2024 ACC Tournament:
The Cardiac Pack is Back!

By Ben McCormick
North Carolina Sports Network

WASHINGTON, D.C. — “When we got on that plane to come here on Monday, we talked about being in this situation, and I told them to visualize this,” NC State head coach Kevin Keatts said after the Wolfpack’s overtime victory over Virginia Friday night. “I asked everyone on our team, I said, I want you to bring something with you that’s lucky, that’s really lucky to you.”

Keatts then turned to his veteran guards, DJ Horne and Casey Morsell, who were seated next to him at the postgame press conference, and asked, “Did you bring anything?”

There’s no doubt Keatts’ team brought something different with it this week in Washington, D.C.

Luck, hard work, coincidence, a fluke. Call it whatever you want, it’s happening.

The Wolfpack have won four games in four days, a feat only two other teams have ever done in the entire history of the ACC Tournament — Duke (2017) and Virginia Tech (2022). The only difference between those squads and the 2024 Pack is that the fourth win delivered them a championship. The fourth win this year is giving the Pack only a chance at the trophy.

Now State will go toe to toe with a UNC squad that looks increasingly likely to nab the fourth and final #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. UNC was the ACC regular-season champ, and it is on an eight-game winning streak. But it’s March, so perhaps it’s time to throw grounded logic and expectations out the window.

The numbers certainly didn’t support NC State knocking off #2 seed Duke, but that’s exactly what the Wolfpack did. Just 10 days earlier, the Blue Devils had handed NC State its most lopsided loss of the entire season, by 15 points in PNC Arena. Throw it out the window; it’s March.

Or how about an even more recent example? On Tuesday — yes, this Tuesday. which now feels like ages ago — State trailed Louisville 46-45 at the half. The Cardinals had averaged only 72 points per game, and they had won only eight games all season. Still, the Wolfpack won by just nine. A single-digit game with Louisville wasn’t terribly encouraging, especially since State had lost its last four games of the regular season and seven of the past nine.

On day two of the tournament, it seemed as if Syracuse was a safe bet to beat NC State.

Ball it up. Throw it out the window. This is March, and historically speaking, State knows a thing or two about throwing a wrench in everyone’s logical predictions (e.g., the miracle run in 1983, and the dethroning of UCLA in 1974).

“We’ve got great tradition,” Keatts said. “ You think about ’74 and ’83, and we’ve honored them and did a great job with them. We looked back, I think it was (‘87) the last time we won a championship. It means a lot. We’re proud of it, but it’s been a long time.”

Even against Virginia, the way the game played out down the stretch benefitted UVa.

The Cavaliers under coach Tony Bennett tend to perform well in close games. Their grind-it-out, possession-by-possession style can be grueling, and it often gives Virginia the edge in tight matches. In fact, the Hoos were 11-0 in games decided by single-digits this season, including a six-point win over State on Jan. 24 and a six-point win in overtime on Thursday over Boston College.

“That’s maybe the first game we lost that was close this year, quite honestly,” Bennett said. “That says a lot about these guys.”

After Isaac McKneely drilled a three just over 30 seconds into overtime, it appeared as if NC State was destined for the same unfortunate fate as Boston College the night before: an electric buzzer-beater to force overtime (this time a three in front of State’s bench by Michael O’Connell), only to fall in overtime.

The Wolfpack had other plans. DJ Burns was dominant on the low block all night, battling Jordan Minor. But in overtime, Burns flipped the switch and helped the Pack seal the game. Now Virginia is 11-1 in single-digit games.

NC State is set to be the first team to ever play five games in five days at the ACC Tournament. It is the first double-digit seed to forge a path to the championship game since the conference expanded in 2013-14, and it is the first double-digit seed all-time since the 2007 Wolfpack made it to the title bout — and lost to UNC.

No ACC team has ever done what the Wolfpack has done here in D.C. this week, so it’s unclear how fatigue will factor in, but Keatts doesn’t seem to be concerned about that.

“I’ve never worried about fatigue with our team,” he said. “I really haven’t. I haven’t even talked about it. We’re taking this thing one day at a time.”

You can’t help but draw comparisons to that 1983 national championship Wolfpack squad. Although the competition the Pack have knocked off this time are a far cry from Michael Jordan or Ralph Sampson, it’s still an impressive accomplishment. NC State has a habit of exceeding expectations once expectations have fallen through the floor.

The Wolfpack hasn’t won the ACC Tournament since 1987. Although this iteration of the Pack has proven resilient, its toughest challenge has yet to occur. During the regular season, UNC swept the regular season series with its rival. But now it’s safe to say this is a completely different NC State team coming to play.

“Don’t act surprised,” Keatts said when he entered the post-game press conference Friday.

The rest of the country may be surprised, but Keatts’ squad is not. His players understand what’s at stake.

“Just knowing that this is do-or-die,” Horne said.  “It’s not like you lose a game, you’ve got another game next week. You lose, you go home.”