UNC men's basketball overcomes No. 4 seed Wake Forest, 68-59, in the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament

CHARLOTTE — Fifth-seeded UNC men's basketball (22-12, ACC 13-7) outlasted fourth-seeded Wake Forest (21-11, ACC 13-7), 68-59, on Thursday afternoon in the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament at the Spectrum Center. 

After an ugly first half, stunted by early turnovers and missed baskets, North Carolina gripped a two-point lead at halftime, then battled through Wake Forest's physicality to stay alive. Junior forward Ven-Allen Lubin's last-ditch heroics around the rim propelled the Tar Heels to the win, revenging the 67-66 loss in January's regular season matchup.

Lubin finished with a double-double of 10 points and 13 rebounds, despite playing with four fouls. 

"There's a level of toughness that has been developed over the last seven or eight months that we've been together," head coach Hubert Davis said. "We were in these type of situations earlier in the year and weren't able to get stronger. We were able to do it today."

By the first media timeout with 14:45 left in the half, North Carolina had turned the ball over three times and shot 1-for-7 from the field. Meanwhile, Wake Forest battled through its own slow start to go on a four-minute, 11-0 run. The Demon Deacons grasped an 11-2 lead. 

The Tar Heels went seven minutes without a field goal, until first-year guard Ian Jackson stopped the bleeding with a 3-pointer at the 11:44 mark. But with 11 minutes remaining in the half, the Demon Deacons still held a 14-9 advantage. 

The turnovers and fouls piled, as Wake and UNC shot 30 and 25 percent from the field, respectively. The Tar Heels pieced together a 12-2 run out of a media timeout to dwindle the deficit to 16-15 with seven minutes left in the first.

Continuing to chip away, North Carolina regained the lead for the first time since the opening minutes, as junior forward Jalen Washington tapped a ball loose for junior guard Seth Trimble to collect, culminating in a transition layup for sophomore guard Elliot Cadeau at the 2:43 mark. On a last second play, Jackson missed his driving lay-up attempt, only to be rebounded by Trimble and laid back in to end the first half. 

UNC scored 14 points in the final four and a half minutes to head to the locker room with a 33-31 advantage. 

Out of the break, North Carolina pieced together a 9-1 run, as Wake Forest fumbled the ball and missed two shot attempts.

Then, momentum slipped away from the Tar Heels as a three-minute scoring drought slowed their offense with 11-and-a-half minutes remaining. Meanwhile, the Demon Deacons executed an 8-0 run — highlighted by an alley-oop dunk and fading jumpers — to take a 46-45 lead. 

Lubin and Cadeau each picked up their third fouls, as Wake Forest's physicality overpowered the Tar Heels in the paint and stifled their transition offense. Then, a double foul call on both the Demon Deacons and Cadeau, put UNC into further trouble as the sophomore guard picked up his fourth of the afternoon. By the 7:42 mark, North Carolina had not scored a field goal in seven-and-a-half minutes. 

"It was really important for me to play smart and just stay in, stay present," Lubin said. 

Then, a flagrant one foul was called on Wake's Juke Harris, after he stuck out his foot to trip graduate forward Jae'Lyn Withers. At the line, Withers made both free throws to give the Tar Heels a 52-51 lead.

Given the ball back, North Carolina faced more physicality as Lubin was stuffed on his way to the rim. A technical was then called on the UNC bench for its reaction, sending Wake Forest to the line. 16 points were scored by both teams combined at the free throw line over a five-minute period — no field goals were scored until Wake's Hunter Sallis knocked down a jumper at the 6:32 mark. 

With two-and-a-half minutes to go, graduate guard RJ Davis knocked down a contested 3-pointer, UNC's first field goal in three minutes, to give North Carolina a 61-57 lead. Back-to-back dunks from Lubin — first from a Cadeau lob, then a put-back offensive rebound — nudged the Tar Heels further ahead.

In the final minute and a half, Wake Forest was forced to foul, and UNC iced it at the line. 

The Tar Heels will play top-seeded Duke on Friday at 7 p.m. in the semifinals of the ACC tournament. 

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