GREENSBORO — Turns out, only one win was needed.

No. 15 Florida State will play Georgia Tech for the ACC Tournament championship Saturday night, each having won just once this week. The Seminoles dispatched Carolina 69-66 on Friday night in the lone semifinal on a day when Virginia joined Duke having to pull out of the event due to COVID-19 issues.

It happened a year to the day the tournament was halted with Clemson and Florida State warming up for the first 2020 quarterfinal.

The Virginia decision came during the morning, sending the fourth-seeded Yellow Jackets into the title game with just a quarterfinal win over Miami. The second-seeded Seminoles didn’t play their quarterfinal Thursday because of Duke’s situation.

The Tar Heels’ Roy Williams said there was thought of whether to play.

“I did think about it, and talked to one of my staff members,” he said. “I don’t think there’s any great answer.”

As for playing a third game while Florida State was in its first, he made no excuses saying, “That’s part of the game.”

He did offer that all of the players throughout the country, not just in the ACC, deserve tremendous credit for going through a season that is unlike a usual college experience.

His team’s loss, however, had some characteristics seen before. The shooting was poor, Florida State’s length on defense was bothersome particularly to his freshmen perimeter players, and the low post didn’t deliver a punishing punch.

All credit, he said, went to the garnet and gold.

“We didn’t play well,” Williams said. “But you’ve got to give Florida State credit for that. Their defense was stronger than our offense.”

Saturday will mark the second time in league history that no North Carolina-based team will appear in the ACC championship game. The only other time came in 1990, when Final Four-bound Georgia Tech beat Virginia in Charlotte. That game and Saturday are the only matchups pitting expansion teams not among the original charter members in spring of 1953: Florida State joined in July 1991, Georgia Tech in April 1978, and Virginia in December 1953.

Balsa Koprivica had career highs of 17 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Seminoles (16-5), who blew a 13-point lead, then rallied from five down midway through the second half. Anthony Polite hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 2:06 left.

Scottie Barnes, both the ACC Rookie of the Year and its Sixth Man of the Year, had 11 points, five rebounds and four assists.

Caleb Love scored 13 points to lead the Tar Heels, who shot 34 percent for the game and made just one of eight shots over the last four minutes. Fellow freshman Kerwin Walton scored all 11 of his points after halftime, helping the Tar Heels dig out of that first-half hole.

“Their defense late in the game was much stronger than our offense was,” Williams said. “We didn’t get a good shot at all after R.J.’s free throws put us up.”

R.J. Davis’ three free throws with 3:15 left gave Carolina a 64-62 lead. Carolina had led by five with 9:58 to play.

The Tar Heels (18-10) had won 13 of 18 since New Year’s, including 101-59 over Notre Dame and 81-73 over No. 22-ranked Virginia Tech to open play in the Coliseum.

Florida State lost at Carolina and Notre Dame on the season’s last two Saturdays to finish second behind Virginia. Now they hope to claim a third tournament title, joining their 2012 crown as well as last year when they were awarded the trophy as the regular-season champion because the league shut the tournament down at the outset of the pandemic.

Carolina, once considered among the bluebloods like Kentucky and Duke playing a season in shambles, is destined for the NCAA Tournament. Players said this week’s wins will give them a boost.

“We found out how deep we are,” Love said. “We’ve got guys that can come off the bench and give us a lift. This is tough. We wanted that championship.”

He missed 10 shots before fouling out. Armando Bacot scored 12.

Big men Day’Ron Sharpe, Garrison Brooks and Walker Kessler combined to shoot 3-for-9 and score 12 points.

“We know we can play with any team now,” Bacot said. “If we play our best game, go out there from the jump, we can play with anyone.”