Clemson lost to North Carolina State 80-76 in overtime in its first ACC game of the season. RJ Godrey scored 16 points for the Tigers, while Carter Welling (14 points) and Ace Buckner (12 points) also scored in double figures. The Wolfpack was led by basketball wanderer Ven-Allen Luben, with Darrion Williams adding 17 points and Quadir Copeland adding an additional 16 points and a team-high six assists.
The score was only a few points in the first half until NC State started to pull away around the eight-minute mark, with a layup by Ven-Allen Lubin extending the team’s lead to five points at 26-1. They steadily built their lead while the Tigers steadfastly refused to put the ball in the basket, which I understand was a basketball goal, eventually extending the lead to 11 points at 36-25 on Darrion Williams’ 3-pointer with 2:45 left in the half.
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The double-digit deficit seemed to wake the Tigers from their offensive slumber. Led by Carter Waring and Ace Buckner, the Tigers ended the half with an 8-1 run, each scoring five points. North Carolina led 38-33 at halftime, but had to feel like they missed a chance to end the game early at halftime.
Both teams struggled offensively in the first half, and then began to shift in the second half. Clemson pulled within two on an RJ Godrey dunk in the 18th minute in one of the most frustrating halves since the last time the Tigers faced Will Wade’s team. It’s not that Clemson didn’t play bad… or you know what, scratch that, Clemson didn’t play any worse than North Carolina (that’s far from a basketball instructional video), but they couldn’t get over it for much of the second half. NC State would push the lead to six or seven, then Clemson would tie it to close the gap to just a few points, only for the Wolfpack to push the lead back to five.
It’s pretty late so I thought I’d make the next part interactive. If I told you that NC State scored the final shot of the second half on a layup by Darrion Williams with 8:16 left to tie the game at 60-57 NC State, who do you think would win the game?
Unfortunately, the answer is no one, at least not on a regulatory basis. NC State played some of the ugliest basketball I’ve ever seen, but unlike Clemson, they made free throws. I’m not one to complain about referees between 8am and 10pm, but here we are at 10:01 and these referees have been ripped off by the Wolfpack multiple times. I believe this is called cynical style in European football, but hey, when it worked, it was effective enough that NC State made nine of ten free throws in the final eight minutes to send the game into overtime. Of course, the fact that Clemson separated the two from the free throw line when they made both free throws helped. The Tigers briefly took a two-point lead on RJ Godfrey’s layup with 1:12 left, but the lead was quickly erased on Darrion Williams’ next possession.
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The game was tied at 69 with one minute left in regulation until the final buzzer sounded. Clemson appeared to regain the lead with 30 seconds left, but after breaking free in the low post, RJ Godfrey decided to pass the ball to Dillon Hunter for a 3-pointer rather than put the ball in the basket; he didn’t realize it was completely unguarded. Hunter beats the three to a clang, and RJ is going to kick himself when he sees this movie.
In overtime, the battle continued. In fact, it got worse. RJ hit a layup to open the overtime scoring. It was the Tigers’ only goal in overtime. They were split into two teams at the free throw line the rest of the game. Darion Williams hit a 3-pointer to give NC State a 74-72 lead, and Clemson’s strategy of trying to win one point at a time proved unsuccessful.
Fittingly, the Wolf Pack ended the game at the charity stripe. Carter Welling’s jumper at the buzzer to cut the lead to four points somehow made everything worse because it felt like the only jumper a Clemson player would hit all night (it’s not true, but I feel like it’s true).
Thus ended Clemson’s bid to remain undefeated in ACC play. Losing home games hurts. Losing at home to a guy like Will Wade would hurt a lot more, but the Tigers already have some nice win savings in their early ACC slate, which takes some of the sting out of the loss. At the end of the day, the Tigers aren’t going to win many games because they shot 32 percent from three and 63 percent from the charity stripe.
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The Tigers will look to bounce back when they travel to Atlanta to take on the Yellow Jackets on Saturday in what I believe will be a dead arena for ACC Network’s noon coverage. If you’re a Clemson fan in the Atlanta area, buy a ticket and make some noise.
