ACC tournament updates: Duke advances to its 34th title game, will play Virginia Tech

Another Saturday, another Duke-UNC matchup? If the Blue Devils and Tar Heels win their semifinal games Friday in the 2022 ACC men’s basketball tournament at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, the rivals will meet for a third time this season.

Top-seeded Duke and fourth-seeded Miami tipoff at 7 p.m. and UNC-Virginia Tech will follow.

The News & Observer has seven journalists on site in New York covering the tournament, including C.L. Brown, Steve Wiseman, Luke DeCock and Andrew Carter. They will be providing live updates and analysis here tonight. We’ll also post scores and recaps of both games.

If you’re looking for a printable bracket for the ACC tournament, we have you covered.

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ACC tournament live updates and scores

Miami 20, Duke 12 — 11:53 first half

And welcome to semifinal Saturday — check that, semifinal Friday in the ACC tournament, where the atmosphere continues to be a little lacking at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Duke has its work cut out if it’s going to advance to the championship game Saturday night. Some troubling numbers early for the Blue Devils: they’re shooting 38.5 percent, and are just 1-for-5 from 3.

Miami, meanwhile, has controlled things pretty much from the start, and has led by as many as 11 (18-7 with about 14 minutes left in the first half). Duke’s last lead: 5-3 about two minutes into the game. Since then it has been mostly all Hurricanes. The good news for Duke, so far: a nice start for Paolo Banchero, who’s 3-for-3 from the field and leads all scorers with seven points.

Miami 32, Duke 24 — 3:46, first half

The gist of the first half for Duke: bad start, then a rebound, then another lull. And the Blue Devils find themselves down eight (about where the game has been for most of it) approaching halftime. Miami is shooting close to 50 percent here in the first half; the Blue Devils haven’t looked great defensively in quite a while — certainly not in the past few games, including tonight.

Miami 36, Duke 36 — halftime

It wasn’t a pretty opening half for the Blue Devils, but they made their final five field goals to tie the game at 36 all at the break. AJ Griffin, who leads all scorers at the half with 15 points, made four of Duke’s five field goals down the stretch. He scored 12 consecutive points for the Blue Devils in the final 5:07 before intermission.

Jordan Miller finished the half with a team-high 10 points for Miami.

Duke 80, Miami 76 — Final

For the 34th time, Duke has advanced to the ACC tournament championship game. The Blue Devils’ journey there will not be remembered as a work of art.

Despite not making a shot from the field throughout the final four minutes, Duke prevailed in a 80-76 victory against Miami in the tournament semifinals here Friday night. The Blue Devils, led by 19 points from A.J. Griffin, 18 from Paolo Banchero, and 17 from Wendell Moore, will play either North Carolina or Virginia Tech on Saturday night for the conference championship.

Duke will likely need a better effort than the one it provided Friday, when it started sluggishly — it trailed by 11 points six minutes into the game — before rallying to tie it by halftime. The Blue Devils never led by more than seven points, and the game was tied at 65 with five minutes left.

From there, Duke went cold from the field, and didn’t make a shot other than a free throw over the final four minutes, 13 seconds. The Hurricanes, though, weren’t much better over that span, and after some rocky stretches Duke put it together defensively to escape with the victory.

UNC 14, Virginia Tech 14 — 7:53 first half

Folks, it’s ugly here in the Barclays Center. Ugly, ugly, ugly.

The Tar Heels and Hokies have almost 14 minutes of basketball here in the second semifinal of the night and, perhaps in fitting fashion, they’ve each scored 14 points. We’re on pace for a 40ish to 40ish final in regulation. It’s bound to pick up, no?

These teams, by the way, are a combined 9-for-34 from the field. Ouch.

Virginia Tech 32, UNC 26 — Halftime

If UNC is going to deliver about the only thing that could salvage what’s been an otherwise underwhelming ACC tournament, the Tar Heels are going to have to rally. They’re down six against the Hokies here at halftime, after shooting a chilly 37 percent in the first half. Not good.

Duke has already secured its place in the ACC tournament championship game. If UNC can get there, it’d be the first UNC-Duke final since 2011. So it’s been a while. Certainly, a UNC-Duke final makes for an attractive story line. But UNC has looked a bit (maybe more than a bit) out of sorts here in the first half.

Virginia Tech 41, UNC 26 — 17:57, second half

Well, this isn’t good for the Tar Heels. Virginia Tech starts the second half a 9-0 run. The prospect of a Duke-UNC final grows dimmer. Does Carolina have a rally in it? Timeout, Hubert Davis and Co. Much basketball left here, but a dismal start for the Heels after halftime.

Virginia Tech 54, UNC 37 — 11:19, second half

The Tar Heels continue to sleepwalk through this one, for the most part, but coach Hubert Davis is attempting to fire up his team following a Virginia Tech flagrant foul. Will UNC respond? To this point it has seemed like one of those nights for the Tar Heels, and Virginia Tech is making everything — or at least it seems like it. The Hokies are shooting about 57 percent after halftime.

Virginia Tech 60, UNC 45 — 7:10, second half

Things looked like they might be getting interesting here. The Tar Heels had cut their deficit to 11, after being down 20. The Barclays Center was getting loud, UNC fans sensing a rally. But then, alas. The Hokies extended it back up to 15.

The Heels are shooting a little below 40 percent overall and are just 3-for-20 from 3. That’s not going to get it done.

Virginia Tech 72, UNC 59 — Final

And it’s over. Virginia Tech spoiled what would’ve been a dream match-up in Mike Krzyzewski’s final season by beating North Carolina here Friday night. The Hokies led by six at halftime and by double-digits pretty much all of the second half, after scoring nine quick points after halftime.

The Tar Heels, meanwhile, looked spent. They cut a 20-point deficit to 11 midway through the half but Virginia Tech extended it back out and UNC never rallied again. And so it’ll be Virginia Tech, and not UNC, that plays against Duke here on Saturday for the ACC championship.

UNC was doomed by a few things but perhaps most of all by a miserable shooting night; the Tar Heels went just 3-for-26 from behind the 3-point line. Had they won, it would’ve been the first Duke-UNC final in more than 10 years. The Hokies had other plans.

How to watch the ACC tournament’s semifinals

ESPN will broadcast both games Friday night, beginning with the matchup between Duke and Miami.

ESPN is available through Spectrum cable or over satellite with DirectTV and Dish Network. You can stream the ESPN on WatchESPN.com with a valid cable or satellite subscription. Alternatively, cable cutters can access it via YouTube TV and Hulu+ Live TV or ESPN’s streaming service ESPN+.

ACC tournament schedule

Friday, March 11 — Semifinals

Saturday, March 12 — Championship

Odds for semifinal games

Duke is a nine-point favorite over Miami in the first game at Barclays Center Friday night. North Carolina is a 2.5-point favorite over Virginia Tech.

Ticket prices

The get-in price for Friday night’s semifinals is $110 with an average ticket of $177 — and the title-game average Saturday was $204 as of Tuesday, according to a release from ticket broker TickPick.

All-session passes for the ACC were reselling for the most of any Power 5 conference: $904 compared to $889 for the Big East across the East River at Madison Square Garden, $772 for the Big 12, $677 for the SEC and $663 for the Big Ten.

This story was originally published March 11, 2022 at 5:11 PM with the headline "ACC tournament updates: Duke advances to its 34th title game, will play Virginia Tech."