NC State ACC Tournament Hub: Schedule, Bracket, Predictions
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The regular season is officially over. March is here. NC State men's basketball is ready to take on the postseason, even after a poor finish to the regular season saw the team lose six of its final seven games. If there's a program that embodies the chaos of March better than most, it's the Wolfpack, stemming all the way back to the days of Jim Valvano to the magical 2024 Final Four run.
The postseason begins in Charlotte at the 2026 ACC Tournament, with the Pack set to arrive as a No. 7 seed. NC State opened the tournament with a second-round victory over Pittsburgh, moving on to the quarterfinals.
ACC Tournament Schedule
Date and Time Slot | Round | Opponent |
|---|---|---|
Noon, Wednesday, March 11 | Second Round - 98-88 W | No. 15 Pittsburgh |
Noon, Thursday, March 12 | Quarterfinals | No. 2 Virginia |
7 P.M., Friday, March 13 | Semifinals (with a QF win) | Winner of No. 3 Miami and Second Round Winner |
8:30 P.M., Saturday, March 14 | ACC Championship Game | Winner of opposite side of the bracket |
NC State won't have to play five games in five days as it did in 2024, something Jordan Snell, the last remnant of that group, said benefits this version of the Wolfpack. The run through the ACC Tournament started with a win over the Panthers, setting up a third game against Virginia in the quarterfinals on Thursday.
Tournament Bracket
Seed list
No. 1 Duke
No. 2 Virginia
No. 3 Miami
No. 4 North Carolina
No. 5 Clemson
No. 6 Louisville
No. 7 NC State
No. 8 Florida State
No. 9 Cal
No. 10 Stanford
No. 11 SMU
No. 12 Virginia Tech
No. 13 Wake Forest
No. 14 Syracuse
No. 15 Pittsburgh
The Bracket
Can NC State get it done at the ACC Tournament?
NC State has several players who have been through the fires of March. Darrion Williams played in back-to-back NCAA Tournaments while playing for Texas Tech, helping the Red Raiders to the Elite Eight in 2025. The roster is littered with experienced players. Wade needs to find a way to tap into the prior successes of those players, turning them into a tournament juggernaut, starting on Wednesday.
If the version of the Wolfpack that limped across the finish line in the ACC regular season shows up at the Spectrum Center, it will be a short trip to Charlotte in Wade's first season at the helm of the program. However, there is enough firepower for this team to get hot at the right time and make a run, at least to the semifinals if it can finally get over the hump against Virginia. That's easier said than done, however.
Second Round win over Pittsburgh Recap
CHARLOTTE — In dire need of a win, NC State dug deep and found a way to outlast Pittsburgh in the second round of the ACC Tournament. The Wolfpack blitzed the Panthers early in the second half, building a strong advantage that it rode to a 98-88 win, the Pack's 20th of the 2025-26 season.
It wasn't easy, in typical NC State fashion, but the Wolfpack managed the game just well enough to outlast Pitt, a desperate team in its own right. Read the full recap HERE.
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Tucker Sennett graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in Sports Journalism from the esteemed Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. A former basketball player, he has gained valuable experience working at Cronkite News and brings a deep passion for sports and reporting to his role as the NC State Wolfpack Beat Writer On SI.
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