NC State basketball falls to Clemson, bows out of ACC tournament in quarterfinal loss

One basketball adage is that it’s hard to beat a team three times in a season.

But not always. Not if you’re the better, tougher team. Clemson, better and tougher than N.C. State, beat the Wolfpack for the third time Thursday, taking an 80-54 victory in the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament at the Greensboro Coliseum.

“I feel like they out-toughed us every time we played them,” Wolfpack guard Jarkel Joiner said in a glum locker room after the game.

The Tigers (23-9), seeded third in tournament, were also more determined, believing they needed a win or two this week to fully secure a spot in the NCAA tournament. The urgency showed.

The Wolfpack (23-10) may have solidified its NCAA position by ripping Virginia Tech 97-77 in its first tournament game Wednesday. But it will have to wait until Sunday to see if it’s picked and where it’s seeded, and the lopsided loss Thursday could hurt.

“I feel like we’ve done enough,” Joiner said. “We’ve got a lot of big wins, won when we needed to. We’ve got to stay together as a team and we’ll see Sunday.”

The Pack, which has not won an ACC championship since 1987, was at its best against the Hokies as Terquavion Smith ignited for 30 points and Joiner had 20 points and 10 assists. The Wolfpack, the No. 6 seed, cranked up its defensive pressure and transition game and led by 27 at halftime.

Smith and Joiner were limited to 21 points Thursday as Smith had 11 on 5-of-18 shooting and Joiner going 3-of-12. The Pack shot 35% percent for the game -- going 5-of-20 on 3’s -- and was outscored 41-18 in the second half.

The Tigers, which earned a double bye in the tournament, did not get a big scoring game from anyone but did get get 15 points from forward Ian Schieffelin, who was averaging five a game. P.J. Hall, always a hard worker, also had 15 points despite foul trouble that limited him to 19 minutes.

“They put themselves in a situation (in the tournament) where they could get a double bye and you could tell they were the fresher team in the second half,” NCSU coach Kevin Keatts said. “When you look at the second half, we just didn’t have it.”

The Tigers ripped N.C. State a few weeks ago in Raleigh. Clemson raced to a 25-point halftime lead and won 96-71.

The Pack, seeking some redemption Thursday, had a quick start. But the Tigers used a 13-0 run to take a 39-36 lead at halftime and quickly added to the cushion in the second as the Pack, so energized against the Hokies, looked the part of a tired team.

“We didn’t play the same on the defensive end as we did (Wednesday),” Smith said.

Clemson’s Chase Hunter, who had 11 points and nine assists, knocked down three shots early in the second half as the Tigers spurted to a 55-42 lead. Keatts, who rarely uses a zone defense, called timeout and turned to one, and a couple of fast-break baskets by Smith after Clemson turnovers gave the Pack some life.

“Just trying to find a spark plug,” Keatts said. “Throw a curveball, give us some kind of spark.”

But Joiner, with a chance to make it a seven-point game, missed a layup. The Tigers’ Hall scored inside, then added two free throws. For Clemson, the danger passed as the Tigers built the lead again with a 10-0 surge.

“The zone helped a little bit and we were on a little run, but unfortunately we couldn’t the job done,” Joiner said.

Much of the game was a body-to-body, minute-by-minute war. It was about elbows in the chest, shoves on rebounds, clawing around screens and contesting everything..

The Tigers trailed 20-11 after the first nine minutes, but made some defensive stops and used a 13-0 run to move into the lead and had a 39-36 edge at the half.

The Tigers used some good outside shooting by their bigs to force Keatts to use Ebenezer Dowuona and Ernest Ross as much as Burns. Hall knocked down all three of his shots from 3-point range in the opening half, and Schieffelin and Hunter Tyson each had a 3-pointer as Clemson was 6-of-12 on 3s.

Schieffelin, who doesn’t have great quickness, came into the game averaging five points and was shooting 23% on 3’s. The sophomore had nine points in the first half, hitting 4 of 5 from the field including his 3 from the right wing and starting the 13-0 spurt with a basket.

In the Tigers’ big win in Raleigh, Galloway had 28 points and was effective in putting a body on Smith defensively as Smith missed 12 of his 15 shots.

Galloway picked up two quick fouls Thursday, sending him to the bench. But the Tigers got some productive minutes from freshman guard Dillon Hunter, who had a pair of layups in the 13-0 Clemson run in the opening half.

The Pack played without forward Greg Gantt, who injured a knee Wednesday against the Hokies. Gantt will soon have an MRI, Keatts said, to determine the severity of the injury.