NC State basketball struggles to make shots, falls to Clemson, 70-65
N.C. State had an nontraditional approach to its game against Clemson — forget the traditional field goal baskets, let’s live off of 3s and free throws.
That strategy kept them in the game for a while, but some triples and timely foul shots weren’t enough against ACC competition.
The Wolfpack couldn’t overcome its shooting deficiencies and dropped to 1-4 in the ACC after a 70-65 loss to the Tigers.
On the defensive end of the floor, N.C. State had no answer for Clemson’s P.J. Hall (20 points, two shy of career high) who scored at will against a trio of defenders Kevin Keatts threw at him.
Hall’s big game aside, the Pack couldn’t buy a bucket on offense. At least not an easy one. N.C. State connected on 9 made 3-pointers, just 11 made shots from inside the three-point line.
The Wolfpack (8-8, 1-4) shot 32 percent from three-point range, slightly above its season average of 31 percent. The team’s sixth field goal of the game, a layup by Thomas Allen, pulled State within two, but layups from Hunter Tyson and Al-Amir Dawes kept the Tigers ahead. Alex Hemenway, who didn’t play in the first half, hit three free throws for Clemson, pushing the lead to seven. For a team that was struggling to shoot, that deficit might as well have been 20.
Hands down N.C. State’s best player, Dereon Seabron’s (27 points) first made basket was a 3. He hit more than one from long range for the first time in his career. That turned out to not be a good thing for N.C. State, who settled for one long 3 after another instead of attacking the paint.
Seabron, Allen and Cam Hayes were the only players who scored a field goal that wasn’t a 3-point shot.
Freshman Terquavion Smith, the team’s second-best scoring option, struggled, finishing with 2 points and was 0-for-7 from the field.
Typically a second half team that averages close to 40 points after intermission, the Wolfpack waited too long to get things going this time. N.C. State got as close as five twice in the last five minutes, but Clemson had an answer each time.
In the first half N.C. State only connected on a pair of two-point field goals. The first was a layup from Seabron with 4:58 remaining in the first half. The only other basket inside the three-point line was an Allen layup that cut the Clemson lead to six, 28-22. The Pack ended the first half with, shocker, two more 3s to pull to within two, 30-28, at the break.
The last three, by Cam Hayes, helped N.C. State avoid tying its season low for points in one half.
The Wolfpack started the game on a 9-0 run after triples from Allen, Seabron and Jericole Hellems. N.C. State missed its next six shots from the field, allowing the Tigers to build an eight-point advantage.
The Pack had won its previous four home meetings against Clemson. Keatts was previously undefeated against the Tigers inside PNC Arena.
