2021 ACC tournament live updates, scores, printable bracket and TV information
The ACC tournament started Tuesday at the Greensboro Coliseum, and we’re there to bring you everything you need to know.
If you’re looking for live scores and recaps of what happened Wednesday, we have you covered here. Below is the Tuesday recap, along with the updated bracket and schedule.
In the best game of the day — which happened to be the nightcap — Notre Dame led all of 1:22 of the 40 minutes, but the Irish were ahead when it mattered most.
Trey Wertz splashed a 3-pointer at the buzzer to lift No. 11 Notre Dame to an improbable 80-77 win over No. 14 Wake Forest, capping a 17-2 run to close out the game and sending the Demon Deacons packing after one day.
Wertz was 4-for-5 from beyond the arc and finished with a team-high 16 points for Notre Dame, which advances to face No. 6 North Carolina at 9 p.m. Wednesday on the ACC Network.
Miami beat Pitt in the first game of the day and moves on to play No. 5 Clemson at 2:30 p.m., Wednesday on the ACC Network.
Duke took care of business and handily dispatched Boston College. You can see the recap of that game here. The Blue Devils move on to face No. 7 Louisville at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday on the ACC Network.
And Wednesday will kick off with N.C. State battling Syracuse for the third time this season. The Wolfpack will be looking for its first win over the Orange.
The combined sports staffs of The News & Observer, The Herald-Sun and Charlotte Observer have nine journalists covering the games in Greensboro and remotely, and we’ll be providing live coverage throughout the week. You can find every score, news item, analysis, opinion, video, photos, the updated bracket and much more here throughout the tournament.
This story will be continuously updated throughout the day.
Duke 86, Boston College 51
Every member of the Duke roster got into the game and 11 different players scored as the Blue Devils trounced Boston College 86-51 on Tuesday to open up their ACC Tournament.
DJ Steward led the way for Duke (12-11) with 17 points. Mark Williams added 13 and Jordan Goldwire had 12.
Duke players combined to hit a season-high 15 3-pointers in the game and put things out of reach early. The Blue Devils are likely in a must-win-to-get-in scenario for the NCAA Tournament at this point, and as the No. 10 seed in the ACC Tournament, the road won’t be easy.
Duke advances to face No. 7 Louisville at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday in Greensboro.
Boston College ends its season at 4-16. The Eagles couldn’t gain any traction early and didnt have a single player reach double digits in points. Makai Ashton-Langford was their top scorer with nine.
Miami 79, Pittsburgh 73
Isaiah Wong scored 20 points to lead five Miami starters in double figures as the Hurricanes beat Pittsburgh 79-73 on Tuesday in the opening game of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament.
Nysier Brooks converted a three-point play with 53.8 seconds left — his only points of the half — to cap a 9-0 run for a three-possession lead at 73-66. Wong added four free throws in the final 29 seconds to seal it as Miami made 22 of 28 at the stripe compared to 5-of-14 shooting for Pitt.
Pitt also turned it over 14 times, leading to 22 Miami points.
Read more about Pitt-Miami here.
The Associated Press
How this year’s matchups came to be
For the third time in the last four seasons, Virginia is the ACC’s regular-season champion and will be the No. 1 seed for the ACC tournament.
After a surprising three-game losing streak knocked them out of first place last month, the Cavaliers climbed past Florida State Saturday on the regular season’s final day to finish atop the league standings.
Florida State (15-5, 11-4 ACC) suffered an 83-73 upset loss to Notre Dame on Saturday, opening a path for Virginia to vault back into first place. The Cavaliers (17-6, 13-4) clinched the top seed for next week’s league tournament in Greensboro by defeating Louisville, 68-58, on Saturday.
Louisville’s loss to Virginia also clinched the No. 3 seed for Virginia Tech (15-5, 9-4) as well as the No. 4 seed for Georgia Tech (15-8, 11-6) and the No. 5 seed for Clemson (16-6, 10-6).
North Carolina, Duke and N.C. State had to wait until the outcome of the Duke-UNC game Saturday night to learn their seeds.
By blasting Duke 91-73 in the final game of the ACC regular season, the Tar Heels (16-9, 10-6) earned themselves the No. 6 seed.
