Clemson Beats North Carolina, 80-79, to Advance to the Semifinals in the ACC Tournament
· Yahoo Sports
Clemson’s season took a twist late last night.
Coach Brownell had a full rebuild on his hands last offseason. Nearly the entire team was gone. Dillon Hunter, Ace Buckner, and Dallas Thomas remained. Zac Foster was the only true freshman who could make an immediate impact. The bulk of the team would be built through the portal, and that’s exactly what they did. By the end of the portal season frenzy, they had built a roster that looked talented enough to vie for a spot in the NCAA tournament. Through non-conference play, that estimation seemed about right. Wins over Georgia and West Virginia gave hope, but a loss to Georgetown and two painful, dramatic Quad 1 losses to BYU and Alabama tempered expectations.
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Then came conference play, and the Tigers raced out to a 10-1 start, with wins over Miami and SMU and a perfect 2-0 California road trip. Then Clemson lost five of six, which included a heartbreaker at North Carolina. They then ended the regular season with a not-so-satisfying close win over last-place Georgia Tech.
In Wednesday’s ACC Tournament action, Clemson outpaced Wake Forest with ease, but lost starting Center Carter Welling to a torn ACL. With the injury, it felt like another strong regular season would end with a whimper in postseason play. Last year, Clemson went 1-1 in the ACC Tournament and 0-1 in the NCAA Tournament in part because Dillon Hunter was injured in the first ACC Tournament game. This felt like de ja vu.
That made last night’s game in Charlotte against North Carolina all the more critical. Not only did it offer a potential chance to move off the scary 8/9 seed line and into a much more desirable 7-seed (in theory), but it also provided a chance to prove this team can beat NCAA tournament-quality teams without Carter Welling. Clemson has historically struggled in the ACC tournament. That’s probably an understatement, as Coach Brownell was 8-14 in the tournament before this season.
1962
— William Qualkinbush (@QualkTalk) March 13, 2026
2008
2026
Clemson just won multiple games in an ACC Tournament for just the 3rd time in school history.
The 2nd win was over a team they had beaten once in 16 ACCT tries.
Duke is next. Beware the storybook.
No longer able to play 10 players, the Tigers still used nine and gave 12 minutes or more to eight. Ace Buckner, the redshirt freshman who has been excellent through the second half of the season, entered the starting lineup in place of Jestin Porter, and Jake Wahlin took Carter Welling’s vacated starting role.
The star of the game was easily Henri Veesaar for North Carolina. Without Carter Welling’s size and athleticism, the Tigers had no real answer for him. He carves out position well in the post — often using elbows and pushing, which the referees consistently overlook — and finishes around the rim. He’s also a wildly underrated 3-point shooter and was 3-6 from deep.
What Clemson did well was lock down everyone else. Luka Bogavac was held to five points after making six 3-pointers in the team’s previous matchup. Seth Trimble was a non-factor in the first half, and the UNC bench only scored 5 points. Clemson got 29 points off their bench.
The best performance came from Clemson’s Nick Davidson, who did not start but scored 17 points in 22 minutes. He was victim to a few questionable foul calls on Veesaar and finished with four personal fouls, but was 5-6 from the field with 11 rebounds. If the Tigers needed anyone to step up big in Welling’s absence, it was Davidson.
24 hours after Carter Welling is lost for the year, Nick Davidson responds with his first double-double in a Clemson uniform.
— William Qualkinbush (@QualkTalk) March 13, 2026
Talk about answering the bell.
The Tigers were up 8 at halftime and pushed the lead to 18 in the second half, but of course, it couldn’t be that easy. After making only three 3-pointers in the first half, UNC made eight in the second. The Tar Heels surged back. Henri Veesaar was the star, and despite being a 7-foot center, he came off screens for three open 3-point looks. In the final 66 seconds, he buried two. Freshman Chase Thompson played well, but wasn’t able to stick with him on the outside. Seth Trimble made a lay-up, and Derek Dixon drilled another 3. All that accounted for 11 points in a span of 66 seconds, but Dillon Hunter made four tremendously clutch FTs to keep Clemson ahead.
Nick Davidson went to the line with only a 1-point lead and under 3 seconds remaining and missed the first FT. Then, Coach Brownell called a timeout and enacted a brilliant strategy. Nick Davidson went back to the line and intentionally missed the second free throw “softly.” The ball bounced harmlessly to the side, and UNC only had 2 seconds to run up the court and chuck a three-quarter court heave. That’s just what they did, and it wasn’t close.
The Tigers sealed the win despite the red-hot finish from the Tar Heels and advanced to play Duke at 9:30 pm Friday night.