Today at 1:00 p.m. ET the No. 7 Duke Blue Devils will face off with the No. 6 Virginia Cavaliers for the ACC tournament championship on ESPN. The title game can be live streamed for free here; Duke fans can hear the game on 620 The Buzz AM, while Cavaliers fans may do the same on Sports Radio 910.
Superstar freshman Jabari Parker was excellent again in the semifinals of the ACC tourney, pacing the Blue Devils with 20 points and eight rebounds against the scrappy North Carolina State Wolfpack.
Duke surrendered 22 points on 10-of-22 shooting to the ACC's leading scorer T.J. Warren, but limited NC State to a meager 14.9 percent shooting day from beyond the arc. "They just did a great job of defending. ... They just kept their composure throughout the game," said Wolfpack forward Anthony Barber.
Sophomore Duke guard Rasheed Sulaimon said that Duke's defense keyed their second half run that pushed them ahead for good. "We got a lot of easy baskets from our defense, and once we got into a rhythm, our shots started falling down and we got rolling," Sulaimon said.
Virginia won a knock-down, drag-out battle vs. Pitt with their usual well-rounded effort. Three Cavaliers reached double-figure scoring, but their leading man was guard Joe Harris who notched only 12 points. Their tough defense limited the Panthers to 36 percent shooting from the field, and 21 percent shooting from deep.
Duke is one of the NCAA's most storied basketball programs, but the Cavaliers haven't won an ACC tournament title since the 1976 season when they were led by Wally Walker. Head coach Tony Bennett talked about the excitement he feels heading into today's clash.
"It would be great to put another banner and have that to share with them," Bennett said. "Wally sent me a text: 'We want some company.'"
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