Slow Start, Poor Defense Do In Wolfpack At Clemson

NC State falls to 1-2 against the soft part of its ACC schedule woith an 81-70 loss to the Tigers

Joshua S. Kelly/USAToday sports

CLEMSON, S.C. -- It didn't help the NC State basketball team Saturday that redshirt senior wing C.J. Bryce didn't play because of the lingering effects of a concussion suffered in practice a week ago.

As much as the Wolfpack missed its leading scorer and rebounder, Bryce's absence wasn't the only reason for its ugly 81-70 loss to Clemson at Littlejohn Coliseum.

A poor defensive effort against a team that's had trouble scoring, a sputtering start and a disjointed offensive performance, especially in the first half, proved even more costly as State well to 1-2 in the ACC (10-4 overall) against what was figured to be the soft part of its conference schedule.

"We can't blame that one one person," junior guard Devon Daniels, who finshed with 11 points, said of Bryce's absence against the previously-struggling Tigers. "We spent the whole week preparing for this game. That was on us for not executing and doing what we practiced."

It was evident right from the start that the Wolfpack's "A" game didn't make the trip with it to South Carolina.

Clemson, which had lost its first three ACC games and was under .500 overall coming in, jumped out to an early 11-4 lead that continued to expand as its confidence grew and State struggled.

Especially on the defensive end of the floor.

The Tigers average only 67 points and eight 3-pointers per game while shooting 42 percent from the floor. But against State on Saturday, the hit eight treys in the first half alone while making nearly 50 percent of their total field goal attempts.

According to coach Kevin Keatts, Clemson's uncharacteristic offensive efficiency was the result of his team's lack of defensive communication. That's something he said needed to be strong considering that several players -- most notably Jericole Hellems and D.J. Funderburk -- were playing different roles than usual because of Bryce's absence.

"I thought we blew some assignments," Keatts said. "I didn't think we over-communicated. We walked the last two or three days about making sure we guard the 3-point line. We got extended. We had no ball pressure. They were throwing direct passes and they were shooting rhythm threes.

"I thought we were ready to play," Keatts added. "I just didn't think we played the way we should have in the first half."

That was the case on both ends of the court.

While Clemson was able to get seemingly any open shot it wanted, State had trouble just getting shots off. And when it did, they were often forced, contested or worse, ill-advised -- as was the case with Funderburk's NBA-length 3-point attempt from the top of the circle early in the shot clock.

The combination of bad defense and disjoined offense was a toxic combination for the Wolfpack, which found itself down by as many as 14 points at 34-20 with 4 1/2 minutes left in the half.

"We were playing catchup the whole game," graduate forward Pat Andree said. "We started off down and we were trying to cut it back. Obviously that supports their (confidence) when they're hitting shots."

Despite the near disastrous start, State still managed to keep the game from getting away from it with a late first-half run that ended with an Andree 3-pointer that narrowed the gap to just 41-35 at halftime.

The Wolfpack carried the momentum into the second half and twice pulled to within one, once at 48-47 and again two minutes later when three free throws by Andree -- who finished with 10 points -- at 53-52.

That's as close as State could get, though.

The one time it had a chance to get fully over the hump and take the lead, point guard Markell Johnson took a rushed 3-pointer in transition that missed, then watched as Clemson's John Newman scored on a drive to the rim at the other end of the court.

The Wolfpack went nearly five minutes without scoring after that, all but sealing its fate."

"What happens is you work so hard to get it right down to one and you then you go for knockout punches," Keatts said. "We knew were were playing a team on their home floor who hasn't had an ACC win and I knew they would play extremely well and play hard.

"But that having been said, we cut the lead and had them panicked a bit, but it worked against us because we turned the ball over and took some questionable shots during that time."

One of the biggest culprits in that breakdown was Johnson.

Although he finished with seven assists and was one of four State players in double figures with 11 points -- Funderburk with 14, Daniels with 11 and Andree with 10 were the others -- the senior captain also committed six of his team's nine turnovers and made only one of six 3-point attempts.

Johnson also missed all three of his free throws, making him just 9 of 26 over the past for games.

Although State has wasted its opportunity to get a headstart on the ACC schedule, Andree said that he and his teammates can't let this loss -- bad as it was -- linger.

 "We've got to pick these games up so we can come out and compete against Duke and North Carolina as well and win those games," Andree said. "We don't want to push ourselves to the point where one loss turns into two and that turns into three. We can't get too down on ourselves. 

"Obviously we're all kind of mad we lost that game. But we can't put our heads on it too much. We have to move on to the next game."

That would be Wednesday at home against another team off to a struggling ACC start, Notre Dame.