56–47N.C. StateHome12–5,
3–3 ACC
19ThursdayW, 61–56No. 13 DukeHome13–5,
4–3 ACC
22SundayW, 70–57Georgia TechHome14–5,
5–3 ACC
26ThursdayW, 72–57PittsburghPittsburgh15–5,
6–3 ACC
29SundayW, 69–58ClemsonClemson16–5,
7–3 ACC
February
2ThursdayW, 73–62VirginiaHome17–5,
8–3 ACC
5SundayL, 62–55LouisvilleLouisville17–6,
8–4 ACC
9ThursdayL, 75–67SyracuseSyracuse17–7,
8–5 ACC
12SundayW, 73–55Boston CollegeHome18–7,
9–5 ACC
16ThursdayL, 77–66, OTN.C. StateRaleigh18–8,
9–6 ACC
19SundayW, 71–58Wake ForestHome19–8,
10–6 ACC
23ThursdayL, 61–59No. 4
Virginia Tech
Home19–9,
10–7 ACC
26SundayW, 45–41No. 13 DukeDurham20–9,
10–8 ACC
MarchACC Tournament
2ThursdayW, 68–58Clemson Greensboro21–9
3FridayL, 44–40No. 13 Duke Greensboro21–10
NCAA tournament
18SaturdayW, 61–59 St. John’sColumbus, Ohio22–10
20MondayL, 71–69No. 12 Ohio State Columbus, Ohio22–11

Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics Communications

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