Thrice is nice: Tigers complete season sweep of Wolfpack, advance to ACC semis

Ian Schieffelin scored nine points in the first half, where the Tigers led by three, and finished tied for a Clemson-high with 15 (Merrell Mann photo).

by Brandon Rink - Staff Writer - Thu Mar 09 23:28:34 GMT-04:00 2023

GREENSBORO, North Carolina - They say it’s difficult to beat a team three times in a season. The 2022-23 Clemson men’s basketball team would beg to differ.

Clemson (23-9) pulled away to a 80-54 win over the sixth-seeded Wolfpack (23-10) to complete a three-game sweep of NC State in a single season for the first time since the 1993-94 season. The victory also marked a sixth consecutive victory in the series, which matched a run from 1992-96 against the Wolfpack.

In the big picture, the Tigers entered the game as close as the “First Four Out” of NCAA Tournament projections and the victory over NC State added another NET Quadrant 1 win to the resume. Clemson now gets another shot at a Q1 win on Friday against the second-seeded Virginia Cavaliers (9:30 p.m. ET/ESPN2).

Clemson head coach Brad Brownell says his Tigers made a statement.

"100 percent. Like five Quad 1 wins [Editor's note: four Q1 wins according to metrics now]," Brownell said. "Who can you beat and where can you beat them, right? You don't play those games at home. We've got four Quad 1 wins away from home [Editor's note: three listed now]. Yes, we should be in the (NCAA) tournament. Obviously I think that, and I'm pretty adamant about it. I thought we had to win today for sure to make sure, but to me we should be in.

"I guess we've had two or three bad days. We've had some injuries that impacted a couple of those days. If that doesn't matter, whatever, that's fine, but like in '19 I was left out because we were 1-8 or 9 just like North Carolina, and we were left out with a NET of 35. NC State was left out that year with a 33 NET. This year our NET is higher, but we've got five Quad 1 wins [Editor's note: four]. We should be in the tournament. This team, 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 should be in.

"Yes, we should be in the (NCAA) tournament."

The Tigers overcame a sluggish start for a narrow edge at the break.

Clemson hit just four of its first 12 shot attempts and trailed by as much as nine points in the first half, but a night after shooting 62% from the field in a 20-point win, more shots were banging off the rim and out for the Wolfpack.

NC State missed 7-of-8 at one point while its lead evaporated and Clemson seized a four-point edge.

That Clemson advantage grew to as much as six with strong efforts inside – and outside – from the big men with nine points from Ian Schieffelin and 11 from PJ Hall, who combined to sink four of the Tigers’ six 3-pointers.

The Wolfpack closed the Clemson edge to three points with a Jack Clark trey, 39-36, and finished hitting 50% of their first-half attempts from beyond the arc.

The dueling big men of Hall and Ben Middlebrooks and NC State’s DJ Burns battled in the paint, but both Burns and Hall went to the bench early in the second half after third-foul calls. Burns, listed 6-9 275, repeatedly backed down Clemson defenders and did get his points as Clemson repeated its defensive strategy from their meeting in Raleigh with no double-team, but the Wolfpack’s overall pace was slowed from what they like.

"Rebounded the ball extremely well, and then the longer the game went, I thought we played with really good poise. We're playing pretty good basketball right now and we have most of the year, and really proud of these guys," Brownell said. "Ian played phenomenally well today. But really we had a lot of guys play well. Our bench was fantastic. Dillon (Hunter) and Ben were exceptional. R.J. (Godfrey) was good with his athleticism. That's what you need in a tournament setting. You need more than your starters, and I thought we got that tonight, so I'm really pleased with our group. Excited for tomorrow."

An 8-0 run extended Clemson's lead to its best yet at 11 with 13:23 to go.

A 10-0 Tigers run put the game largely out of reach to take a 19-point edge with 7:53 left, which was capped by another Schieffelin trey. Schieffelin’s third 3-pointer in as many tries made it 72-48 Clemson with just over four minutes left and gave him 15 points.

Hall matched Schieffelin's Clemson-best 15, while Hunter Tyson completed his third double-double in as many games versus NC State this season (10 points/12 rebounds; 16th double-double of the season - tying himself for fifth all-time in program history for a single season).

Clemson won by 14 and 25 in the previous meetings with the Wolfpack this season.

"I think it's the way they defend. Obviously they press the ball and we have guards who can get in the paint and make plays," Tigers graduate guard Brevin Galloway said on keys to Clemson's success over NC State. "We have nothing but shooters around, so whenever you add that to the equation, with the spacing they give up and with our playmaking ability -- it's the perfect recipe for us."

The Tigers' bench out-scored NC State's 20-4.

The Wolfpack finished shooting 35% from the field overall, while Clemson connected on 50% of its attempts.

Clemson has won a game in the ACC Tournament five of the last seven trips and will go for the first run under Brownell with multiple wins on Friday, versus the Cavaliers. Clemson has won multiple games in the ACC Tournament twice in its history, last in the 2007-08 season.