Clemson falls short in battle with UNC

Hall scored a Clemson-best 24 points. (Photo: Ken Ruinard / USATODAY)

by TigerNet Staff - Tue Feb 08 20:30:33 GMT-04:00 2022

The Clemson men’s basketball team couldn’t close the deal on some history early Tuesday evening in Littlejohn Coliseum.

Brad Brownell’s Tigers (12-11, 4-8 ACC) were seeking the school's first three-game winning streak over North Carolina, but the Tar Heels (17-7, 9-4) hung on to a 79-77 victory. Clemson slipped to 12th in the ACC standings with the defeat.

The game is the first of three home contests in five days for Clemson, to be continued on Thursday at 8 p.m. versus No. 7 Duke (ACC Network).

Neither team could seize control in the second half.

UNC built on a 5-point halftime edge and extended it to nine, but after the first of two flagrant fouls on the Tar Heels in the second half, Clemson tallied five points out of a possession to cut the UNC lead to one. Alex Hemenway and freshman forward Ian Schieffelin stepped up from there to keep the game tight. Schieffelin finished with 12 points.

UNC star big man Armando Bacot, who had scored a game-high 23 points on 8-of-9 shooting and grabbed nine rebounds through 28 minutes, picked up a flagrant foul – and his fourth for the game – with just under 12 minutes left and was subbed out. Clemson took its first lead since the waning moments of the first half shortly after on a Naz Bohannon layup.

Back-and-forth the action went from there and Bacot returned to the game with six to go.

PJ Hall’s hook shot over Bacot gave Clemson a 73-72 edge with over two minutes left for Hall to reach the 20-point mark. UNC’s Brady Manek answered with a jumper from the baseline to put UNC back on top, but Hall’s layup attempt on the ensuing possession placed the Tigers back in the lead after a goaltend from Bacot. On UNC’s next possession, Bacot collided with Clemson’s David Collins off the ball to foul out.

After an offensive foul from Hall gave UNC the ball back, Caleb Love sunk a 3-pointer to give the Tar Heels back the advantage and Hall answered with a quick layup to tie things up at 77 with 15 seconds left.

Out of a Tar Heels timeout, Manek got open for the layup off of a Love drive and assist that put Clemson down by two with 3.1 seconds left. Collins’ 3-point attempt from the wing was then short off of the rim to close out the game.

"I'm just disappointed in our last defensive play," Brownell said. "We wanted to leave a guy and help protect the basketball and (Collins) kind of ball-watched and they back-cut him for the layup so that was a disappointing play."

Hall led Clemson with 24 points. Bacot finished with 24 points and 10 rebounds.

Clemson led by as much as 11 in the first half, but it was the Tar Heels that took momentum into the break.

The Tigers ran out to an 8-0 lead to start and pulled out to a 19-8 advantage halfway through the first 20 minutes. Bacot took over the final stretch, however.

Bacot scored eight of UNC’s next 13 points to tie the game up at 21 and his dunk with three seconds left gave the Tar Heels a 30-25 halftime lead. Bacot scored a period-best 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting and hitting 3-of-4 from the free throw line. Hit with his second foul late in the half, Clemson’s Hall scored seven points on 3-of-8 shooting with one rebound in the first 20 minutes.

Both teams shot over 55% in the second half after some shooting woes in the first half. UNC finished at 50% for the game with five in double-figures scoring.

"Obviously very proud of our kids. Hard-fought defensive game in the first half, both teams struggled to score. Really bothered each other," Brownell said. "Then halftime, not sure what happened. Both teams didn't play very good defensively. Really it was offensive confidence. I thought both teams' offense was incredible. Our defense wasn't good enough. We had a couple busted coverages late, especially the last possession -- just watching on film. But man, I'm really proud of our players for some of the plays we made -- the tough shots, the answering. What a basketball game to come watch, that was a lot of fun until the horn sounded. That ball (from Collins) was right on line and just short.

"Again, feel bad for my players. We've battled here a little bit and had some things go against us but just really proud of what they're giving me and how hard they're competing. Fun to watch Ian Schieffelin have a big game and make some good plays. PJ was great again. Just a whale of a basketball game. Just ended poorly."

Thursday's opponent Duke is coming off of a 69-68 home loss to Virginia. Duke won the first meeting 71-69 in Cameron Indoor Stadium, where Clemson led as late as five minutes to go and the game was tied with just over two minutes to go.