Takeaways From Clemson's Statement ACC Tournament Win Over North Carolina

CHARLOTTE, N.C.— Clemson basketball avenges another loss in the ACC Tournament, defeating the North Carolina Tar Heels 80-79 at the Spectrum Center in uptown Charlotte.

The Tigers win their second game in the conference tournament, the first time under the tenure of head coach Brad Brownell and the first since the 2007-08 season.

Below are some takeaways from Clemson’s Quad 1A win when it mattered most.

Guard Play Played Its Best All Year

Six scorers finished the game in double-digits, and all four Tiger guards reached that mark on Thursday night.

Starting guards Dillon Hunter, Ace Buckner and Butta Johnson set the tone. Hunter brought the heat with 14 points in the win, hitting all six free throws that he had the opportunity to take in the win. Four occurred down the stretch from the charity stripe, and sealed the deal in the win.

Buckner had 11 of his own, while Johnson finished with 10 points and two threes. Don’t count out Jestin Porter, though, who finished with 10 as well.

When all of the guards are shooting efficiently, like the Tigers did against the Tar Heels, it completely changes the team’s ceiling.

“All our guards are able to make shots, get downhill, create things for other players,” Johnson said. “It opens up space and opens up our offense a lot. Our main thing is defense. We play really hard. But if we're able to get our offense going, too, it's really hard to stop us.”

When The Phone Rang, Nick Davidson Answered the Call

Carter Welling went down with a torn ACL in the Tigers’ win over Wake Forest in their opening game of the conference tournament. When the frontcourt needed a defensive anchor, it was another transfer, Nick Davidson, to perform in, arguably, his best game of the season.

Davidson recorded his first double-double as a Tiger in the win, finishing with a team-high 17 points and 11 rebounds in the win while coming off the bench as well. He only played 22 minutes, but that’s all that he needed to leave the Spectrum Center on Thursday night with perhaps the biggest win of Clemson’s season.

The Nevada transfer saw opportunity with Clemson’s motto: “everybody, all the time”, and took advantage of it when it mattered most.

“Our hearts go out to him,” he said after the game. “What a terrible injury and what a big part of our team. But our motto has always been everybody all the time. Tonight I happened to be the one that stepped up, and yeah, willed the team to a win.”

Clemson will need that production out of Davidson going forward, and if that remains the case, the Tigers have the capability to be a second-weekend team in the NCAA Tournament.

Clemson’s Late-Game Scenarios Were Executed Perfectly

The Tigers didn’t panic when North Carolina brought in a barrage of threes to cut the lead to as short as one before escaping with a win, and Brownell executed the late-game scenarios exactly the way it should.

A turnover by Chase Thompson and a missed free throw here and there didn’t change the mentality of the group, showing the experience that they have after a long season.

“Obviously they made some big-time shots late,” Brownell said. “It gets scary there when they bank one in on you there at the end. But I thought our guys were really good. We didn't turn the ball over against the press. They pressed us and were aggressive in it for the last two minutes of the game, and our guys got it up the floor.”

Davidson brought up other close calls, some that went the way they didn’t want them to, like the buzzer-beater loss to BYU back in December in New York City. That doesn’t mean history will repeat itself.

Clemson can choose its own story, and that story can continue to be written with another opportunity to avenge another loss to Duke tomorrow night.

“One time it went bad, the other time it was a close call,” Davidson said, “and even honestly last night it got a little bit closer than we would have liked. I'm just glad we had the resolve to figure it out at the end. And with our experience in those situations, I think we were able to come out with the win.”