North Carolina's furious comeback against Duke in the ACC Tournament semifinals came up short after Jae'lyn Withers committed a lane violation on teammate Ven-Allen Lubin's successful second free throw attempt — which had it counted,

North Carolina just blew its shot at the ACC Tournament championship game in perhaps the worst way possible. With just 4.1 seconds left in the semifinal matchup against No. 1 seed Duke on Friday, UNC was called for a lane violation on a potential game-tying free throw.

What began with 15 teams has dwindled to two in Charlotte, North Carolina, as the ACC Tournament bracket has chewed up and spit out 13 others to leave us with No. 1 seed Duke and No. 2 Louisville with only Saturday's title game remaining.

Copyright © 2025 Bleacher Report, Inc. A Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All Rights Reserved.

Louisville held off a late rally themselves in their semifinal against Clemson ultimately prevailing 76-73. Terrence Edwards Jr. led the Cardinals with 21 points with J’Vonne Hadley chipping in 20 and nine rebounds. Louisville has never won the ACC Championship.

After North Carolina cut a 24-point, second-half deficit to one, Ven-Allen Lubin had two free throws with 4.1 seconds left to potentially give the Tar Heels (22-13) the lead. But he missed the first and had the second made free throw waved off after teammate Jae’Lyn Withers stepped in the lane too early.

Top-ranked Duke played without Cooper Flagg and Maliq Brown in its win against rival North Carolina in the Atlantic Conference Tournament because of injuries.