After blowing out NC State in ACCs, Clemson basketball ‘should be in the tournament’

By all NCAA bracketology measures, Clemson basketball’s ACC tournament quarterfinal against N.C. State was a must-win game.

Mission accomplished.

Forwards PJ Hall and Ian Schieffelin scored 15 points apiece and the Tigers sank 11 3-pointers to down the Wolfpack, 80-54, on Thursday night at the Greensboro Coliseum and give their March Madness chances a serious boost.

Clemson, the No. 3 seed in this week’s tournament, advanced to a Friday semifinal against No. 2 seed Virginia. The winner of that game will play either No. 1 Miami or No. 4 Duke in Saturday night’s ACC championship game.

In defeating N.C. State for the third time this season, Clemson moved to 23-9 and added a fourth Quadrant 1 win to a résumé that bracketologists considered good, but not great, heading into conference tournament weekend.

“We knew what was at stake,” guard Brevin Galloway said.

Ahead of Thursday’s game, projections from ESPN, CBS Sports and The Athletic had Clemson among their “next four out” — setting up the N.C. State game as a can’t-miss opportunity for coach Brad Brownell and company.

But the Tigers rarely blinked against a good Wolfpack team that finished the regular season 23-10 under coach Kevin Keatts and is projected as a near-lock for the NCAA tournament.

“We should be in the tournament,” Brownell said postgame. “With this team and the way we’ve played, the margin of victory in most of our games and a lot of these ACC wins? And beating these guys the way we did? It was a great team, and they (N.C. State) should be in. Yes, we should be in the tournament.”

Clemson, which won its first two games against N.C. State by a combined 39 points, came out flat and trailed by nine points, 20-11, with 10:41 remaining in the first half. But the Tigers outscored the Wolfpack 28-16 after that point en route to a 39-36 halftime lead.

Key in Clemson’s comeback: freshman reserve guard Dillon Hunter, the younger brother of starting guard Dillon Hunter. He provided some excellent minutes in relief of starting guard Brevin Galloway, who was sidelined early with two fouls, and scored five first-half points after scoring three in his last five games — total.

“The coaches are always telling me be confident when I play, don’t worry about mistakes and don’t worry about other things that you can’t control,” Hunter said. “So that was my main thing: just coming in and being and doing what we needed do to win.”

Brownell toyed with lineups in the first half, too, going 10 players deep and giving his top five reserves legitimate minutes behind his five regular starters: Chase Hunter, Galloway, first-team All-ACC pick Hunter Tyson, Schieffelin and third-team All ACC pick Hall.

That belief in younger players paid dividends: A Godfrey layup and Dillon Hunter 3-pointer put Clemson up 53-42 with 13:23 remaining in the second half — that 11-point lead was the Tigers’ largest of the game after trailing by as many as nine points.

It only got better for Clemson. The Tigers led by as many as 28 points in a scintillating second half. Clemson outscored N.C. State 41-18 in the final 20 minutes while using the conference’s top scoring defense to limit the impact of All-ACC Wolfpack guards Terquavion Smith (11 points) and Jarkel Joiner (10).

Guard Chase Hunter (11 points) and forward Tyson (10) also chipped in double figures for Clemson, which was playing its first tournament game after a double-bye. The Tigers lost their only meeting with Virginia, 64-57, in Charlottesville last month.

They’ll enter Round 2 with plenty of confidence.

And, regardless of the result versus Virginia, a message.

“We feel like we should be a March Madness team,” Schieffelin said.

ACC tournament scores, schedule

Thursday scores

Miami 74, Wake Forest 72

Duke 96, Pitt 69

Virginia 68, North Carolina 59

Clemson 80, NC State 54

Friday’s schedule

Duke vs Miami, 7 pm (ESPN)

Virginia vs. Clemson, 9:30 pm (ESPN2)

Saturday’s schedule

Championship game, 8:30 pm (ESPN)