ACC Basketball

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are moving on in the ACC tournament thanks to an epic buzzer-beater from junior guard Trey Wertz from near half court to take down Wake Forest, 80-77, on Tuesday.

The Fighting Irish entered as the No. 11 seed looking to advance to a second-round matchup with No. 6 North Carolina on Wednesday. At 11-14 (7-11 ACC) on the year, Notre Dame will need to win five games in five days to clinch an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament.

Tuesday's game-winner over No. 14 seed Wake Forest is certainly a positive start.

There just won't be much time to enjoy the win with a matchup against the Tar Heels at 9 p.m. ET tomorrow.

Wertz finished the night with 16 points—none bigger than his final three.

North Carolina made light work of Duke in a 91-73 victory at the Dean Smith Center on Saturday to register a season sweep over its bitter rival.

The Tar Heels (16-9, 10-6 ACC) led from start to finish, opening up a 42-26 halftime and keeping the Blue Devils (11-11, 9-9 ACC) at arms-length for the final 20 minutes with North Carolina's bench scoring as many points as Duke's entire team could muster—head coach Roy Williams gave his seniors a chance to start in their final home game of the year.

Caleb Love, Kerwin Walton and Armando Bacot each scored a game-high 18 points for UNC while Garrison Brooks added 14 points on his own. All but one Duke starter scored in double figures led by 18 points from Mark Williams while Matthew Hurt poured in 14 points with six rebounds.

According to ESPN's Joe Lunardi, Duke entered Saturday as one of the first four teams on the outside of the NCAA tournament bubble looking in. A victory at North Carolina likely would've moved the Blue Devils just inside, though there's no guarantee they would've remained there. Now that seems like a long-shot, at best.

Duke's last chance to enter the field of 68 will come down to the ACC tournament next week, where they'll have to win out in order to claim the conference's automatic bid. The Blue Devils will begin that quest as the No. 10 seed facing No. 15 Boston College on Tuesday. The winner of that matchup will face seventh-seeded Louisville.

Anything short of an ACC tournament title and the Blue Devils can expect to miss out on March Madness for the first time since 1995—the second-longest active streak in the NCAA behind Kansas (30 years).

UNC, meanwhile, was projected as a No. 10 seed by Lunardi before Saturday's win. They Tar Heels begin the ACC Tournament as No. 6 seed set to face the winner between Notre Dame and Wake Forest.

Duke swept the season series last year before North Carolina returned the favor by finishing off the Blue Devils at the Dean Smith Center on Saturday. The Tar Heels won, 91-87, at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Feb 6.

The matchup marked first time the rivals have played two consecutive games against each other as unranked opponents in at least 65 years.

North Carolina extended its all-time series lead to 141-114 with the win.

The Florida State Seminoles and Virginia Cavaliers were going to be the top two seeds in the ACC tournament before Saturday, but their order unexpectedly shifted on the final day of the regular season.

Florida State suffered an upset loss to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, which dropped it to the No. 2 seed after Virginia knocked off the Louisville Cardinals. Both teams still need to win three games in Greensboro, North Carolina, to capture the tournament crown, but their paths are different than expected.

Virginia should have the easier path to Saturday's title game. Florida State appears to have the tougher draw, with the Virginia Tech Hokies, North Carolina Tar Heels and Louisville inserted on the bottom half of the 15-team bracket.

Bracket

ACC Tournament Schedule

First Round: Tuesday, March 9 (2 p.m., 4:30 p.m., 7 p.m.)

Second Round: Wednesday, March 10 (Noon, 2:30 p.m., 6:30 p.m., 9 p.m.)

Quarterfinals: Thursday, March 11 (Noon, 2:30 p.m., 6:30 p.m., 9 p.m.)

Semifinals: Friday, March 12 (6:30 p.m., 9 p.m.)

Championship: Saturday, March 13 (8:30 p.m.)

All Times ET.

Games will be televised on ESPN, ESPN2 and ACC Network.

Predictions

Virginia Cruises to ACC Tournament Final

Saturday's results appear to have given Virginia an easier path to the ACC tournament final.

