ACC Tournament Championship: Florida State Upsets North Carolina, 85-82

For more on the two teams, check out Florida Seminoles blog Tomahawk Nation and North Carolina blog Carolina March. For more on college tournaments nationwide, head over to SB Nation’s dedicated NCAA basketball hub. For more on the ACC tourney, make sure to follow this StoryStream.

For more on the two teams, check out Florida Seminoles blog Tomahawk Nation and North Carolina blog Carolina March. For more on college tournaments nationwide, head over to SB Nation’s dedicated NCAA basketball hub. For more on the ACC tourney, make sure to follow this StoryStream.

If the Tar Heels want to get back into the game, they’re going to have to limit Florida State from beyond the arc, as the Noles have hit on 7 of 13 in the first half alone.

For more on the two teams, check out Florida Seminoles blog Tomahawk Nation and North Carolina blog Carolina March. For more on college tournaments nationwide, head over to SB Nation’s dedicated NCAA basketball hub. For more on the ACC tourney, make sure to follow this StoryStream.

For more on the two teams, check out Florida Seminoles blog Tomahawk Nation and North Carolina blog Carolina March. For more on college tournaments nationwide, head over to SB Nation’s dedicated NCAA basketball hub. For more on the ACC tourney, make sure to follow this StoryStream.

Two teams that are in the NCAA Tournament no matter what happens on Sunday will vie for seeding in the 2012 ACC Tournament Championship. Florida State and North Carolina face off in the finals in what should serve as one last tune-up before March Madness, just before the brackets are announced on Selection Sunday.

UNC needs no introduction; its regular season record speaks for itself. The Tar Heels finished atop the ACC standings, thanks to a win over Duke to cap the regular season. North Carolina features future NBA players aplenty, and seems to be on its way to a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Snaer was, frankly, everywhere for the Seminoles. He led the team in scoring with 16 points, and added six assists, four rebounds, two steals, two blocks and just one turnover for one of the more impressive stat lines you’ll see. The ‘Noles shot 42.1 percent from the field, far better than the Blue Devils’ 37.3 mark.

For more on the two teams, check out Florida Seminoles blog Tomahawk Nation and Duke Blue Devils blog Duke Basketball Report. For more on college tournaments nationwide, head over to SB Nation’s dedicated NCAA basketball hub. For more on the ACC tourney, make sure to follow this StoryStream.

There will be no rubber match for Duke and UNC in the ACC Championship after the Blue Devils were knocked off by Florida State on Saturday. The loss likely ends Duke’s hopes of stealing a No. 1 seed, though the Blue Devils will receive the nice consolation prize of a high seed in the NCAA Tournament.

If that had gone in, Florida State would’ve had a legitimate gripe. Count Curry’s steps and you’ll see why.

Plumlee’s reaction to committing this horribly embarrassing turnover? Naturally, a nice round of patented Duke floorslapping (although, admittedly, it was more of the melancholic variety and not the gritty intensity version we’re used to).

An animated gif of the play after the jump:

Meanwhile, in the Duke backcourt, it was Rivers who led the Devils with nine points. But the freshman phenom is saddled with three fouls, and will have to be tentative and careful early in the second half. Rivers was whistled on a reach-in foul, and was sent to the bench with his third despite a bewildered plea to the contrary.

For more on the two teams, check out Florida Seminoles blog Tomahawk Nation and Duke Blue Devils blog Duke Basketball Report. For more on college tournaments nationwide, head over to SB Nation’s dedicated NCAA basketball hub. For more on the ACC tourney, make sure to follow this StoryStream.

N.C. State was looking for their first win over Carolina in six years and their first trip to the ACC Tournament Championship game in five years. Instead, UNC will go one to face the winner of second semifinal game between Duke and Florida State. The Wolfpack are now at the mercy of the selection committee. They just snuck into the field in Saturday’s edition of SB Nation’s bracketology, but a win today would have likely locked up an at-large berth.

For more on this game, check out North Carolina blog Carolina March and N.C. State blog Backing The Pack. For more on the ACC tourney, make sure to follow this StoryStream. For more on college tournaments nationwide, head over to SB Nation’s dedicated NCAA basketball hub.

The Heels have beaten their in-state rival 12 straight times, but that streak is in jeopardy as they will have to overcome significant foul trouble in the second half. Marshall will have to be particularly careful early on playing with two. With their quarterfinal win over Virginia, the Wolfpack jumped into the field in Saturday’s edition of SB Nation’s bracketology. An upset win over the No. 1 seed would be huge for their bubble resume.

For more on this game, check out North Carolina blog Carolina March and N.C. State blog Backing The Pack. For more on the ACC tourney, make sure to follow this StoryStream. For more on college tournaments nationwide, head over to SB Nation’s dedicated NCAA basketball hub.

