ACC Tournament 2019: Round 2 Scores, Updated Bracket, Quarterfinal Schedule

Day 2 of the ACC men's basketball tournament is underway, with the league getting a chance to showcase its depth.

Although the top four seeds have a bye through the quarterfinals—Virginia, North Carolina, Duke and Florida State—the second round is still loaded with talented squads. Several teams from this group should make the NCAA tournament, and a few could make a deep run in March.

It all starts with the conference tournament, as the squads try to keep their dreams of an ACC title alive in Charlotte, North Carolina. 

Here is everything you need to know about Wednesday's action at the Spectrum Center.

Wednesday's Results

No. 8 North Carolina State def. No. 9 Clemson, 59-58

No. 5 Virginia Tech def. No. 12 Miami, 71-56

No. 7 Louisville def. No. 15 Notre Dame, 75-53

No. 6 Syracuse def No. 14 Pittsburgh, 73-59

Quarterfinal Schedule

No. 1 Virginia vs. No. 8 North Carolina State, 12:30 p.m. ET (ESPN)

No. 4 Florida State vs. No. 5 Virginia Tech, 2:30 p.m. ET (ESPN)

No. 2 North Carolina vs. No. 7 Louisville, 7 p.m. ET (ESPN)

No. 3 Duke vs. No. 6 Syracuse, 9 p.m. ET (ESPN)

Full updated bracket available on the ACC official site.

Recap

North Carolina State 59, Clemson 58

In a battle of NCAA bubble teams, NC State should feel much better about its standing after a shocking come-from-behind win Wednesday.

Trailing 16 points at halftime, the Wolfpack bounced back for the second-largest comeback in ACC tournament history. A pair of free throws by Markell Johnson with 2.6 seconds remaining gave the Wolfpack (22-10) the lead and helped seal the win for the No. 8 seed.

Of course, it was not without controversy:

Still, Johnson made the free throws while carrying the team with 23 points, finishing as the only player on his team in double figures.

Marcquise Reed filled up the stat sheet for the Tigers with 16 points, 10 rebounds and six assists, but he struggled with his shot as he finished just 5-of-18 from the field. 

Clemson (19-13) appeared on its way to an easy win after a dominant first half. The No. 9 seed led by as many as 18 points early on and 16 at the half. The Tigers made eight three-pointers in the opening 20 minutes while the Wolfpack hardly showed up:

However, the second half was a much different story.

The shots that were falling early were well off the mark as Clemson couldn't buy a bucket:

The Tigers went over six minutes late in the second half without scoring, and NC State finally took over the lead at 54-53 with 5:39 remaining. They ended up with just 16 points scored after halftime, including just seven points of the final 15 minutes of action.

The Wolfpack took advantage and moved onto the quarterfinals of the tournament.

North Carolina State will now try to solidify its claim for an NCAA tournament bid with a good performance against Virginia on Thursday, while Clemson will now have a long wait for Selection Sunday.

Virginia Tech 71, Miami 56

Virginia Tech was the better team coming into the day and looked like it throughout with an easy victory over Miami.

The No. 5 seed scored the first 11 points of the game and the margin rarely got much closer, increasing to 17 at halftime. Although the Hurricanes cut it down to seven early in the second half and kept things relative close at the end, the Hokies were able to pull away and were never really in danger during their first game of the tournament.

Kevin Blackshear Jr. led the way for Virginia Tech, finishing with 19 points, 10 rebounds and four assists. Nickeil Alexander-Walker also had a solid showing with 12 points and six assists.

Both players can light up the scoreboard but showcased their passing ability in this one:

The unselfishness helped the team finish shooting 50 percent from the field, including 40.7 percent from three-point range.

Miami simply couldn't keep up while being held to 33.9 percent from the field.

Chris Lykes did his best to keep the Hurricanes in the game with 19 points, but the squad's season will come to an end with a 14-18 overall record.

Virginia Tech (24-7) will keep its ACC tournament run going with a legitimate chance to cut down the nets based on how the team has played as of late. Next up is Florida State with a chance to add another quality win on the NCAA tournament resume.

Louisville 75, Notre Dame 53

Louisville is safely in the NCAA tournament but can play its way up the seed line with a successful ACC tournament.

It started off by putting things on cruise control during an easy 75-53 victory over an overmatched Notre Dame side. The Cardinals wasted little time jumping out to a 16-point lead in the first 12 minutes of the game and were never realistically challenged even though the Fighting Irish clawed to within nine by halftime.

Jordan Nwora spearheaded the winning effort with 24 points and nine rebounds, serving as a matchup problem for Notre Dame throughout thanks to his ability to attack the basket off the bounce and shoot over defenders from the perimeter. He drilled three triples as the only Louisville starter to score in double figures.

While Nwora led the way on offense, the Cardinals' perimeter defense swarmed Notre Dame and held the No. 15 seed to 3-of-27 shooting (11.1 percent) from deep to cut off any potential comeback efforts.

TJ Gibbs did what he could with 21 points, but it was far from enough to keep the game competitive.

Attention now turns to the showdown between Louisville and North Carolina, especially since the Cardinals defeated the Tar Heels by 21 points at the Dean E. Smith Center in a January matchup. Nwora had 17 points in the win but was held in check with 11 points on 3-of-9 shooting in the rematch, which was a North Carolina victory.

He will need to play much like he did in Wednesday's contest if the Cardinals are going to upset the contender for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.

Syracuse 73, Pittsburgh 59

Syracuse wanted to avoid even the possibility of slipping back onto the bubble with a bad loss to a Pittsburgh team that went 3-15 in the ACC during the regular season, and that is exactly what it did with a strong second half.

The Orange appeared in jeopardy when they fell behind by double digits in the first half as Jared Wilson-Frame consistently found openings in the 2-3 zone. However, they pulled within six by halftime and used an 8-0 run—with Buddy Boeheim scoring all the points—to seize the lead in the second half.

Its defense led the way from there, clinching the 73-59 victory and allowing just 23 points after intermission. Paschal Chukwu was a force on the inside with six blocks.

Syracuse needed a strong performance from its defense because leading scorer Tyus Battle was sidelined with an injury. His absence meant the Orange didn't have their usual go-to option to break down the defense with his penetration, and Boeheim (20 points), Elijah Hughes (18 points) and Frank Howard (18 points) picked up the slack.

Wilson-Frame led the way for the Panthers with 24 points and seven rebounds behind eight made three-pointers, but he didn't have enough help to overcome the Orange.

Syracuse will now face mighty Duke in the quarterfinals, which is notable because it already won at Cameron Indoor Stadium in January. It was the only game the Blue Devils lost all season when Zion Williamson was available beyond the opening minute, and Battle led the way with 32 points.

Duke won the rematch, meaning Thursday's victor will have bragging rights for the season series.