Clemson Falls to No. 14 Duke, 79-72 in ACC Tournament

This will only be the second ever meeting between the teams in March.

The top-seeded Tar Heels, at +600 on the odds to win the NCAA Tournament, are now idle until Thursday, when they face the victor of Wednesday afternoon’s Miami vs. Syracuse first-round matchup at Barclays Center. Wins against Virginia, Miami, Louisville, Notre Dame and Duke make for an impressive regular-season résumé. But unfortunately, in league play, we just didn’t quite get it done.

Smith called his season “unfortunate”, but said he was not ready to announce whether he would be one-and-done as so many expect. They were a little bit short. We have a guy in Frank Jackson who’s not playing like a freshman anymore.

“I think that’s a heck of a performance when a player it isn’t going and then it goes that shows you’re a different player”.

But Luke Kennard made big shots down the stretch, and the No. 5 seed Blue Devils likely ended the 12th-seeded Tigers’ NCAA Tournament hopes with a 79-72 win.

After two baskets in the game’s opening minute, the Wolfpack went nearly 10 minutes without a field goal.

Tatum said not having those two with the Blue Devils was “a really big difference”. However, this Duke team isn’t incredibly deep. We have four really good scorers (meaning Tatum, Kennard, Jackson and Allen).

MT: Joel Berry, UNCMight seem like a odd pick but I see UNC going far in this and not only has Berry has led them in points the last couple games but he can take games over late.

“Monica Robinson has played with confidence and poise at No. 1 singles”, head coach Jay Louderback said. The Orange zone defense is always tough, especially against teams like Carolina that go inside first and shoot from outside second.

But after growing up during the regular season and notching wins against ranked conference foes like North Carolina, Virginia and Duke, the Hurricanes (20-10, 10-8) believe in themselves – and in their ability to make some noise in March, both in Brooklyn at the ACC Tournament and beyond.

“Watching’s not going to change the outcome of it”, Perrantes said. “We’ve got another chance, let’s put it that way”.

Allen refused to use his injuries as an excuse after the contest, noting that he simply needs to perform better. Kennard is this team’s heart beat. The Blue Devils (24-8) are set to play No. 8 Louisville on Thursday. The Heels just knocked off Duke in the season finale to finish 14-4 in conference play, earning the No. 1 seed for this ACC tournament. The Blue Devils have a tendency to commit fouls on that action: 11.3 percent of the 379 pick-and-roll possessions Duke has defended have resulted in a shooting foul. In 2014-15, Miami lost a couple games to teams in the bottom of the standings. “That’s why we’ve won five national championships”. At least in the NCAA Tournament, you get a day in between. Wins against some of the nation’s top teams such as North Carolina, Duke, Louisville, and Virginia.

Allen, who served a one-game suspension for a tripping incident earlier in the year, was asked if he felt like he had no margin of error, when it came to officials.