Florida State spent the regular season trying to muscle its way to the top shelf of the ACC and came up short. In the past two days the Seminoles have earned a second chance.
Now it’s Duke down, and North Carolina to go for the Seminoles, who have a shot at winning their first ACC tournament title since joining the league in 1991.
Third-seeded Florida State dispatched the three-time defending ACC tournament champion Blue Devils, the No. 2 seed, to earn a date with top-seeded North Carolina at 1 p.m. today at Philips Arena.
The Seminoles defeated both Duke and North Carolina during the regular season, which might explain their poise in the final minutes of their 62-59 win Saturday to end Duke’s ACC tournament streak at 10 wins.
“We still felt like we were just as talented and just as well-coached as those [two] teams, that all the national media is talking about,” said FSU point guard Luke Loucks, who made a 20-footer with 11.9 seconds left, just as Duke had closed to within one. “... We feel like we’re right there in the race with them.”
The Seminoles bring some intrigue into today’s championship game by virtue of the fact that they handed the Tar Heels a stunning loss — 90-57 on Jan. 14, their most lopsided of the season.
The two teams haven’t played since, with only one meeting scheduled for the regular season.
“We can’t think about that game and try to use that game to go out and win or we’re going to get beat,” FSU guard Michael Snaer said. “We can’t think it’s going to be easy or [that] we’re going to beat them by 30. It’s North Carolina. It’s not going to be that easy. It’s going to be a dogfight until the last second like it was tonight.”
The Seminoles are playing in their second ACC championship game and first since losing to Duke in 2009. They got the chance by beating the Blue Devils at their own game Saturday, making the big 3-pointers, defending, and playing like an experienced team in the closing minutes.
Snaer made a 3-pointer at the top of the key to put FSU up 58-57 and then got in Austin Rivers’ craw as he tried to tie the score on a 3-point attempt from the wing with five seconds left.
“I think he’s the best competitor in our league,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said of Snaer. “And he wants to play defense.”
The Tar Heels are playing in their second consecutive ACC championship game, but could do so without All-ACC forward John Henson, who watched in a suit as North Carolina escaped N.C. State 69-67.
Coach Roy Williams had planned to let him test his left wrist in pre-game warm-ups, but Henson didn’t feel good enough even for that.
“He said today that he feels considerably better than he did yesterday,” Williams said after the game. “Now is he going to improve at that same rate by tomorrow? I personally have my doubts, but we’ll just wait and see.”
The Tar Heels won no style points Saturday, but flexed their depth. Despite an off shooting night for Harrison Barnes and an early departure for Tyler Zeller, who fouled out with 1:08 to go, they found another way.
The playmaking Kendall Marshall pulled up for a bank shot with 10.6 seconds left for the game-winner and avoided a potential charge call after making contact with Wolfpack guard Alex Johnson. Justin Watts took care of everything else, forcing a pair of turnovers in the final minute to get a kiss on the head from Williams on the sideline.
“I told Harrison, when we had that timeout with 1.2 seconds, he should kiss ‘J-Watts’ and he looked at me like ‘Why?’” Williams said. “I said, ‘Because you should’ve been sprinting back picking up that other guy, and he saved your bacon and our whole team.’”
Marshall finished with 12 points and 10 assists to become the first Tar Heel in school history with three consecutive double-double games in points and assists. The Wolfpack were led by C.J. Leslie with 22 points, but he fouled out with 8:03 remaining after picking up two fouls in 32 seconds.
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