Clemson bounces back, earns tough win at NC State

CLEMSON — Brad Brownell said following Clemson’s loss to Virginia earlier this week that he felt like the Tigers played well, despite coming up short in the end.

Clemson continued its strong play Saturday at NC State, and this time the Tigers came out on top.

Clemson earned a 70-65 win at NC State on Saturday to improve to 5-1 in its past six games. The victory was also Clemson’s second straight ACC road win and improved the Tigers to 10-5 (2-2) on the year.

“A huge bounce back win for our team. Loved the way our guys competed throughout the game,” Brownell said. “Sometimes it’s hard in games like this where you don’t get off to a good start. But we showed great resiliency to stick with what we’re doing, keep doing what we do a little bit better. And we did that throughout most of the game.”

Sophomore PJ Hall led the way for the Tigers, scoring 20 points and adding 5 rebounds. He also had 4 blocks.

Hall was dominant in the paint, connecting on 10 of 16 field goal attempts. The Dorman product scored 12 of his 20 points in the second half.

“P.J. was great,” Brownell said. “We knew because of the switching and the way they guard and their pressure, they’re going to take away a lot of 3’s. You’ve got to play inside the defense, and I thought our team and coaches did a good job of finding ways to get P.J. the ball with good opportunities. He’s just a really good player.”

Al-Amir Dawes added 16 points, 5 rebounds and 3 steals for the Tigers, while David Collins had 5 points and 11 boards.

Chase Hunter played well off the bench, scoring 7 points in 14 minutes on 3-for-3 shooting.

“I do think our guys showed pretty good grit throughout the game,” Brownell said. Chase Hunter coming off the bench was huge.”

The Tigers also played well defensively, holding NC State to only 31.7 percent shooting from the field. Dereon Seabron scored 27 points for the Wolfpack, but Clemson did a solid job of limiting everyone else.

“That’s about as good as you can do,” Brownell said of Clemson’s defense. “Seabron’s a heck of a talent. Man, is he good. … They’re a good team. They’re hard to guard. But our guys held up. We got off to a good start and guarded very well for most of the game.”

Up next, the Tigers plays at Notre Dame on Wednesday.