Quarterfinals Recap of the 2024 ACC Tournament
Washington - As we enter the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament today, there are lots of exciting games to be played. In the first game of the afternoon, Florida State (#9) will take on the favorite to win the tournament, North Carolina (#1). Next, Wake Forest (#5) and Pittsburgh (#4) will duel it out. The winner of this game will most likely make the NCAA tournament and the loser will not. After that, NC State (#10) will look to win their third game of the tournament when they face the Duke Blue Devils (#2). In the final matchup of the day, Boston College (#11) will look to upset an inconsistent and dangerous Virginia Cavaliers (#3) squad.
Florida State (#9) vs. North Carolina (#1)
The Tar Heels put a beatdown on Florida State as they won 92-67. The Seminoles just came off a huge win against Virginia Tech in the second round of the tournament. They ran into the juggernaut of the ACC in the third round and simply couldn’t compete for all 40 minutes. North Carolina pulled away at the end of the first half, winning by double digits at the end of the half. It was easy for the Tar Heels to get second-chance points as they grabbed 12 offensive rebounds and outrebounded Florida State 22-6 in total in the first half. The Seminoles looked defeated coming back to start the second half and stopped competing as North Carolina dominated the rest of the game. It was a total team performance as they had 11 players score on the afternoon.
Wake Forest (#5) vs. Pittsburgh (#4)
This game will make or break both of these teams' seasons as the winner will advance to the next round and the NCAA tournament. The loser is most likely to fall short of making the NCAA tournament. Neither team got off to a particularly hot start as both defenses came ready to play. After the under 16-minute media timeout, both teams shook off the jitters and started heating up. The high level of intensity was felt through the TV as the Demon Deacons head coach, Steve Forbes, was given a technical foul early for arguing a missed call. Pitt used this to generate momentum and build a 12-point lead heading into the break.
The momentum quickly changed in favor of the Demon Deacons as they started forcing turnovers and scoring off of them. That did not last long though. Blake Hinson took over the game as he scored 20 points. Wake Forest did not bow down though as they started to hit some three-point shots, specifically Hunter Sallis. Pitt led by 19 at one point in the second half but that did not stop Wake from coming back down the stretch. Both teams were in the double bonus with 5:04 left to play so there were lots of stoppages which only led to an increase in intensity. The biggest difference in the game was clearly the bench points discrepancy as the Panthers had 39, led by Ishmael Leggett with 30 points. Wake Forest did not have a single point off the bench. This all resulted in the Panthers gaining their most important win of the season, 81-69.
NC State (#10) vs. Duke (#2)
Duke got off to an extremely slow start considering how explosive their offense is. They only managed to score four points through the first six and a half minutes of the game. Credit to NC State as they looked like the fresher team which is ironic considering this is their third game in three days. Duke picked up their pace of play which generated transition points and three-point opportunities. They narrowed down the lead to three points at the end of the first half with the score being 35-32.
Mohamed Diarra is the unsung hero of this Wolfpack team. He doesn’t fill up the box score every night but continues to make the hustle plays that are essential for any team to win. He did finish with a double-double of 14 points, and 16 rebounds. Even with winning all the hustle plays, Duke swarmed back to narrow the deficit after they were down double digits. Kyle Filipowski led the attack by scoring in the paint and relentlessly grabbing rebounds. In the final moments of the game, Ben Middlebrooks, center for the Wolfpack, missed a wide-open dunk and received a technical foul for hanging on the rim trying to rebound the ball in which you could hear the crowd gasp in shock. In the end, the combination of Horne and Diarra proved to be too much to handle as the Wolfpack generated the upset over the Blue Devils, 74-69.
Boston College (#11) vs. Virginia (#3)
This game has the potential to be the ACC game of the year. Boston College continued their hot shooting from their prior performance in the second round. Claudell Harris Jr. picked up where he left off as he scored a quick nine points, going three for three from three-point range. Virginia started to slow down the pace which benefits their scheme and they started to slowly minimize the Eagles’ lead. The Cavaliers went on an 8-0 run that ran over four minutes to take the lead back. Boston College quickly responded by nailing a couple of three-pointers. In a high-scoring first half to Virginia standards, they trailed 35-29.
Reece Beekman and Taine Murray took it up upon themselves to put Virginia back on top. Both guards came out super aggressive and attacked the paint. Fortunately for BC, they have a game wrecker of their own in Quinten Post. He kept on answering for the Eagles after the Cavaliers kept on marching back. The last few minutes of the game carried lots of emotion as Virginia kept getting to the free-throw line but couldn’t always convert. Jacob Groves knocked down two free throws to take the lead with less than 30 seconds left but Mason Madsen knocked down a long two-point shot as time expired to send the game into overtime.
In the overtime period, Boston College struggled to score against the ferocious defense of the Cavaliers. Virginia’s Isaac McKneely knocked down a three in their first possession of OT but failed to score again until the two-minute mark. It didn’t matter as the Eagles simply couldn’t score. Virginia won in typical Virginia fashion, 66-60.
