DALLAS — Bruising big man DJ Barnes Jr. scored a season-high 29 points, DJ Horn added 20 points and No. 11 seed North Carolina State advanced to its first Final Four in 40 years, beating Atlantic in the South. They defeated Coast Conference rival Duke 76-64. Last Sunday.
North Carolina State (26-14) remembers the late Jim Valvano running around the court looking for someone to hug after the 1983 upset of Houston against Phi Slama Jama to win the national title. They returned to the national semifinals for the first time since then.
These Wolfpacks head to Glendale, Arizona next weekend looking for their ninth straight win. After losing the final four games of the regular season and seven of nine, the ACC Tournament required five games, including a win over Duke in the quarterfinal round, to qualify for the 68-team NCAA Tournament. We had to win five games in one day. . Now, they will face Zach Eady and Purdue in the first game of the national semifinals, followed by defending champion UW taking on Alabama.
“I’ll say it the same way I’ve said it all tournament: If basketball stops being fun, I’m going to stop playing,” said Burns, who was named the Southern Region’s Most Outstanding Player. “Our approach has completely switched. Nobody’s behind things. Nobody’s a problem on the court. Everyone’s coming together.”
Fourth-seeded Duke (27-9), which defeated top-seeded Houston in the Sweet 16 two days earlier, led by six points at halftime and maintained that lead with 16 and a half minutes remaining. They missed the Final Four for the second time in three seasons. .
But shortly after Wolfpack coach Kevin Keatts was called for a technical foul with eight minutes remaining, his team built a double-digit lead and advanced to its first Final Four since the tournament expanded in 2019. He was on track to become the second double-digit seed. In 1985, there were 64 teams.
After the referee ruled that Duke’s Kyle Filipovski’s missed shot went over the backboard and the shot clock was off, Jared McCain made two free throws on a technical that Keatts had earned, resulting in one player. Someone took it off. Replays showed there was probably a foul because Barnes made contact with Filipovski’s arm, but the Wolfpack’s 6-foot-9, 275-pound forward’s hand didn’t even come close to the ball.
A minute later, Ben Middlebrooks had a steal and Michael O’Connell made a fast-break 3-pointer. A foul was called while the ball was in the air, so the Wolfpack had possession and Barnes made another nifty basket to take a 53-42 lead.
O’Connell scored six points, but finished with 11 rebounds and six assists.
McCain led Duke with 32 points, with the freshman guard making 8 of 20 shots and all 11 of his free throws. Jeremy Roach had 13 points and 7-foot center Filipovski had 11 points and nine rebounds, but he fouled out with 4 minutes, 52 seconds left, and the Blue Devils were already trailing by eight points.
None of the double-digit seeds have even made it to the national championship game, but raucous Wolfpack fans chanted, “Why not us? Why not us?” Before the team cut down the nets at Big D, about 1,200 miles from Tobacco Road, where the campuses of North Carolina State University and Duke University are only about a 30-minute drive away.
During the game’s first media timeout, viewers could watch on the arena’s large video board as the North Carolina State women’s team dribbled through the final 26 seconds of their regional final victory over Texas to advance to the Final Four.
Barnes hit short jumpers on the Wolfpack’s first two shots, but he shot just 26.5% (9-of-34) and trailed 27-21 before halftime. This was the only consecutive success.
They definitely turned things around in the second half, making 19 of 26 shots (73.1%) and scoring 55 points. Burns was 9 of 11 after halftime.
Duke only made 19 field goals the entire game, shooting a season-worst 32.2 percent from 59 attempts. The Blue Devils became the sixth straight opponent held to under 40% shooting by North Carolina State.
“We just didn’t have any rhythm on offense,” Duke coach John Scheyer said. “They started scoring and our offense probably had the most disjointed game we’ve played all year.”