Virginia defeated the Syracuse Orange, NC State Wolfpack, Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and Clemson Tigers in the regular season. The only defeat the Cavaliers suffered to that collection of teams came at the end of a three-game losing streak that ended February.

Georgia Tech and Syracuse will be fighting for their respective berths in the NCAA men's basketball tournament. ESPN's Joe Lunardi listed the Yellow Jackets on the "last four byes" line, with Louisville and Syracuse in the "next four out" group.

Before Georgia Tech's six-game winning streak, it failed to string together two wins for a month-and-a-half of league play, while Syracuse alternated wins and losses for most of January and February.

Virginia's defensive prowess could limit the offensive opportunities of any foe in Greensboro. In five of its past six wins, Virginia held its opponent under 60 points. Tony Bennett's team may struggle with Florida State in a potential final since the Seminoles beat them by 21 points February 15, but it should at least land a spot in the title tilt because of its recent form.

Duke Crashes Out Early

Duke's miserable season could end before the top four seeds hit the court inside the Greensboro Coliseum.

Mike Krzyzewski's team looked awful in its regular-season finale against North Carolina, which dealt a significant blow to its men's NCAA tournament hopes.

As recently as the end of February, the Blue Devils appeared to be in decent shape through a four-game winning streak, but they stumbled against Georgia Tech, Louisville and UNC thereafter.

Duke should advance out of the opening round since the Boston College Eagles are the worst team in the conference. However, its play during its ongoing losing streak suggests Duke will not play strong in a potential 7 vs. 10 game against Louisville.

The Cardinals recently beat the Blue Devils in overtime, and they could be fighting for a spot in the field of 68 depending on what occurs in the next few days.

On Saturday, the Blue Devils shot 18.5 percent from the field and were beaten on the boards and the foul line by UNC. The same struggles hurt them against the Cardinals, when they shot 19 percent from deep and lost the rebound battle by eight.

If Duke continues to lose the key battles across the hardwood, it will experience a rare early exit in the ACC tournament and miss out on the Big Dance.

Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90. Statistics obtained from ESPN.com.

Unranked Notre Dame upset No. 11 Florida State 83-73 on Saturday at Purcell Pavilion in South Bend, Indiana.

The Fighting Irish benefited from a dominant first half that saw them lead by 16 at the break, and they were spearheaded by junior guard Prentiss Hubb, who led all scorers with 22 points.

Notre Dame improved to 10-14 on the season and 7-11 in ACC play, while the Seminoles fell to 15-5 overall with an 11-4 conference record.

Saturday's contest represented the final regular-season game for both teams ahead of the ACC tournament next week.

FSU can still secure the No. 1 seed in the ACC tournament with a Virginia loss to Louisville on Saturday, but if Virginia wins, the Seminoles will be the No. 2 seed.

Notre Dame got the better of Florida State in essentially every area Saturday. The Irish shot 42.6 percent from the field, 33.3 percent from beyond the arc and 82.4 percent from the free-throw line, compared to 40.6 percent, 25.0 percent and 75.0 percent from FSU.

The Irish also out-rebounded the Seminoles 38-35 and had just 17 personal fouls compared to Florida State's 23.

Fox College Hoops tweeted some highlights from Notre Dame's impressive, unexpected win:

NCAA March Madness noted Saturday's victory was the Irish's first against a ranked team since 2017.

For Notre Dame, five of the seven players who saw the court Saturday scored in double figures. That included guard Dane Goodwin, who contributed 15 points and nine rebounds off the bench.

Meanwhile, only two Florida State starters scored in double figures, while guard Scottie Barnes paced the team off the bench with 17 points to go with nine rebounds.

The Seminoles are 1-2 over the past three games following a four-game winning streak. With losses to North Carolina and Notre Dame recently, they clearly aren't playing their best basketball heading into the ACC tournament.

Notre Dame was riding a four-game losing streak entering Saturday's game, with losses to Syracuse, Louisville, Boston College and NC State.

The Fighting Irish need to run the table and win the ACC tournament to have any chance of qualifying for the NCAA tournament, but given the momentum on their side after upsetting FSU, perhaps a Cinderella run isn't out of the question.