North Carolina Lost To Virginia Tech In The Semifinals Of The Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament Friday 59-72

North Carolina lost to Virginia Tech in the semifinals of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament Friday 59-72.

Why?

Darius Maddox, Keve Aluma and Virginia Tech dominated No. 25 North Carolina 72-59 on Friday night to advance to the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game for the first time — and prevent another matchup between the Tar Heels and rival Duke.

Seventh-seeded Virginia (22-12) will face the top-seeded Blue Devils on Saturday night at Barclays Center, trying to deny retiring coach Mike Krzyzewski his 16th ACC championship in his final conference tournament.

Maddox scored 20 points and was 4 for 5 from 3-point range and Aluma had 18 points for the Hokies, who will try to become the second team to win the ACC Tournament with four victories in four days.

Virginia Tech is a relative newcomer to the conference, having joined in 2004. The Hokies have won four football championships since joining, but have been unable to break through the Blue Bloods in basketball.

Until now.

Third-year coach Mike Young's team has been rolling since losing five games in January. The Hokies have won 12 of 14 to put themselves in position to win an ACC championship and maybe earn an NCAA at-large bid no matter what happens against Duke.

On Friday night in Brooklyn, Virginia Tech snapped a four-game losing streak to North Carolina with ease.

The Hokies opened the second half with a 9-0 run on a three-point play by Aluma and back-to-back 3s by Hunter Cattoor and Justyn Mutts that upped the lead to 41-26.

“according to an article on by Ralph Russo of the Associated Press”

North Carolina now awaits to see if they are in the field of 68 in the NCAA Tournament on selection Sunday.