WASHINGTON — It must be March.
North Carolina State clinched a surprise conference championship with an 84-76 victory over North Carolina on Saturday night, stealing a spot in the NCAA Tournament ahead of Selection Sunday.
The Wolfpack, which had lost seven of its last nine regular-season games, came to Washington as the No. 10 seed in the ACC Tournament, needing to win five games in five days to extend its season. Duke's upset, overtime win over Virginia and Saturday night's squelching of the Tar Heels managed to do just that.
NC State last won the ACC Tournament in 1987 under legendary coach Jim Valvano.
“Everybody expected it to be Carolina and Duke,” Wolfpack coach Kevin Keatts said Friday. “Well, it's Carolina and NC State. We play good basketball at NC State, too.”
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The Wolfpack was led by fifth-year guard DJ Horn, who scored 29 points on 9-of-15 shooting while leading the foul trouble for much of the second half. He fouled out with a minute left.
DJ Burns Jr., listed at 275 pounds, finished with 20 points, seven assists and four rebounds.
With the win, NC State caused some confusion in the NCAA Tournament field less than 24 hours before the bracket was revealed. The Wolfpack are expected to join North Carolina, Duke and Clemson in the field as ACC teams; Its victory would spell disaster for Virginia, one of the bubble's key teams.
Contact Tom Schad at [email protected] or on social media @Tom_Schad.
