No. 11 Duke beats No. 6 Notre Dame in ACC Tournament semifinals

GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — No. 11 Duke has avenged two late-season losses in two days, and the Blue Devils will need another such result to secure their first ACC Tournament championship in 12 years.

Third-seeded Duke will meet No. 7 N.C. State, the top seed, in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game on Sunday.

The Blue Devils beat regular-season co-champion and sixth-ranked Notre Dame 61-56 on Saturday, a day after reversing the regular-season outcome against Louisville by winning 61-48 in Friday night’s quarterfinal.

Duke’s only losses since Jan. 9 have come against N.C. State, Notre Dame and Louisville. N.C. State rallied for an 89-83 home victory against the Blue Devils on Feb. 9.

“We haven’t really done anything yet but just get to the final,” Duke coach Kara Lawson said. “So both teams I know are really focused on winning the final.”

N.C. State reached the title game by avenging its regular-season setback to No. 14 North Carolina 66-55 in Saturday’s first semifinal.

“This time of year, we don’t talk about revenge,” Wolfpack coach Wes Moore said. “I never brought that up. It’s all about right now. It’s March. As I like to call it, ‘March Gladness.’ It’s that time of year, and these games are too important standing alone to worry about revenge.”

N.C. State overcame a 13-point deficit to beat Duke in the first meeting. The Wolfpack’s point total was the second-highest of the season allowed by the Blue Devils.

“They have some of the best guards in the country,” Lawson said. “So it’s a real challenge to try and defend them because they have so many different players that can make plays.”

The Wolfpack are playing in the final for the fifth time in six years. They haven’t won the tournament since 2022, when they won for the third year in a row.

Duke is in the title game for the first time since 2017.

“This moment means that we have an opportunity to play for a championship,” Lawson said. “In my time at Duke, this is the first time we’ve made it this far in the tournament.”

The last time Duke and N.C. State met in the final came with Duke’s 2010 victory.

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