That result also dropped the Blue Devils (11-11, 9-9) to the No. 10 seed, the lowest seed Duke has had in ACC tournament history.
N.C. State (13-9, 9-8) vaulted ahead of Duke to claim the No. 9 seed and a bye into Wednesday’s second round. The Wolfpack will play No. 8 seed Syracuse (15-8, 9-7) at noon on Wednesday.
UNC tied with Clemson (16-6, 10-6) in the final standings. But the Tigers won the tiebreaker over UNC, having defeated the Tar Heels 63-50 on Feb. 2 in their lone meeting this season.
Louisville dropped to the No. 7 seed since UNC’s winning percentage in league play (.625) is better than the Cardinals (.615).
So the Tar Heels will open their ACC tournament play on Wednesday at 9 p.m. in the second round’s final game, playing the winner of Tuesday’s 7 p.m. first-round game between No. 11 seed Notre Dame (10-14, 7-11 ACC) and No. 14 seed Wake Forest (6-15, 3-15).
The ACC tournament’s first game will pair No. 12 seed Pittsburgh (10-11, 6-10) with No. 13 seed Miami (8-16, 4-15) at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday.
The second Tuesday game will feature No. 15 seed Boston College (4-15, 2-11) against the No. 10 seed Duke.
In addition to being saddled with its worst-ever ACC tournament seed, Duke finds itself in the rare position of not only in danger of missing its first NCAA tournament since 1995 but stuck with a seed outside the top five.
This is just the fifth time the Blue Devils have been outside of the tournament’s top five seeds since Mike Krzyzewski became their coach in 1980. The last time Duke was outside the top five was 2007 when it was No. 7.
The only other time Duke was seeded this low was in 1995 when it was No. 9. That’s the last season Duke finished with a losing record.
Here’s the daily schedule for the tournament:
ACC tournament schedule and scores
Tuesday’s first round
No. 13 Miami 79, No. 12 Pitt 73
No. 10 Duke 86, No. 15 Boston College 51
No. 11 Notre Dame 80, No. 14 Wake Forest 77
Wednesday’s second round
No. 8 Syracuse 89, No. 9 NC State 68
No. 13 Miami 67, No. 5 Clemson 64
Duke 70, No. 7 Louisville 56
No. 6 North Carolina vs. Notre Dame, 9 p.m., ACC Network
Thursday’s quarterfinals
No. 1 Virginia vs. No. 8 Syracuse, noon, ESPN or ESPN2
No. 4 Georgia Tech vs. No. 13 Miami, 2:30 p.m. ESPN or ESPN2
No. 2 Florida State vs. Duke, 6:30 p.m., ESPN or ESPN2
No. 3 Virginia Tech vs. UNC/Notre Dame winner, 9 p.m. ESPN or ESPN2
Friday’s semifinals
Games at 6:30 p.m. and 9 p.m., ESPN or ESPN2
Saturday’s championship
Game starts at 8:30 p.m., ESPN
Tuesday’s first round
No. 13 Miami 79, No. 12 Pitt 73
No. 10 Duke 86, No. 15 Boston College 51
No. 11 Notre Dame 80, No. 14 Wake Forest 77
Wednesday’s second round
No. 8 Syracuse vs. No. 9 NC State, noon, ACC Network
Miami 67, No. 5 Clemson 64
No. 7 Louisville vs. No. 10 Duke, 6:30 p.m., ACC Network
No. 6 North Carolina vs. Notre Dame, 9 p.m., ACC Network
Thursday’s quarterfinals
No. 1 Virginia vs. Syracuse/NC State winner, noon, ESPN or ESPN2
No. 4 Georgia Tech vs. Clemson, Pitt or Miami, 2:30 p.m. ESPN or ESPN2
No. 2 Florida State vs. Louisville, Duke or Boston College, 6:30 p.m., ESPN or ESPN2
No. 3 Virginia Tech vs. UNC, Notre Dame or Wake Forest, 9 p.m. ESPN or ESPN2
Friday’s semifinals
Games at 6:30 p.m. and 9 p.m., ESPN or ESPN2
Saturday’s championship
Game starts at 8:30 p.m., ESPN
This story was originally published March 9, 2021 at 1:15 PM.