Wolfpack Defeat Tar Heels To Win ACC Title

Courtesy GoPack.com

WASHINGTON D.C. – The NC State men’s basketball team stunned top-seed North Carolina, 84-76, in the championship game of the ACC Tournament to claim the program’s first title since 1987.

The win marked the first time that a double-digit seed took home the ACC Tournament trophy and the Pack became just the second team in the nation to win five games in five days since UConn did so in 2011. 

Graduate DJ Burns, Jr. earned tournament MVP for his performance while DJ Horne, Michael O’Connell, and Mohamed Diarra made the All-Tournament team. 

NC State shot 58.6 percent from the field in the first half.

The Pack came out of the gates on fire, knocking down five of its first six shots to jump out to a 14-4 lead.

NC State stayed in front until UNC went on a 12-2 run to take its first lead of the game, 30-28, on a pair of RJ Davis free throws with 4:50 left in the opening half.

The Pack responded with a mini 9-4 run to take a 37-34 lead with 2:17 to go, but UNC took the lead into halftime when Cormac Ryan drained a three-pointer before the halftime buzzer to send the Tar Heels into the locker room with a 40-39 halftime advantage.

DJ Horne led NC State with 13 first half points, but picked up his third foul late in the half. DJ Burns added 11 points and a season-high six assists in the first half.

The Pack led by as many as 12 in the second half and the Tar Heels only managed to tie the game on one occasion. 

With under four minutes to go, Horne made a pair of free throws to push the Pack ahead by 11 ultimately proving the lead to be too much for the Tar Heels to overcome. 

Four members of the Pack finished in double digits with Horne leading the way with 29 points, Burns had 20, Diarra added 11, and O’Connel had 10. 

Diarra also grabbed a game high 14 rebounds to record a double-double. 

The Wolfpack will learn its opponent for the first round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament during the Selection Show on Sunday March 17 and the show will air on CBS at 6 p.m.. The first and second round games will then be played Thursday, March 21 through Sunday, March 24 at the home courts of the top 16 seeds.