Coach Roy Williams said Henson was feeling better this morning but that his status was still questionable. Then, word came down shortly before tip off that he would not dress against the Wolfpack.

Via @UNC_Basketball:

Henson has averaged 13.8 points, 10.8 rebounds and 2.9 blocks in 29 minutes per game for the Tar Heels this season. In two games against N.C. State this season, Henson averaged 11.5 points, 11.5 rebounds and 3.5 blocks. The Tar Heels and Wolfpack tip-off at 1 p.m. ET.

For more on this game, check out North Carolina blog Carolina March and N.C. State blog Backing The Pack. For more on the ACC tourney, make sure to follow this StoryStream. For more on college tournaments nationwide, head over to SB Nation’s dedicated NCAA basketball hub.

Location: Philips Arena, Atlanta, GA

Game Date/Time: Saturday, 3 p.m. ET

And then there were four. The ACC Tournament is down to its final four competitors, with the semifinals set to take place on Saturday. Friday’s quarterfinals whittled the field down to the remaining four, which include the usual suspects and one team that somewhat crashed the party.

North Carolina, the top seed in the ACC Tournament, is still alive and well after an easy victory over Maryland on Friday. The Tar Heels will face North Carolina State, who knocked off Virginia to earn a spot in the semis. Duke struggled at times in its first ACC Tournament matchup, squeaking out a four-point win over Virginia Tech. The Blue Devils survived, though, and will play Florida State on Saturday.

The semifinals of the 2012 ACC Tournament kick off Saturday as four teams remain in the hunt to claim the conference championship and its accompanying berth in the NCAA Tournament.

These two teams met twice in the regular season and the Tar Heels swept both games, winning 74-55 and 86-74.

Florida State moves on to face Duke in the ACC Tournament semifinals on Saturday. North Carolina plays NC State in the other semifinal.

For more on the two teams, check out Florida Seminoles blog Tomahawk Nation and Miami Hurricanes blog The 7th Floor. For more on the entire tournament, keep it on our ACC Tournament StoryStream.

For more on these two teams, visit Duke blog Duke Basketball Report and Hokies blog Gobbler Country.

They struggled from the free throw line, however, making just 8-of-18 attempts. The Cavaliers went 16-for-20 to counter the Wolfpack’s solid shooting. Mike Scott had 23 points and 11 rebounds to lead Virginia. Harris was the second-leading scorer with 18 points. He made the team’s only two 3-pointers, going 2-for-5 from beyond the arc. The Cavaliers finished 2-for-12 from long range.

For more on college tournaments nationwide, head over to SB Nation’s dedicated NCAA basketball hub. For more on the ACC tourney, make sure to follow this StoryStream.

Henson, the ACC’s defensive player of the year, was fouled hard by Maryland’s Ashton Pankey on a drive to the basket in the first half. He came up flexing his hand and was taken to the locker room.

Henson returned to the floor later with his left wrist heavily taped. It was quickly apparent that the injury was still bothering him however, and he was taken out of the game for good less than a minute later.

For more on college tournaments nationwide, head over to SB Nation’s dedicated NCAA basketball hub. For more on the ACC tourney, make sure to follow this StoryStream.

North Carolina now awaits the winner of the second game of the day between the No. 4 seed Virginia Cavaliers (22-8, 9-7 ACC) and the No. 5 seed N.C. State Wolfpack (21-11, 9-7 ACC).

For more on college tournaments nationwide, head over to SB Nation’s dedicated NCAA basketball hub. For more on the ACC tourney, make sure to follow this StoryStream. For more information on the North Carolina Tar Heels, visit Carolina March. For more on the Maryland Terrapins, check out Testudo Times.

Henson returned to the floor later with his left wrist heavily taped. It was quickly apparent that the injury was still bothering him however, and he was taken out of the game for good less than a minute later.

Averaging 14.2 points and a team-leading 10.3 rebounds per game, Henson played a vital role in UNC’s regular season ACC championship. His status for the rest of the tournament is not known.

The second-round match will tip off at 2 p.m. ET and will be televised nationally on ESPN2. You can also watch the game online by visiting ESPN3.

For the visual learners, here’s an updated bracket courtesy of our friends at Streaking The Lawn.

The Terrapins didn’t have very good luck against North Carolina during the regular season, dropping a pair of games by a total of 33 points. Their most recent meeting came on Feb. 29 when Zeller scored 30 points on senior night as the Tar Heels held Maryland to a subpar 36 percent mark shooting from the field.

The winner of the Maryland-North Carolina game will advance to the tournament’s semifinals on Saturday where they’ll play the winner of a Friday afternoon contest between Virginia and North Carolina State.