By R.L. Bynum
As No. 1 seed, No. 7-ranked North Carolina opens play at the ACC tournament with a quarterfinal game on Thursday at Washington’s Capital One Arena.
The Tar Heels (25–6, 16–3 ACC) play at noon against the winner of the noon Wednesday second-round game between No. 8-seed Virginia Tech (18–13, 10–10) and No. 9-seed Florida State (16–15, 10–10).
UNC won its regular-season games against both, winning at home against the Seminoles on Dec. 2 78–70 and at Florida State 75–68 on Jan. 27 and beating Virginia Tech on Feb. 17 in Chapel Hill 96–81.
The last time the event was held in that arena was in 2016. In what was then called the Verizon Center, a UNC team that made the NCAA championship game beat Virginia 61–57 in the ACC tournament final.
The tournament opens Tuesday with three games. No. 12-seed Notre Dame (12–19, 7–13) faces No. 13 Georgia Tech (12–19, 7–13) in the opener at 2 p.m. No. 10 N.C. State (17–14, 9–11) plays No. 15 Louisville (8–23, 3–17) at 4:30 p.m., and No. 11 Boston College (17–14, 8–12) takes on No. 14 Miami (15-16, 6-14) in the final game at 7 p.m.
With a win on Thursday, UNC would play in a 7 p.m. semifinal on Friday night against the winner of the 2:30 Wednesday quarterfinal. In that game, No. 4-seed Pittsburgh (21–10, 12–8) will play either No. 5-seed Wake Forest (19–12, 11–9), Notre Dame or Georgia Tech.
The Tar Heels won their only regular-season games against Pittsburgh (70–57 on the road Jan. 2), Wake Forest (85–64 in Chapel Hill on Jan. 22) and Notre Dame (84–51 on March 5) but lost to the Yellow Jackets 74–73 in Atlanta on Jan. 30.
No. 2-seed and No. 9-ranked Duke (24–7, 15–5) plays at 7 p.m. Thursday against the winner of the 7 p.m. Wednesday game. In that game, No. 7-seed Syracuse (20–11, 11–9) will face either N.C. State or Louisville.
No. 3-seed Virginia (22–9, 13–7) plays in the final quarterfinal at 9:30 against the winner of Wednesday’s 9:30 second-round game. That contest will match No. 6-seed Clemson (21–10, 11–9) against either Boston College or Miami.
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ACC tournament
Spectrum Center | Charlotte
Tuesday’s first round
No. 15 Pittsburgh 64, No. 10 Stanford 63
No. 11 SMU 86, No. 14 Syracuse 69
No. 13 Wake Forest 95, No. 12 Virginia Tech 89, OT
Wednesday’s second round
No. 7 N.C. State 98, Pittsburgh 88
No. 6 (No. 24 ranked) Louisville 62, SMU 58
No. 8 Florida State 95, No. 9 California 89
No. 5 Clemson 71, Wake Forest 62
Thursday’s quarterfinals
No. 2 (No. 10 ranked) Virginia 81, N.C. State 74
No. 3 Miami 78, Louisville 73
No. 1 (No. 1 ranked) Duke 80, Florida State 79
Clemson 80, No. 4 (No. 19 ranked) North Carolina 79
Friday’s semifinals
Virginia 84, Miami 62
Duke 73, Clemson 61
Saturday’s championship
Duke 74, Virginia 70
| Date | Month/day | Scores | Opponent/event (current ranks) | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October | ||||
| 24 | Friday | L, 78–76 | vs. BYU in SLC | Exhib. |
| 29 | Wednesday | W, 95–53 | vs. Winston-Salem St. | Exhib. |
| November | ||||
| 3 | Monday | W, 94–54 | vs. Central Arkansas | 1–0 |
| 7 | Friday | W, 87–74 | vs. No. 17 Kansas | 2–0 |
| 11 | Tuesday | W, 89–74 | vs. Radford | 3–0 |
| 14 | Friday | W, 97–53 | vs. N.C. Central | 4–0 |
| 18 | Tuesday | W, 73–61 | vs. Navy | 5–0 |
| Fort Myers Tip-Off | ||||
| 25 | Tuesday | W, 85–70 | vs. St. Bonaventure | 6–0 |
| 27 | Thursday | L, 74–58 | vs. No. 11 Michigan State | 6–1 |
| December | ACC/SEC Men’s Challenge | |||
| 2 | Tuesday | W, 67–64 | at Kentucky | 7–1 |
| ————————— | ||||
| 7 | Sunday | W, 81–61 | vs. Georgetown | 8–1 |
| 13 | Saturday | W, 80–62 | vs. USC Upstate | 9–1 |
| 16 | Tuesday | W, 77–58 | vs. ETSU | 10–1 |
| CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta | ||||
| 20 | Saturday | W, 71–70 | vs. Ohio State | 11–1 |
| ————————— | ||||
| 22 | Monday | W, 99–51 | vs. East Carolina | 12–1 |
| 30 | Tuesday | W, 79–66 | vs. Florida State | 13–1, 1–0 ACC |
| January | ||||
| 3 | Saturday | L, 97–83 | at SMU | 13–2, 1–1 |
| 10 | Saturday | W, 87–84 | vs. Wake Forest | 14–2, 2–1 |
| 14 | Wednesday | L, 95–90 | at Stanford | 14–3, 2–2 |
| 17 | Saturday | L, 84–78 | at California | 14–4, 2–3 |
| 21 | Wednesday | W, 91–69 | vs. Notre Dame | 15–4, 3–3 |
| 24 | Saturday | W, 85–80 | at No. 9 Virginia | 16–4, 4–3 |
| 31 | Saturday | W, 91–75 | at Georgia Tech | 17–4, 5–3 |
| February | ||||
| 2 | Monday | W, 87–77 | vs. Syracuse | 18–4, 6–3 |
| 7 | Saturday | W, 71–68 | vs. No. 1 Duke | 19–4, 7–3 |
| 10 | Tuesday | L, 75–66 | at No. 25 Miami | 19–5, 7–4 |
| 14 | Saturday | W, 79–65 | vs. Pittsburgh | 20–5, 8–4 |
| 17 | Tuesday | L, 82–58 | at N.C. State | 20–6, 8–5 |
| 21 | Saturday | W, 77–64 | at Syracuse | 21–6, 9–5 |
| 23 | Monday | W, 77–74 | vs. Louisville | 22–6, 10–5 |
| 28 | Saturday | W, 89–82 | vs. Virginia Tech | 23–6, 11–5 |
| March | ||||
| 3 | Tuesday | W, 67–63 | vs. Clemson | 24–6, 12–5 |
| 7 | Saturday | L, 76–61 | at No. 1 Duke | 24–7, 12–6 |
| 10–14 | Tues.-Sat. | ACC tournament | Spectrum Center, Charlotte | |
| 12 | Thursday | L, 80–79 | Quarterfinals: vs. Clemson | 24–8 |
| NCAA tournament | ||||
| 19 | Thursday | L, 82–78, OT | First round: vs. VCU in Greenville, S.C. | 24–9 |
Photo via @UNC_Basketball
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