NC State basketball finds success on the road. Clemson is the latest to fall
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- N.C. State wins at Clemson in overtime, snapping Clemson’s 14-game home streak
- Wolfpack improves to 3-0 in ACC road games and secures first Quad 1 win
- Ven-Allen Lubin delivered 22 and 19 points in two road wins.
Home court advantage is a thing for a reason. Familiar surroundings, consistent routines and fan support help provide a boost that visiting teams don’t have. Those things don’t guarantee wins, of course, but they help.
For N.C. State men’s basketball, however, home hasn’t been a place of success or ease. Instead, Will Wade and his group found their rhythm away from Lenovo Center during ACC play.
The Wolfpack upset No. 18 Clemson (16-3, 6-1 ACC), 80-76, in overtime on Tuesday night and snapped the Tigers’ nine-game winning streak this season and a 14-game home win streak.
N.C. State is 3-0 on the road during conference play and earned its first Quad 1 win. Unlike its win over Boise State in Maui, this one should stay a Quad 1 based on Clemson’s NET ranking.
Wade, a Clemson alumnus, said the victory brought some semblance of relief after it fumbled away a Quad 3 loss to Georgia Tech on Saturday.
“We ain’t worth a damn at home,” Wade said after his team’s win. “It’s a good thing we’re pretty good on the road, because we’re awful at home.”
N.C. State (13-6, 4-2) led by 11 points in the first half, but it failed to score a field goal for the final nine minutes of regulation. It made free throws and locked in defensively, however, to keep the game from snowballing out of control.
“It was all about staying poised,” Ven-Allen Lubin said. “We weren’t going to let our shots dictate our defense, or the crowd get us riled up and get us distracted. We just always want to stay forward, stay locked in on the next play.”
The Wolfpack weathered runs against Boston College and Florida State, as well, proving Tuesday night wasn’t a fluke. The team hasn’t done that at home, though.
In the previous two road games, the Wolfpack beat the Eagles, 79-71, for its first ACC road game two weeks ago. It followed that up with a 44-point win over the Seminoles, earning its largest conference road victory in program history.
At home, it beat Wake Forest but lost to Georgia Tech and Virginia. Virginia was a Quad 1 game, but N.C. State lost by double digits. Its loss to the Yellow Jackets was by four points and came against one of the lowest-ranked ACC teams. Wade said Saturday the team would have to “punch above” its weight class, like it did at Littlejohn Coliseum, to try and recover from a contest the team felt it gave away.
Wade doesn’t know if this victory says anything about the team’s identity other than the consistency — a word used frequently — hasn’t materialized.
“We’re searching for some consistency, so hopefully we’ll find some consistency from this game,” Wade said.
Lubin, one of the team’s captains, provided a major spark at Florida State and Clemson. He scored 19 points against the Seminoles on 85.7% field goal shooting, five rebounds and four blocks. Against the Tigers, he led all scorers with 22 points on 75% shooting, added six rebounds and one steal.
Lubin said he doesn’t think that there’s necessarily anything different about being on the road.
“We just want to come here and compete,” he said. “That’s what we’re capable of doing. We want to continue to win every game — home and away — because it’s important for all of us to make sure we get our best season.”
Clemson head coach Brad Brownell complimented the Wolfpack on its performance and knew N.C. State would be ready to correct its course after the home loss to Georgia Tech, a blemish on what was a relatively clean NCAA Tournament resume.
“What I told our guys is, the margins in these basketball games are very small,” Brownell said. “Last year, we lost to Georgia Tech at home. They came in here and beat us. Anybody can beat anybody in this league.”
Brownell said being the visiting team for a weekday game can actually be beneficial. His team had classes and other responsibilities.
“That’s one of the great things about being the road team,” Brownell said. “All you do all day is meet and rest and talk about the game and watch more film. The home team has a little more going on.”
The Wolfpack can’t pinpoint the reason it’s played well on the road. It’s succeeded nonetheless and improved its resume. Entering Tuesday, it played four of its next five games on the road. The second game of the stretch is set for Saturday at Pittsburgh.
Williams and Lubin feel like the Wolfpack is one of the teams that can compete with anyone in the ACC, but it has to work for them. It can’t think it’s going to win. It has to keep the foot on the gas. No settling. No relaxing and no complacency.
The Wolfpack now has to prove it can keep the momentum going.
“We’re gonna wipe the slate clean tomorrow,” Wade said. “We’re gonna see what we got. Hopefully, this gives us some pop.”
This story was originally published January 21, 2026 at 6:00 AM.
