#1 Seed NC State Set to Play #3 Seed Duke in the 2025 ACC Tournament Title Game Tomorrow

#1 seed NC State will play #3 seed Duke tomorrow in the 2025 ACC Women’s Basketball Tournament Championship game at 1 PM on ESPN. This follows the Blue Devils’ victory over #2 seed Notre Dame, 61-56, this afternoon.

Despite being the #1 seed, ranking higher in the AP Poll (NC State 7th, Duke 11th), and having beaten Duke 89-83 at home on February 3rd, NC State opened as 2.5-point underdogs against the Blue Devils.

When the two teams faced off just over a month ago, senior first-team All-ACC guard Aziaha James’ career-best 36-point explosion propelled NC State to victory. Though James was the story of the game, the Wolfpack as a unit shot an impressive 61%. Sophomore Guard Zoe Brooks had 14 points on 6 of 11 shooting, and Senior 1st Team All-ACC Guard Saniya Rivers chipped in 13 points (5 of 12 FG) and 4 assists. Freshman center Lorena Awou had one of her better performances of the season, scoring 8 points in 11 minutes. Awou is coming off of a big performance against UNC in the Semifinals today, tying her career high of 10 points.

In their matchup back in February, the Wolfpack held the Blue Devils to 42.7% shooting from the field. NC State had an 18.3% advantage in field goal percentage, but Duke kept the game closer than it should have been by making 11 of 24 three-point shots. The Blue Devils were +12 in offensive rebounds and +13 in second-chance points.

Senior Guard Ashlon Jackson, who just earned 2nd Team All-ACC honors, had 23 points against the Pack back on February 3rd, sinking 6 three-pointers (6-14). Junior Guard Taina Mair had 21 points, making 4 of her 5 three-point attempts. Jackson and Mair combined to make 10 of Duke’s 11 threes.

NC State is 7-4 all-time against Duke in the ACC Tournament. Most of the players currently on the Wolfpack’s roster know what it’s like to beat Duke in the ACC Tournament, having defeated the Blue Devils 54-51 in the Quarterfinals last year.

A Wolfpack win tomorrow would secure their 8th ACC Tournament Championship, tying them with Duke for the third most in conference history.

Most ACC Tournament Championships

1) Maryland – 10
2) UNC – 9
3) Duke – 8
4) NC State – 7 (1980, 1985, 1987, 1991, 2020, 2021, 2022)
5) Notre Dame – 6
6) Virginia – 3
7) Clemson – 2
8) Louisville – 1
9) Virginia Tech – 1