Quick hits and notes from NC State basketball’s 60-54 home win over Clemson in front of 16,553 fans Saturday afternoon at PNC Arena in Raleigh.

This is not going to be a game, for the most part, that junior guard Braxton Beverly is going to fondly remember. Coming off the bench, he picked up two fouls in about a minute and did not play a second the rest of the first half.

Then his first two shots in the second half were off the mark. But all of that was partially forgotten when Beverly nailed a huge corner three-pointer with 49.7 seconds left to put NC State up 59-50.

Some may recall that it was Beverly who hit the buzzer-beating, game-winning three against Clemson in Raleigh last season.

“That guy is a nightmare for me,” Clemson head coach Brad Brownell said.

They came on back-to-back plays.

The first was when senior guard Markell Johnson crossed over on Clemson freshman guard Chase Hunter and left the rookie stumbling while weaving his way through the rest of the Clemson defense to give the Pack a 17-16 lead with 8:28 left in the first half.

Then after Clemson missed its next shot, Johnson led the way on a fast break that resulted in redshirt junior guard Devon Daniels making a nice pass underneath the basket to redshirt junior forward D.J. Funderburk for a dunk.

Those buckets ended what was an 11-1 run that gave NC State the lead for good and led to a Clemson timeout with 7:55 left in the half.

Funderburk’s strong stretch of play continues. This was his eighth straight double-digit scoring performance, but more importantly he notched his first career double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds.

Funderburk had to play extensively due to the first half neck/head injury to freshman center Manny Bates, from which Bates did not return. Funderburk played 36:24, which represented a new career high for him. When Funderburk was in the game, the Pack was plus-17.

Since NC State turned its schedule to full-time ACC play on Jan. 4 at Clemson, Funderburk is averaging 16.0 points and 8.4 rebounds a contest.

Some of NC State’s win can be credited to a reversion to the mean for Clemson.

When the two teams met Jan. 4 in Clemson, the Tigers went 8 of 18 from threes in the first half in building a 41-35 halftime advantage. The Tigers cooled off from long range in the second half (1 of 10), but it was money at the line, finishing going 26 of 31 (83.9 percent).

For some perspective, this season Clemson is shooting an average of 32.8 percent on threes and 69.5 percent at the line.

This Saturday, Clemson went in the other direction. It never caught fire from long range and finished 5 of 20, or 25.0 percent. It was also atrocious at the line, making just 9 of 23.

The Pack was probably due for some luck at the free throw line. In its first six ACC games, five of the opponents have shot better than their respective season averages. The last four have all made at least 80.0 percent of their attempts.

Clemson jumped out to an early 15-8 led thanks almost entirely to junior forward Aamir Simms, who is enjoying a breakout season that could land him on an all-conference team. Simms had 12 of Clemson’s first 15 points.

With 11:02 left in the first half, Daniels made a three-pointer that was the start of a dominating 16 minutes of action for NC State. Between Daniels’ three and a Clemson timeout with 15:05 left, the Wolfpack outscored the Tigers 39-14 to build what was its largest lead of the game at 47-29.

After fifth-year senior guard C.J. Bryce made a three-pointer to put NC State up 47-29, the offense went ice cold for the Pack for the remainder of the game.

NC State went 5 of 22 from the field after that point, with Beverly’s corner three-pointer being the lone made long range shot out of 10 attempts. It also committed five turnovers, including a 10 second violation with 31 seconds left that gave the ball back to Clemson while NC State was holding onto an eight-point lead.

The result of that stretch was NC State finished the game shooting just 39.2 percent from the field. However, with Clemson shooting only 37.7 percent, the Pack was able to win a game where it shot less than 40.0 percent from the field. NC State has only shot that poorly twice before this year, losing at home to Georgia Tech in overtime and at Virginia Tech.

Here we keep track of the scoring between each official timeout to help give an idea of the game flow:

First half

20:00-15:15: NC State 5, Clemson 3

15:15-11:40: Clemson 12, NC State 3

11:40-7:55: NC State 11, Clemson 1

7:55-3:42: NC State 8, Clemson 3

3:42-Halftime: NC State 9, Clemson 5

Second half

20:00-14:23: NC State 11, Clemson 7

14:23-12:00: Clemson 3, NC State 0

12:00-7:57: Clemson 7, NC State 2

7:57-3:36: NC State 5, Clemson 2

3:36-Final: Clemson 11, NC State 6

Using Hollinger’s measure of productivity, players are graded 1-40 with 10 being average for an NBA player.

Daniels: 12.7

Funderburk: 10.9

Johnson: 8.7

Bryce: 6.5

Bates: 1.3

Beverly: 0.4

Senior center Danny Dixon: 0.0

Senior forward Pat Andree: -1.4

Sophomore forward Jericole Hellems: -1.5

Here is the plus/minus for each player (the difference between points scored while they were on the floor) on NCSU.

• Funderburk +17 (36:24 minutes played)

• Daniels +11 (35:09)

• Andree +7 (16:37)

• Bryce +6 (40:00)

• Johnson +2 (33:36)

• Bates +1 (5:55)

• Hellems -1 (18:39)

• Beverly -5 (7:31)

• Dixon -8 (6:09)

NC State is 13-5 overall and 4-3 in the ACC (above .500 in conference play for the first time), and Clemson is 9-8 and 3-4. The Wolfpack now leads the all-time series 104-54 and is 10-5 against the Tigers in PNC Arena. It has won four straight versus Clemson in Raleigh.

The Pack is 11-1 at home this year. NC State is 7-3 in day games (played before 6 p.m.), 8-2 in weekend games and 12-1 when leading at halftime.

The game was broadcast on RSN. During the season, we’ll keep track of how NC State does on the various networks.

- ACC Network Extra: 3-0

- ESPN+: 1-0

- RSN: 4-1

- ACC Network: 3-2

- ESPN2: 2-2

We will also track NC State’s records by month:

- November: 5-2

- December: 5-1

- January: 3-2

• Clemson won the battle in the paint, 24-22.

• Both teams had five fast break points.

• State’s bench beat Clemson’s reserves, 15-8.

• The Tigers had the edge in turnover margin 13-12, but NC State won the points off turnovers, 17-11.

• NC State won the battle on the boards 40-37 overall, while Clemson had a 9-7 edge on the offensive glass. Clemson had the 10-6 advantage on second-chance points.

• Defensively, NC State had four blocks, altered three more and nabbed four steals. The Tigers had three blocks, four alters and seven steals.

• NC State’s largest lead was 18 points, while Clemson’s was seven. NC State led for 32:02 compared to 6:02 for the Tigers. The game was tied for 1:56.

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