NC State basketball quick hits and notes from loss to Clemson

Quick hits and notes from NC State basketball in its 70-65 loss to Clemson in front of 13,425 fans at PNC Arena in Raleigh on Saturday evening.

Play Of The Game

Clemson sophomore forward PJ Hall’s layup with 12:52 remaining in the game broke what was the last tie of the contest at 40-40.

However, the spread between the Tigers and NC State oscillated between one, two and four points for nearly eight minutes. That finally changed on a costly error by Wolfpack star sophomore wing Dereon Seabron with 4:56 remaining.

Seabron fouled Clemson junior guard Alen Hemenway on a three-pointer. Hemenway, who came in Saturday shooting 60.7 percent on threes (17 of 28) this season and a career 46.2-percent shooter from long range, is unsurprisingly a strong free throw shooter.

Hemenway made all three to put Clemson up 60-53, and the Tigers would lead by at least five points the rest of the game until NC State junior guard Casey Morsell made a three-pointer with just over a second left to briefly cut the Clemson advantage to 68-65.

Highlight Of The Game

Clemson senior guard David Collins had an incredible pass in a game that was generally devoid of highlight type moments.

Player Of The Game

Hall had his way down low in the paint. He scored a team-high 20 points and had a game-high 11 rebounds.

Clemson had 44 points in the paint, which was more than double the Wolfpacks amount (20), and Hall was the main contributor to the lopsided stat. He made 10 of 16 shots during the game, misfiring on his one three-point attempt but doing the majority of his work in the post.

For Hall, that was a career-high in field goals made and his second double-double.

NC State Basketball Player Of The Game

Seabron was the lone wolf for the Pack’s offensive output, but he did it in a big way. He put up another strong offensive showcase with his trademark penetration drives and even hitting a couple of threes.

Seabron has hit at least one three-pointer in five of the Wolfpack’s last six games after making just one all season prior to that. Seabron made 2 of 5 from long range against Clemson, and he is 6 of 12 in the past six contests. Before that, he was 1 of 16 on three-point attempts.

He would finish this game with 27 points and tied for a team high seven rebounds. That was his third-best scoring output of the year and the eight time this season he has eclipsed 20 points in a game.

Terquavion Smith Struggles, Thomas Allen Steps Up

If freshman guard Terquavion Smith has been the Robin to Seabron’s Batman this season, Batman did not have his trusty sidekick in this outing.

For just the second time all season, Smith was held without a single made field goal. He went scoreless in a loss against Oklahoma State.

Smith had been impressive in ACC play, averaging 17.8 points per game in league contests. Against Clemson, the rookie did not attempt a single shot inside the arc, and he went 0 of 7 from beyond the three-point line. He did hit his only two free throws for his lone points of the game.

The game ended his streak of eight straight double-digit scoring game, which had included his first four career ACC contets.

The only two players to score in double figures tonight for the Wolfpack were Seabron and fifth-year senior guard Thomas Allen. Allen had eight of his 10 points in the first half and added three rebounds.

In his last four games, Allen is averaging 9.3 points. Prior to that, Allen had scored a total of 18 points in his previous 10 contests and had two more games he did not play.

Shooting Struggles

The Wolfpack started hot, sinking its first three threes in a row from three different players. The Pack would finish 9 of 28 on three-point shots, which was more effective than Clemson’s 3 of 10 effort. The Tigers had entered Saturday shooting an ACC-best 41.3 percent on threes.

NC State’s shots inside the three-point line are what hurt the Pack, however. The Wolfpack would only make ten two-point field goals total in the game, going 10 of 32 for 31.3 percent.

Overall, it shot 31.7 percent, second lowest behind the Oklahoma State loss where it was 30.4 percent.

In the second half, Seabron was the only NC State player to hit a field goal for first six minutes before senior forward Jericole Hellems hit his second three-pointer of the game.

Seabron outscored the entire rest of NC State team in the second half 19-18.

Tigers Lived In The Paint

For a team that is known to pull it from deep this season, the Tigers changed their game plan against NC State. As alluded to earlier, Clemson had a 44-20 edge in points in the paint.

That was the most decisive loss for points in the paint in a game this season, surpassing the 18-point advantage Oklahoma State enjoyed.

This was the eight straight time that State has been outscored in the paint and is the sixth time by double-digits. State is 0-6 those matchups.

NC State Basketball Plus/Minus

Here is the plus/minus for each player for NC State basketball:

Morsell:  +10 (21:24 minutes played)

Sophomore guard Cam Hayes: +5 (18:40)

Freshman guard Breon Pass: +4 (1:53)

Sophomore forward Jaylon Gibson: +1 (10:17)

Sophomore center Ebenezer Dowuona: 0 (24:23)

Hellems: -4 (38:26)

Allen: -7 (27:01)

Freshman forward Ernest Ross: -7 (3:55)

Seabron: -13 (34:17)

Smith: -14 (19:44)

NC State Basketball Game Scores

Using Hollinger’s measure of productivity, players are graded 1-40 with 10 being average for an NBA player.

Seabron: 20.7

Morsell: 7.7

Allen: 7.1

Hellems: 5.9

Hayes: 5.2

Pass: 0.6

Gibson: -0.3

Ross: -0.4

Dowuona: -2.7

Smith: -4.3

What The NC State Basketball Loss Means

The Pack is 8-8 on the season and 1-4 in the ACC, while Clemson improves to 10-5 and 2-2.

The Wolfpack leads the all-time series against Clemson, 104-56, including 10-6 in games played at PNC Arena. It is the first time head coach Kevin Keatts has lost to the Tigers in four tries at home.

The game was broadcast by RSN. Throughout the year, we’ll keep track of the Pack’s record on the different channels:

• ACC Network Extra: 3-1

• FloSports: 1-0

• RSN: 2-1

• ESPNU: 1-1

• ACC Network: 1-2

• ESPN2: 0-1

• CBS Sports Network: 0-1

• Big Ten Network: 0-1

We also track NC State’s records by month:

• November: 5-1

• December: 2-5

• January: 1-2

Other stats of note

• NC State won the turnover margin 16-15 and outscored Clemson off those turnovers 15-9.
• State had the slight advantage in fast break points, 15-14.
• Both teams had a 36 rebounds overall, but NC State had a 13-7 edge on the offensive glass. That led to the Wolfpack having an 14-6 win in second-chance points.
• The Packs reserves slightly outscored the Tigers’ bench, 16-15.
• Defensively, NC State had two blocks, five shots altered and twelve steals. Clemson rejected five shots, altered two and stole the ball nine times.
• Clemson led for 23:53 and State for 13:56. Both teams’ largest lead was nine points. There were three ties and three lead changes.

——

• Talk about NC State basketball inside The State of Basketball

• Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes

• Subscribe to our YouTube channel

• Learn more about our print and digital publication, The Wolfpacker

• Follow us on Twitter: @TheWolfpacker

• Like us on Facebook