ACC Roundup – The Wolfpack Lets One Get Away At Notre Dame

CLEMSON, SC - FEBRUARY 28: Clemson Tigers guard Dillon Hunter (2) reacts to a three point shot being made during a college basketball game between the Louisville Cardinals and the Clemson Tigers on February 28, 2026 at Littlejohn Coliseum in Clemson, S.C. (Photo by John Byrum/Icon Sportswire via Get

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What is the story about?

In Saturday’s ACC Action, UNC topped Virginia Tech, 89-82; Clemson handled Louisville, 80-75; NC State bowed to Notre Dame in overtime, 96-90; Florida State got by Georgia Tech, 80-71; Miami hammered BC, 76-54; Pitt stunned Cal, 72-56; Wake Forest nipped Syracuse, 88-83; and Stanford spanked SMU, 95-75.

NC State stuff, meet Will Wade. Will Wade, NC State stuff.

We wondered how the Irish would respond to Duke’s historic butt-whipping, and we have to say: pretty well.

NC State never trailed, but Braeden

Shrewsberry hit a three to cut the lead to two with about 2:00 to play in regulation. Jalen Haralson finally tied the score with :19 left to play and the game went into OT.

Notre Dame outscored the Wolfpack 15-9 in OT to secure the win.

Other teams will take notice of how poorly State responded when the Irish went to a zone late.

Cole Certa, who has been killing it since hitting for 34 against Virginia on January 27, had 34 against State. Haralson finished with 25 while Braeden Shrewsberry got 16.

It’s a really bad loss in a number of ways. First, State is less likely to get a double-bye in the ACC Tournament, but second, it’s another terrible defensive performance, and State has had several of those lately. This probably means they’ll be in a surly mood when Duke visits on Monday.

It appears that UNC is closer to getting Caleb Wilson back, not that it has mattered very much: the Tar Heels are 4-1 without him. He’s been photographed without his cast, so he’s not too far away.

Henri Veesaar finished with 26 points and 7 rebounds. Interestingly, he hasn’t rebounded all that well since Wilson was injured. Seth Trimble added 20. Zayden High continues his recent surge with 12 points and 5 rebounds.

Neoklis Avdalas led the Hokies with 19. Tobi Lawal and Ben Hammond had 16. Jaden Schutt had 9 off the bench, all on threes.

Virginia Tech shot 39% from deep and 50% overall.

Clemson snapped out of its 4-game losing streak with the win over Louisville. In fairness, Mikel Brown is having back issues again and played poorly. He came off the bench to shoot 2-10 for just 5 points.

Louisville didn’t shoot very well, just 28% from deep and 45% overall.

Clemson shot a little better, hitting 38% from the bonusphere and 49% overall. However, Clemson had 34 trips to the line as opposed to 12 for the Cardinals. The Tigers won that battle, 24-7, and with it, the game.

Clemson had a 15-point lead with 1:08 left and Louisville showed some heart cutting into that, but too little, too late. Did you know that Louisville doesn’t have a Quad 1 win at all?

Somewhat like Kansas, Louisville’s season has been defined by the availability of a talented freshman. Hopefully, Brown gets himself sorted out.

No surprise that Florida State took down Georgia Tech, but did you know the ‘Noles hadn’t won there since 2019? That was a bit of a surprise.

Thomas Bassong had 14 points and 12 rebounds to help FSU pull it off. Robert McCray led with 20. Baye Ndongo’s strange deterioration continues: he had 5 fouls in 16 minutes, didn’t score, but did get 6 rebounds.

Jaeden Mustaf has improved lately and got 16 here.

Miami went on a 30-6 run in the first half against Boston College, and a 30-6 run is usually decisive. BC was up 13-6 when it started and at halftime, was down 36-19. Pretty devastating.

Ernest Udeh had a double-double for Miami, which we haven’t seen a whole lot. Malik Reneau is arguably Miami’s best player and BC held him to 8. Same for Shelton Henderson. Even so, Miami romped.

Fun note: Jai Lucas gives the best player of the game a Jason mask (from the Friday the 13th movies). Miami students have started showing up at games with them.

We didn’t think that Pitt would win at Cal, but the Panthers got it done with defense. Not only that, Pitt led the entire way. It was a really good win for Pitt, even if it was too little, too late: the Panthers are just 11-18.

It was a damaging loss for Cal, a team that still has tournament hopes.

Pitt forced 16 turnovers. Cameron Corhen and Nojus Indrusaitis led the way with 16 each. Only Lee Dort (10) and Dai Dai Ames (11) got to double figures for Cal.

Wake Forest’s problem all season has been a lack of inside play, but when the perimeter is hot, it doesn’t matter as much, and Saturday, Myles Colvin blew up for 32, hitting 9-12/7-8. Juke Harris, who has been on a tear, shot 4-15/1-6 for 13, so good for Colvin.

Donnie Freeman had 28 for the ‘Cuse and Nate Kingz had 13.

Both teams are 15-14 after the game and there is a lot of pressure on Adrian Autry and a bit on Steve Forbes as well, who has yet to make the NCAA tournament and is unlikely to this year, unless the Deacs win the ACC Tournament, which seems like a long shot.

Syracuse has lost three straight and hasn’t won a road game since January 10th.

Stanford’s backcourt of Ebuka Okorie and Benny Gealer racked up 52 points. And in a bit of a twist, Gealer went off, hitting for 30. He shot 8-12/7-11 while Okorie managed 6-10/1-2.

SMU’s backcourt did well too: Boopie Miller hit for 26 and Jaron Pierre got 21.

The Mustangs got just 2 points from the bench and only 4 rebounds.

It was a bad loss for SMU’s tourney hopes, needless to say.

No games until Monday when Duke visits NC State.