They meet again.
On Jan. 26, NC State rallied from being down 67-61 with 19 seconds left to prevail 69-67 over visiting Clemson on sophomore guard Braxton Beverly’s three at the buzzer in one of the most memorable finishes in NC State's recent memory.
Here are some learning lessons from that contest heading into Wednesday’s crucial ACC Tournament showdown:
NC State got lucky
First, acknowledge the reality: It doesn’t necessarily matter how they got there, but the Pack needed Clemson’s help to win the game.
And they got it from the most unlikely of all players, Tigers senior guard Marcquise Reed. The ACC’s top free throw shooter among those who qualify at 84.9 percent inexplicably missed four in a row in the final 13.8 seconds (and after he made 9 of his first 10 free throws in the game). Even Jim Valvano may have a hard time fathoming that.
That was how the Pack was able to close on an 8-0 run in the final 19 seconds to win by two on Beverly’s three at the buzzer.
But prior to that the Pack had control for most of the game
The two teams played fairly tight for the first 10 minutes, but once NC State took the lead at 17-16 on a jumper by redshirt sophomore wing Devon Daniels with 9:36 left before halftime, it held that advantage until 8:14 remaining in the contest when Clemson post player Elijah Thomas tied the score at 49-49.
Thomas’ basket was part of a 12-0 Clemson run that lasted nearly six minutes and began with 10:32 left in the game, turning a 49-41 Wolfpack lead into a four-point Tigers advantage. NC State did not score between junior Markell Johnson’s jumper with 10:44 left and Beverly’s two free throws with 4:47 to go, and it did not make another basket until Johnson connected on a three with 4:11 remaining.
During that long scoreless drought, the Pack went 0 for 6 from the field, including missing two layups (one was blocked by Thomas) and a three-pointer, and had five turnovers. It also gave up three baskets off offensive rebounds by Clemson, half of the Tigers' 12 points during that spurt.
Had NC State played better in those five minutes, the Pack may not have needed luck.
Wolfpack big men will need to play better
Speaking of Thomas, when on the court he crushed the Pack’s post players. Thomas finished with 18 points, six rebounds and three blocks, but he missed some time after picking up a third foul at the 18:19 mark of the second half and played only 26 minutes. Thomas had nine points, three rebounds and a block in the final nine minutes of the contest.
Contrast that with NC State’s duo of redshirt junior Wyatt Walker and redshirt sophomore DJ Funderburk, who combined for just four points and three rebounds with Funderburk fouling out in 20 minutes.
That performance came in the middle of a difficult four-game stretch for Funderburk during which he had a combined total of 10 points. Following that slump, he scored in double digits in six of the last eight games of the regular season, including an 18-point, 9-rebound performance at Florida State.
However, Funderburk scored only four points (though he did grab nine boards) in the Pack’s lopsided win at Boston College Saturday. The Pack will need a quick bounce-back effort from him in its ACC Tournament opener.
Can Clemson shoot better?
The Tigers did not make a three in Raleigh, going 0 for 7 from long range. Reed’s four missed free throws at the end were also part of a subpar day at the line, going 17 of 26, or 65.4 percent. Clemson did shoot 25 of 44 (56.8 percent) from inside the arc.
Clemson is not a prolific shooting team. Its 114 made threes in conference games are only more than two teams — Georgia Tech with 94 and Wake Forest with 112. Only Georgia Tech attempted fewer threes (307) than Clemson’s 340. The Tigers shot just 33.5 percent from beyond the arc in ACC games, although in a sign of how poor a shooting year it has been across the conference that was still good for sixth best.
If you expand the numbers to include all games, the Tigers shot just 32.7 percent on threes, and was one of just three ACC squads to have not made at least 200 threes (joining Georgia Tech and Wake Forest).
While shooting from long range is not a significant part of Clemson’s offense, even making a couple at NC State could have made a difference in the game.
What was a bit of an anomaly was the free throw shooting. The Tigers rank seventh at the line in the ACC at 73.6 percent during the year.
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