Quick hits and notes from NC State’s thrilling 69-67 win over stunned Clemson in front of 18,180 jubilant fans at PNC Arena in Raleigh Saturday afternoon.
Play and highlight of the game
In case you were hiding under a rock.
Player of the game
Beverly has the indelible moment of the afternoon, but NC State did not get great performances from many players. Beverly himself was 2-of-9 shooting and 0 for 4 on three-pointers before making his buzzer-beater.
NC State’s most consistent performer in the afternoon was redshirt junior wing C.J. Bryce. He made 5 of 8 shots, including all three of his three-pointers, and finished with 15 points and a team-best seven rebounds in 33 minutes.
Over his last three games, Bryce has made 11 of 14 three-pointers. Prior to that he had made 14 of 41 threes (34.1 percent). In the past four ACC contests, Bryce is averaging 17.5 points per game.
Another close ACC game
NC State has played seven game conference games, and thus far none have been easy:
• At Miami, NC State rallied from down 10 in the second half to take the lead at 75-74 with 6:34 left, and the Pack’s lead was just 81-78 with less than a minute left.
• Against UNC, Bryce shot a three that would have cut a four-point Heels lead down to one with less than a minute left but misfired. The game was tied twice in the second half.
• Versus Pitt, fifth-year senior wing Eric Lockett broke a tie with a pair of free throws with 5:00 left.
• In a stunning loss at Wake Forest, NC State rallied from 22 down to tie the game, and Wake’s lead was just one at 67-66 with less than 1:30 to go.
• At Notre Dame, the Pack needed redshirt sophomore wing Devon Daniels to calmly make a pair of free throws with 11.3 seconds left to take a four-point lead and put the contest out of reach.
• At Louisville, NC State had the ball down two when it turned it over with 46 seconds left.
• And of course the Clemson contest literally came down to the last shot.
Free throw line
This is an update of an item from the previous quick hits column after Clemson became the seventh straight ACC team to shoot more free throws and make more than the Pack. Here are the point-disparities in league games only:
• At Miami: plus-2 Miami (Hurricanes shot 11 more attempts)
• Vs. UNC: plus-10 UNC (Heels shot nine more attempts)
• Vs. Pitt: plus-5 Pitt (Panthers shot three more attempts)
• At Wake Forest: plus-16 Wake (Deacons shot 19 more attempts)
• At Notre Dame: plus-8 Notre Dame (Irish shot nine more attempts)
• At Louisville: plus-19 Louisville (Cards shot 22 more attempts)
• Vs. Clemson: plus-5 Clemson (Tigers shot 13 more attempts)
For the year, ACC teams have shot 86 more free throws than NC State and outscored the Pack by 65 points at the line. That's an average of 12.3 more free throw attempts and 9.3 points.
A sluggish affair
Clemson made 49 percent and NC State 44.4 percent. Yet the shooting was almost identical. That’s because neither team shot as much as you’d expect in a normal Pack game. Clemson was 25 of 51 and NC State was 24 of 54. The 105 combined shots were 13 fewer than any previous ACC game involving the Wolfpack. It was also, by one shot, the fewest combined in a game all season for NC State.
Both teams were responsible for 15 turnovers as well.
One major difference though was three-point shooting. NC State was 9 for 24, or 37.5 percent. Clemson went 0 for 7. It is the first time this year a team did not make a three against NC State. The Tigers are not a good three-point shooting team, making just 29.9 percent in ACC play, but it had made at least two in every game this season prior to Saturday.
It is the first time Clemson has not made a three-pointer in a game since 2012.
Spotted at the game
Relatively recently offered guard Carter Whitt, a sophomore at Leesville Road High in Raleigh, was in attendance.
Former players there included a pair of seven-footers in Jordan Vandenberg and Tommy Burleson. Also there was Ernie Myers and Dereck Whittenburg. The rifle team was introduced during one of the official timeouts.
Scoring between official timeouts
This year we have kept track of the scoring between each official timeout to help give an idea of the game flow:
First half
20:00-15:39: NC State 4, Clemson 4
15:39-10:26: Clemson 12, NC State 9
10:26-7:55: NC State 8, Clemson 1
7:55-3:55: NC State 4, Clemson 2
3:55-Halftime: NC State 5, Clemson 5
Second half
20:00-15:28: NC State 7, Clemson 6
15:28-11:01: Clemson 10, NC State 9
11:01-7:33: Clemson 9, NC State 3
7:33-3:48: Clemson 10, NC State 5
3:48-Final: NC State 15, Clemson 10
Plus/minus
Here is the plus/minus for each player (the difference between points scored while they were on the floor) on NCSU.
• Lockett +9 (20 minutes played)
• Freshman forward Jericole Hellems +8 (6)
• Redshirt junior center Wyatt Walker +3 (17)
• Beverly +4 (30)
• Fifth-year senior wing Torin Dorn 0 (32)
• Junior guard Markell Johnson -1 (23)
• Daniels -1 (19)
• Bryce -3 (33)
• Redshirt sophomore center DJ Funderburk -9 (21)
Game scores
Using Hollinger’s measure of productivity, players are graded 1-40 with 10 being average.
Bryce: 12.9
Beverly: 10.1
Johnson: 8.6
Dorn: 5.1
Daniels: 3.2
Lockett: 2.8
Hellems: -0.8
Funderburk: -1.8
Walker: -1.8
What the win means
The Pack is 16-4 overall on the season and 4-3 in the ACC. Clemson is 11-8 and 1-5. The Pack leads the all-time series 102-53, including 50-14 in Raleigh and 9-5 at PNC Arena.
NC State falls to 14-1 at home, 8-0 in day games (tips before 6 a.m.). It is 9-0 on weekend contests and improves to 15-1 when leading at halftime. The six-point advantage at the break over Clemson (30-24) was NC State’s largest in an ACC game.
The game was broadcast on Raycom. During the season, we’ll keep track of how NC State does on the various networks.
- ACC Network Extra: 6-0
- RSN: 3-0
- ESPNU: 2-0
- ESPN2: 2-1
- Raycom: 3-2
- ESPN: 0-1
We will also track NC State’s records by month:
- November: 6-1
- December: 6-0
- January: 4-3
- February: 0-0
- March: 0-0
Other stats of note
• Clemson crushed the battle in the paint, outscoring the Pack, 42-18.
• The Tigers had a 12-10 win in fast-break points.
• Defensively, NC State had no blocks and three steals. It is just the second time this year the Pack did not block a shot in a game. Clemson had eight steals and four rejections.
• Clemson’s overall rebound advantage was 33-26, including 10-7 on the offensive glass. That led to a 10-6 edge in second chance points.
• NC State’s bench outscored the Tigers’ reserves 28-13.
• NC State led for 23:14, Clemson for 13:03 and the game was tied for 3:43. The largest lead for State was nine and for the Tigers it was six.
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