No. 5 seed Clemson made No. 4 UNC’s stay in Charlotte a short one, beating the Tar Heels 80-79 in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals Thursday night. The Tigers were playing their second game in two days, while the game was Carolina’s first at the tournament.

UNC led by six points early at 14-8, but Clemson methodically flipped the game by holding the Tar Heels to just two made shots across nearly 10 minutes of game time in the first half. During that period, the Tigers went from six points down to nine points ahead at 31-22. After UNC cut that deficit down to two, Clemson closed the half on an 8-2 run to lead 39-31 at halftime.

It only got worse for the Tar Heels in the second half, as the Clemson defense continued to dominate and the offense took advantage of the dry spell. The Tigers led by as many as 18 points after a three-pointer from Nick Davidson, one of four on the night for the Clemson big man. He shot 0-5 on threes in the first game between the two teams in Chapel Hill.

“We couldn’t get our runs going because they were scoring on the other end,” said Jarin Stevenson, who finished with 12 points and seven rebounds. “We’ve got to be better.”

Clemson looked to be well on its way to a comfortable win and held a 73-58 lead with 3:36 remaining, but UNC rapidly closed that gap with a barrage of outside shots. Derek Dixon made three three-pointers himself in the final minutes, and two more from Henri Veesaar helped the Tar Heels somehow claw their way back into the game. Dixon drilled a three with less than three seconds remaining to cut the lead to one point at 80-79. Clemson’s Nick Davidson then missed two free throws on the other end after being fouled, but Stevenson’s half-court heave at the buzzer fell well short of the mark.

“Shots started to fall, but I think it started defensively,” Dixon said of UNC’s desperate run. “Just a little bit more of an edge about us, a little bit more fight. Really just trying to do whatever we could to get back in the game.”

Veesaar was a bright spot for UNC, finishing with career highs in both points (28) and rebounds (17) for his 14th double-double of the season. It was Veesaar’s first double-double since the first Duke game on Feb. 7.

UNC has now lost its last four games as the No. 4 seed in the ACC Tournament and is just 4-7 overall as that seed. The Tar Heels are now 24-8 on the season and will await their NCAA Tournament bid, which will be announced Sunday at 6 p.m.

 

Featured image via Todd Melet. For a full photo gallery of the game, click here.

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