As they have all season, the Wolfpack showed fight, but ultimately fell to Clemson in the first round of the ACC Tournament, 70-64.
Every time NC State chipped away at a double digit deficit – cutting it to six and even five down the stretch, the Tigers kept them at bay with a huge bucket or free throws. It was an end to a season that has been tough for Kevin Keatts’ team as injuries plagued the squad all season, but that doesn’t mean they won’t take something away from it…even if they don’t know what it is, yet.
“The thing that we talked about is don’t miss out on your lesson,” Keatts said after the game. “A lot of times people think there’s lessons because you win the game. Well, there are a lot of lessons that we can learn through this year. So we’re all going to individually learn our lessons. We’re going to figure it out, and we all will become better because of it.”
The Tigers move on to take on Virginia Tech – a team they defeated 63-59 less than a week ago.
“The advantage really for both teams is it’s an incredibly quick turnaround, right?,” Clemson head coach Brad Brownell said. “We’ve got 24 hours. Having just played them, have a good feel for what they do. They’re going to know what we do. I’m sure they’ve been practicing for us and NC State for a couple days, but that’s a slight advantage. It’s somebody we played. NC State, we hadn’t played till early January, so we had to go back and figure some things out.”
Notes:
- Seaborn led the Pack with 19 points and 12 rebounds. It was the 12th double-double of the season for the ACC’s Most Improved Player. Seabron also had a team-high six assists and two blocks.
- Jericole Hellems, playing in his final game in an NC State uniform, finished with 13 points and eight rebounds. Hellems concludes his career 38th on the program’s all-time scoring chart with 1,244 points.
- All-ACC Rookie team member Terquavion Smith finished with seven points as he shot just 2-of-13 from the field. He finishes his rookie campaign with 96 three-pointers, the fourth-most by a freshman in ACC history.
- Hall led Clemson with a double-double, finishing with 18 points and 10 rebounds, and added a game-high four blocks.
The Pack ends the season with an 11-21 record. The Tigers’ round two matchup against Virginia Tech tips-off Wednesday at 7:00pm on ESPN 2.