Michael O’Connell kept North Carolina State’s NCAA Tournament hopes alive by the slimmest of margins, banking in a wild 3-pointer at the buzzer to force overtime in a 73-65 victory over Virginia in the ACC Tournament semifinals Friday night.
The 10th-seeded Wolfpack (21-14) are one victory from pulling off an epic five-wins-in-five-days run for the ACC’s automatic bid, and if they do it, they’ll remember this escape for a while. With the score 58-55, Isaac Mckneely missed the front end of a 1-and-1 for Virginia. O’Connell rushed the ball up the left sideline and shot from in front of his team’s bench.
The shot banked off the glass, then rolled around the rim and in.