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Carolina, Duke Head to ACC Semifinals

Mar 15, 2008

Charlotte, N.C. — No. 1 North Carolina takes on No. 4 Virginia Tech in the ACC Tournament semifinals at 1:30 p.m. today while No. 2 Duke faces off against No. 3 Clemson at 3:30 p.m.

The winners will play each other in the championship at 1 p.m. Sunday. WRAL will have complete coverage of the games including a live blog.

Carolina beat Florida State for the third time Friday, 82-70, and held its opponent to 80 or fewer points for the eighth straight game.

At halftime, the Heels had attempted exactly three free throws. To the shock of just about everyone, Tyler Hansbrough hadn't been to the line once. It was the third straight half in which the Sports Illustrated and The Sporting News player of the year hadn't attempted a free throw.

Hansbrough got better low-post position in the final 20 minutes and was the beneficiary of his teammates' penetration. He finished with 22 points, including 8-of-10 shooting from the free-throw line.

Wayne Ellington scored 19, including four 3-pointers, and Marcus Ginyard added 10 for the Heels.

Carolina finished 16-of-24 from the line, including 13-of-21 in the second half.

Duke pulled off a win against Georgia Tech Friday, 82-70.

Jon Scheyer led the Devils with 18 points off the bench, including a 10-for-11 performance from the free-throw line.

In their first game since losing their regular-season finale to North Carolina six days earlier, Duke quickly established that it was going to attack the basket and go strong for offensive rebounds.

Duke snared seven of the game's first eight rebounds and finished the game with a 34-31 rebounding advantage.