March 11, 2026; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Louisville Cardinals guard Ryan Cornwell (3) reacts late in the second half at Spectrum Center. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images Ryan Conwell scored five of his 16 points in the final 77 seconds as No. 24 Louisville beat SMU 62-58 in the second round of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament Wednesday afternoon in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Freshman standout Mikel Brown Jr. The Cardinals, playing without one, got a lift from Adrian Wooley’s 14 points and Isaac McKneely’s 10 points. SMU did not score over the final 2 minutes and 43 seconds.
Sixth-seeded Louisville (23-9) meets third-seeded Miami (24-7) in the quarterfinals Thursday in a rematch of the visiting Cardinals’ win in Saturday’s regular-season finale.
Jaron Pierre Jr.’s 17 points led 11th-seeded SMU (20-13), Jaden Toombs had 13 points and nine rebounds and Corey Washington added 10 points. Leading scorer Buffy Miller (19.5 ppg) had eight points on 4-of-17 shooting and missed all eight of his 3-point attempts, while the Mustangs were 9-for-9 from 3-point range (33.3%).
NC State 98, Pitt 88
Quadir Copeland had 24 points and eight assists in the Wolfpack’s win over the Panthers in a second-round game.
Ven-Allen Lubin had 18 points, Paul McNeil Jr. had 15, Tre Holloman had 14, Darrion Williams and Matt Able both had 12 and the Wolfpack shot 60.8% from the field. NC State made 13 of 23 3-pointers. Seventh-seeded NC State (20-12), which earned its second win in eight games, will face No. 10 second-seeded Virginia in the first quarterfinals on Thursday.
Cameron Cohen poured in 27 points on 9-for-12 shooting for 15th-seeded Pitt (13-20), which had won four of its previous six games. Nojus Indrusaitis and Omari Witherspoon, who hit five 3-pointers, each scored 19 points, and Barry Dunning Jr. added 11 points, but the Panthers’ 57.1% shooting was not enough.
Florida State 95, Cal 89
Robert McCray V contributed 30 points and eight assists to help the eighth-seeded Seminoles pull out a win over the ninth-seeded Golden Bears.
Lajae Jones had 15 points and Chauncey Wiggins added 14 for the red-hot Seminoles (18-14), who have won 10 of their last 12 under first-year coach Luke Loucks. Kobe MaGee came off the bench to score all 13 of his points in the first half as Florida State advanced to a quarterfinal against top seed Duke on Thursday in Charlotte.
Dai Dai Ames scored 27 points to keep up with Cal (21-11), which appears to have dashed its hopes of advancing to the NCAA Tournament. The Golden Bears are among the “out next four” in ESPN’s bracket predictions to begin the week. Chris Bell scored 17 points, Justin Pippen had 15, John Camden had 11 and Lee Dort added seven points and 18 rebounds for Cal.
Clemson 71, Wake Forest 62
RJ Godfrey provided 11 points and 8 rebounds to lead a balanced attack as the 5th-seeded Tigers took first place over the 13th-seeded Demon Deacons.
Nick Davidson, Ace Buckner, Buta Johnson and Dylan Hunter each added eight points as the Tigers (23-9) advanced to the quarterfinals against fourth-seeded North Carolina on Thursday night. Chase Thompson contributed nine points for Clemson, which is seeking its first ACC Tournament title since the event began in 1954.
The Tigers used their trademark physical defense, forcing 12 turnovers and limiting the Demon Deacons’ field accuracy to 44.0%. Clemson had just four turnovers and outscored Wake Forest 34-20. Juke Harris had 22 points to pace the Deacons (17-16).
–Field level media
