| Year: | 2018 |
| Conference: | ACC |
| Gender: | Men's |
| Teams: | 15 |
| Arena: | Barclays Center |
| City: | Brooklyn, New York |
| Champions: | Virginia |
| Titlecount: | 3rd |
| Coach: | Tony Bennett |
| Coachcount: | 2nd |
| Mvp: | Kyle Guy |
| Mvpteam: | Virginia |
| Attendance: | 82,390 |
| Television: | ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ACCN |
The 2018 ACC men's basketball tournament was the postseason men's basketball tournament for the Atlantic Coast Conference held at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, from March 6 to 10, 2018. It was the 65th annual edition of the tournament, and the second year in a row being held at Barclays Center. The Virginia Cavaliers entered the tournament as the top seed, with a 17–1 conference record (28–2 overall) under the guidance of Tony Bennett. UVA also began the tournament unanimously ranked number 1 in the country in both major polls.
The Cavaliers defeated Louisville 75–58 and Clemson 64–58 to secure a place in the tournament championship game. They defeated North Carolina 71–63 in the championship game to become tournament champion. Sophomore guard Kyle Guy was named Tournament MVP. Games were shown on over-the-air television in local media markets by the syndicated ACCN and simulcast nationally on various ESPN cable networks.
Both the Virginia–North Carolina title game and Duke–North Carolina semifinal game set the Barclays Center attendance record for college basketball games, and conference leadership vowed to return the ACC Tournament to New York in the near future.[1] [2]
All 15 ACC teams participated in the tournament. Teams were seeded by record within the conference, with a tiebreaker system to seed teams with identical conference records. The tournament was held over five consecutive days. Teams ranked 10–15 played on the first day; teams ranked 5–9 entered the bracket on the second day, with teams ranked 1–4 entering on the third day (quarterfinals). The semifinals were played on the fourth day, and the finals on the last day.[3]
| Seed | School | Conference Record | Tiebreaker | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Virginia | 17–1 | ||
| 2 | Duke | 13–5 | ||
| 3 | Miami | 11–7 | 2–1 vs Clem/NCST/UNC | |
| 4 | Clemson | 11–7 | 3–2 vs Miami/NCST/UNC | |
| 5 | NC State | 11–7 | 1–0 vs Duke | |
| 6 | North Carolina | 11–7 | 1–1 vs Duke | |
| 7 | Virginia Tech | 10–8 | ||
| 8 | Florida State | 9–9 | 3–3 vs Miami/Clem/NCST/UNC | |
| 9 | Louisville | 9–9 | 0–4 vs Miami/Clem/NCST/UNC | |
| 10 | Notre Dame | 8–10 | 1–0 vs Syracuse | |
| 11 | Syracuse | 8–10 | 0–1 vs ND | |
| 12 | Boston College | 7–11 | ||
| 13 | Georgia Tech | 6–12 | ||
| 14 | Wake Forest | 4–14 | ||
| 15 | Pittsburgh | 0–18 |
All games were televised on the ACC Network within the ACC footprint and simulcast nationally on the ESPN networks denoted below.
| Session | Game | Time | Matchup | Score | Television | Attendance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First round – Tuesday, March 6 | |||||||
| Opening day | 1 | 12:00 pm | 12 Boston College vs 13 Georgia Tech | 87–77 | ESPN2 | 10,612[4] | |
| 2 | 2:00 pm | 10 Notre Dame vs 15 Pittsburgh | 67–64 | ||||
| 3 | 7:00 pm | 11 Syracuse vs 14 Wake Forest | 73–64 | ESPNU | |||
| Second round – Wednesday, March 7 | |||||||
| 1 | 4 | 12:00 pm | 8 Florida State vs 9 Louisville | 74–82 | ESPN | 17,732[5] | |
| 5 | 2:30 pm | 5 NC State vs 12 Boston College | 87–91 | ||||
| 2 | 6 | 7:00 pm | 7 Virginia Tech vs 10 Notre Dame | 65–71 | ESPN2 | ||
| 7 | 9:30 pm | 6 North Carolina vs 11 Syracuse | 78–59 | ||||
| Quarterfinals – Thursday, March 8 | |||||||
| 3 | 8 | 12:00 pm | 1 Virginia vs 9 Louisville | 75–58 | ESPN | 17,732[6] | |
| 9 | 2:00 pm | 4 Clemson vs 12 Boston College | 90–82 | ||||
| 4 | 10 | 7:00 pm | 2 Duke vs 10 Notre Dame | 88–70 | |||
| 11 | 9:00 pm | 3 Miami vs 6 North Carolina | 65–82 | ||||
| Semifinals – Friday, March 9 | |||||||
| 5 | 12 | 7:00 pm | 1 Virginia vs 4 Clemson | 64–58 | ESPN2 | 18,157[7] | |
| 13 | 9:00 pm | 2 Duke vs 6 North Carolina | 69–74 | ESPN | |||
| Championship – Saturday, March 10 | |||||||
| 6 | 14 | 8:30 pm | 1 Virginia vs 6 North Carolina | 71–63 | ESPN | 18,157[8] | |
| Game times in ET. Rankings denote tournament seed. | |||||||
Three games were played in the first round. In all three, the higher seed advanced.
In the first game, the 12-seed Boston College Eagles took on the 13-seed Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. Boston College got out to a ten-point lead at halftime. They opened the second half on a 15–5 run, bringing their lead to 20 with under 14 minutes to play. A late flurry of scoring by Georgia Tech reduced the Eagles' lead to 6 with only 45 seconds remaining, but BC hit four free throws at the end of the game, ending the chance of a Yellow Jacket comeback. Georgia Tech's Tadric Jackson led all scorers with 29 points in the losing effort.[10]
The second game featured the 10-seed Notre Dame Fighting Irish against the 15-seed Pittsburgh Panthers. The game looked to be one of the biggest mismatches in the tournament, with Notre Dame likely post-season bound with a 20-win season and Pittsburgh entering the tournament having lost every conference game and sporting a woeful 8–24 record. Instead, the two teams played the closest game of the first round, with Notre Dame clinging to a two-point lead with less than a minute remaining; however a controversial loose-ball foul against Pitt's Marcus Carr followed by a turnover by Carr allowed Notre Dame to preserve their lead and close out the game 67–64. Carr's late game mistakes were ironic as his three-pointer was the one that cut the Notre Dame lead to two, and he scored 18 in the game, tied with Jared Wilson-Frame to lead the Panthers in scoring. Notre Dame's Bonzie Colson led all scorers with 19.[11]
The last game of the day featured the 11-seed Syracuse Orange versus the 14-seed Wake Forest Demon Deacons. Syracuse was playing with a short bench, as several injuries limited their ability to substitute. Despite leading by 19 with under eight minutes to play, the wear on Syracuse's starters showed, as they played all but the last 32 seconds of the second half, and that substitution was forced by Tyus Battle's fifth foul of the game. The Demon Deacons had cut the lead to six with fresher legs, but the Orange held on to win 73–64. Wake Forest's Bryant Crawford led all scoring with 22 points.[12]
All-Tournament Teams:[13]
First Team
Second Team