NC State
13-9, 4-5
Clemson
12-8, 4-4
Second Half Comeback Falls Short Against Clemson
1/28/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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RALEIGH, N.C. - Down by as many as 23 points in the first half, NC State fought back the entire second half, closing the gap down to just three points with 9:16 left, but the comeback fell short as Clemson escaped with a 68-57 road win Wednesday night.
Freshman Abdul-Malik Abu recorded his first career double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds. Over the last three games, Abu has averaged 14.0 points per game. Trevor Lacey led the Pack with 17 points, while Ralston Turner added 10.
The Pack hit three of its first four shots and jumped ahead early 6-2. Clemson proved its rank as the ACC's No. 2 scoring defense, as the Tigers went on a 25-2 run over 9:13 to take a 27-8 lead at the 7:44 mark. The Pack was held without a field goal for a total of 9:50, going 0-for-10 from the field with four turnovers during Clemson's run.
The Pack cut into the lead with a quick 5-0 spurt, but the Tigers clamped down once again with a 9-0 run to get its biggest lead of the game at 36-13 with just less than two minutes left.
NC State was held to 16 points in the first half, shooting 6-of-26 from the field and 3-of-8 from the free throw line.
NC State came out of the locker room reenergized, starting the half with a 7-0 run in the first two minutes and 17-5 over the first six-plus minutes to get the Tigers lead to less than 10 for the first time since the first half at 41-33 with 13:40 left.
A Jordan Roper three-pointer put Clemson back up 11, but NC State once again made another run to get within a possession. The Pack used a 9-0 run, with five Tigers turnovers in just a span of 1:47, to close the gap to 47-44 with 9:16.
Clemson continued to answer, this time with a 6-0 run and the Pack never got closer than six points (53-47 at 6:03) the rest of the way.
Gott Said It: "Well first thing that comes to my mind is I don't think we could have played any worse than we played in the first half. I didn't even recognize our team today in the first half. I think for the first time our young guys looked like young guys. Offensively, we started to struggle some. I thought it affected us and it put us in a place mentally where we couldn't respond well. Like I said, I don't know if you could play a worse half of basketball than we played in the first half. We really dug ourselves into a hole. I give Clemson credit. They gained confidence as the first half went on. We started to get down on ourselves. You could see it in our faces. They became a little unsure and obviously you can't do that in this league. Clemson played a lot better than we did. I thought in the second half our guys fought extremely hard. We were just in too big of a hole to overcome it."
Up Next: The Pack heads out on a two-game road trip. NC State returns to action Saturday, Jan. 31 at 12 p.m. at Georgia Tech, followed by a contest at Wake Forest next Tuesday.
