Clemson left little doubt in achieving the rare 3-0 mark against NC State this season.
Clemson used a big second half to roll to a 80-54 win over NC State (23-10) on Thursday in the ACC Tournament in Greensboro, N.C. The Wolfpack will learn its postseason fate Sunday.
Clemson improved 23-9 overall and advanced to face Virginia at 9:30 p.m. Friday. The final tally was definitely similar to Clemson’s win over NC State in Raleigh, but all three games took on different tones.
In the first meeting Dec. 30, senior small forward Hunter Tyson scored 31 for the Tigers, and coach Kevin Keatts publicly questioned the Wolfpack’s toughness. Senior shooting guard Brevin Galloway had 28 points in Clemson’s big win against NC State in Raleigh on Feb. 25. Keatts questioned his team's defensive intensity after that loss.
The character of the third game was simple. NC State jumped out to a 21-10 lead with 10:41 left in the first half. Clemson outscored NCSU 70-34 the rest of the way in stunning fashion. This time it wasn’t Galloway leading the way — and while Tyson was solid — the Tigers found a different way to amass 80 points.
Keatts knew what the difference was Thursday.
“It's a really physical team, and they do a good job of getting into us on ball screens and being physical as we drive,” Keatts said. “They make everything tough. They sit in gaps.
“I think the two most physical teams in our league would be Clemson and UVA."
Clemson junior center PJ Hall and sophomore power forward Ian Schieffelin scored 15 points apiece and surprisingly combined to make 6 of 7 on three-pointers.
“I thought they made some tougher plays than we did, and then when you look at the second half, we just didn't have it,” Keatts said. “We didn't make the shots we normally make. I think we were 0 for 10 from the three-point line.”
NC State got off to a positive start thanks to senior point guard Jarkel Joiner scoring 10 straight points for the Wolfpack in building a 16-10 lead with 13:08 left in the half. Joiner didn't score the rest of the way.
“I thought early in the game I didn't think we fought over the ball screens as well as we needed to,” CU coach Brad Brownell said.
Clemson found its offensive rhythm went on a big 13-0 run, giving the Tigers a 24-20 lead and momentum with 7:42 remaining in the half. Clemson led by as many seven points and had the lead the rest of the half, going into halftime up 39-36.
Clemson went on a crushing 10-0 run to open up a 55-42 lead with 12:43 left, and then it got ugly from there. The Tigers finished the game shooting 50 percent from the field and 11 of 24 on three-pointers for the game.
The Wolfpack were led by D.J. Burns’ 12 points, but the redshirt junior center was hampered by foul trouble. NCSU shot just 35 percent from the field and 5 of 20 on three-pointers. Star guards Joiner and Terquavion Smith combined to go 8 of 30 from the field for 21 points.
“Like coach said, they're a real physical team, and they play in the gaps,” Smith said. “They make you have to distribute the ball. They don't let you get comfortable. Yeah, they're just physical, just all-around physical team.”
NC State played without injured power forward Greg Gantt (right knee injury), but got a spark late in the first half by Jack Clark. He finished the game with 10 points and seven rebounds, and hit a pair of free throws.
Gantt injured his knee against Virginia Tech on Wednesday.
“We're hopeful,” Keatts said. “We don't know. We're going to try to get an MRI in the next day or two just to figure it out. But we're not ruling him out at this point.”
NC State shouldn’t have too much drama on Selection Sunday, but then history has shown that anything can happen when you can’t control your own destiny.
Clemson would be able to help its cause with a win over Virginia.
“We should be in the tournament,” Brownell said. “The way we've played, the margin of victory in most of our games, a lot of these ACC wins, beating these guys the way we did, who's a great team, and they [NC State] should be in. Yes, we should be in the tournament.”
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