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.
“I thought the difference in the game was P.J. Hall,” Keatts told the media after the game. “When you look at their production in the post, and it’s not just P.J., we got driven a little bit more than I would have liked.”
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.
“Give Clemson credit, they finished the game,” Keatts said. “I thought we had some bright spots in the game. I thought, obviously, Seabron was Seabron.”
Hands down N.C. State’s best player, Dereon Seabron’s (27 points) first 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. Hellems, who came into the game averaging 14.7 points per game, finished with 8 points on 2-for-9 shooting.
“We have three guys who have played really well offensively for us,” Keatts said. “When you look at it, Terquavion had an off night and I thought Jericole had moments but didn’t play great.”
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.
POST PLAY
Clemson scored 44 of their 70 points in the paint. Hall’s numbers jumped off the page, but the entire Tigers’ squad was able to get to the rim at ease.
On paper it looks like Hall was a back to the basket scorer all day, but his teammates consistently drove for layup after layup versus N.C. State.
“That’s not a great formula for us to win,” Keatts said. “We have to get better, it’s not just on our big guys. Our guards have to do a little bit better job of getting deflections and we’ll continue to work with those guys. We’ll figure out how to help our bigs.”
The Wolfpack had 20 points in the paint, but their “bigs” contributed with just two points combined.
LOVING THE THREE TOO MUCH
Earlier this season, Keatts said he had a team full of shot makers. The way Clemson plays defense, the Tigers pack the lane and let teams fire away. State had no issue with the firing, it was the connecting, or lack of, that caused problems.
“It’s (Clemson’s defense) is a little similar to what Virginia Tech did,” Keatts said. “But we moved the ball and made shots.”
The Wolfpack shot 37 percent from three in a win over the Hokies on Tuesday. They also had 11 assists in that game. The team only had eight, one of their season low, versus Clemson.
“Today we didn’t pass the ball as well,” Keatts said. “We didn’t find open guys.”
Even with the Tigers packing the lane, guard Casey Morsell thought N.C. State could have been a little more aggressive on offense.
“I think there were a lot of things we could have done to get more paint touches,” Morsell, who finished with nine points, said. “That was my mindset when I went out there, was to get in the paint.”
DEFENSIVE LAPSES
At one point during the second half N.C. State tied the game at 38 on a Jericole Hellems three-pointer. That got the crowd into it and looked like the Pack found a rhythm. N.C. State would proceed to give up 10 straight points to the Tigers on the other end. The Pack never recovered.
“Forget the offense,” Morsell said. “I just think we need to focus on what we need to do on the defensive end to win games. Offense will come, we’re scoring at a high level, but we’re not going to close games out until we lock in on defense.”
This story was originally published January 8, 2022 at 2:11 PM.
