WASHINGTON The basketball team from NC State has won the ACC Tournament for the first time in 37 years. The Wolfpack won 84-76 against No. 4 UNC at Capital One Arena to become the first team in the Atlantic Conference to win five straight games and guarantee the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Against UNC, the Wolfpack led by double digits in the second half. Here are some highlights from NC State’s championship-winning win.
“It’s a miracle that NC State won five games in five nights,” a tearful Kevin Keatts stated. “We’ve got to get some rest because, guess what, we’re going to the NCAA tournament.”Despite foul trouble, Horne played 32 minutes and looked great, matching UNC’s unanimous ACC Player of the Year, RJ Davis, who scored 30 points.
For the first time since 1987, when it was held in Landover, Maryland, outside of Washington, DC, under Jim Valvano, Keatts’ Wolfpack (22-14) won the ACC tournament. Keatts had stated on numerous occasions that his team was one of many that needed to win the conference tournament to qualify for the NCAAs.That one happened similarly: it was against the top-seeded Tar Heels, who had defeated the Wolfpack twice in the regular season, exactly like this year.
