Charles Barkley puts ACC basketball on blast after disastrous start in NCAA Tournament
The No. 5 seed Clemson Tigers came out and laid an egg in the first half of their first round NCAA Tournament matchup against No. 12 seed McNeese State. The Tigers put on an embarrassing performance, only managing to score 13 points. It was an awful look for the ACC. 13 points were the fewest scored by a top 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament in a half since 1999.
That was when No. 5 seed Wisconsin scored 12 points. College basketball analyst Charles Barkley didn’t hesitate to put the ACC on blast at halftime.
Analysts were talking about the speed of the McNeese State defense and how the Tigers couldn’t handle it. But Kenny Smith responded with a comment about UNC being fast. Basically, he was saying the Cowboys’ speed hasn’t been something that the Tigers haven’t seen all year in the ACC.
“The ACC is not a good basketball conference. Let’s get that out of the way,” Barkley said.
Clemson was abysmal in the first half, connecting on just 1 of 15 shots from beyond-the-arc. To make matters worse, they turned the ball over 10 times. Things didn’t get much better in the second half, even though the Tigers did manage to rally late and make things very interesting. McNeese State won 69-67. The Cowboys hit some free throws late to ice the game.
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McNeese State was up by 12 points with with 1:10 left, but the Tigers didn’t quit, hitting several buckets late to make it more than interesting. But in the end, it wasn’t enough and they came up just short. The ACC now only has two teams remaining in the tournament: Duke and North Carolina.
Louisville was handled by Creighton in their first-round matchup, eliminating yet another ACC team from the NCAA Tournament. Jamiya Neal pumped in 29 points and 12 rebounds for the Blue Jays, as No. 9 seed Creighton took care of business for an 89-75 win. Chucky Hepburn scored 22 points and Terrence Edwards, Jr. had 21 points in the loss for Louisville.
It was a pretty disappointing end to the season for the Cardinals, who enjoyed one of the biggest turnarounds in college basketball this year. While it’s important to remember their 18-2 record in the ACC this season (and a second-place finish), the sting and pain from the early exit in March will last for quite some time.