NC State senior point guard Michael O’Connell has etched his name in Wolfpack lore after Friday’s game-tying three-pointer to force overtime against Virginia in the ACC Tournament.
The stage was set with Virginia sophomore wing Isaac McKneely at the free-throw line with 5.3 seconds left and the Cavaliers led 58-55. McKneely and Virginia senior point guard Reece Beekman had carried the UVA offense, and McKneely entered the game shooting 87.3 percent on the season.
McKneely missed the first free throw and senior wing Casey Morsell grabbed the rebound with 4.5 seconds left and made the most important pass of his career to O’Connell. With McKneely guarding him — Virginia had fouls to give but never used them — O’Connell went up with about a second left and shot his high-arching shot and banked it in to tie the game 58-58 and send it to overtime.
NC State improved to 21-14 overall and will play rival North Carolina at 8:30 p.m. Saturday night for the ACC Tournament title. UNC swept the season series, but NC State has become a team of destiny as they fight for each other and to have coach Kevin Keatts keep his job. NCSU entered the ACC Tournament losing seven of its last nine regular season games.
Keatts talked last Monday after winning one game at a time and he asked the players to bring something that would bring luck to the program. NCSU has now defeated Louisville, Syracuse, Duke and Virginia.
“They gave us a chance and Michael’s shot was a great shot,” Keatts said. “I had a direct view of it and when it went up, I was like, ‘That shot is going in.’ Luckily it did. What a great win for us.
“It means everything. We have great tradition with [national champions] 1974 and 1983. We’ve honored them. In order to have the chance to win it, you have to be in the game.
“Everybody expected it to be Carolina and Duke, and now it is Carolina and State. We play pretty good basketball at NC State too.”
Virginia fell to 23-10 overall and will be relying on the committee to make the NCAA Tournament. UVA entered the game with a No. 50 ranking in the NET.
UVA coach Tony Bennett said he didn’t want to foul O’Connell on the 3-point attempt with fouls to give. Part of it, he was worried about the defensive rebound if NC State made a free throw and then missed the second attempt on purpose.
"The three they hit, that was a tough shot that he hit," Bennett said. "We couldn't foul them in the backcourt and they got momentum. Once they got down, we did not want to foul in the act of shooting. We were worried about that."
NC State became the first team in ACC history to win four straight games and reach the ACC Tournament title game. The Wolfpack also joined Duke (2017) and Virginia Tech (2022) in winning four games in four days at the league tourney, but the Blue Devils and Hokies won the title with their fourth victories.
NC State is also playing for its first ACC Tournament title since 1987, which has long been a sore spot over the years. The 2007 Wolfpack were the last team to reach the title game.
“All the credit goes to the guys in the locker room,” Keatts said. “They put us in this situation.”
Everything about the ending seemed improbable, but two key parts occurred before O’Connell’s heroics. NC State needed Morsell to hit all three free-throws when he was fouled by sophomore power forward Ryan Dunn with 43.1 seconds left. Then the Wolfpack needed a defensive stand, which they got, when sophomore wing Andrew Rohde missed a corner 3-pointer. Morsell missed a difficult 3-pointer and McKneely was fouled.
The second chance energized NC State in overtime and the game plan was simple — feed senior center D.J. Burns the ball. Whether he made the post-up move or drew the foul, he scored seven of the Wolfpack’s 15 points in overtime. Horne tacked on four straight free throws at the end and Virginia never had a chance. The Cavaliers, who were playing its second game of the tournament after a overtime win against Boston College on Thursday, went 3 of 11 from the field and 1 of 7 on three-pointers in overtime.
For the first 39:54 seconds of the game, Virginia was poised to win due to McKneely shooting lights out from deep. That combined with Virginia’s perimeter defense causing the Wolfpack offense to struggle outside of the paint was the defense. McKneely finished with 23 points and five three-pointers, and Beekman added 17 points and 11 assists.
“McKneely hit some shots that were outstanding,” Keatts said.
Burns led NC State with 19 points and five boards and sophomore center Ben MIddlebrooks came through off the bench with 12 points, six rebounds, three steals and two blocks in just 20 minutes of action.
NC State outscored UVA 40-26 in the paint, and the Wolfpack went 15 of 22 on layups/dunks.
The NC State players understood it was “do or die” this week.
“We are just playing for the guy next to you,” NC State senior guard D.J. Horne said. “We came into this tournament and had a couple of meetings. I felt like we got really close with each other. We understood things and what we had to do this tournament.”
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