Clemson Basketball: Clemson 76 – NC State 80

Clemson dropped its first ACC game of the season at home to NC State in overtime, 80-76. RJ Godrey led the way for the Tigers with 16 points, with Carter Welling (14) and Ace Buckner (12) joining him in double figures. The Wolfpack was paced by basketball vagabond Ven-Allen Luben, with Darrion Williams chipping in 17, and Quadir Copeland adding an additional 16 points and a team high six assists.

The first half was a back-and-forth affair with only a couple of points separating the teams until NC State started to pull away around the eight-minute mark when a Ven-Allen Lubin layup stretched the Pack’s lead to 5 points at 26-1. They steadily built the lead as the Tigers steadfastly refused to put the ball in the basket, which, I’m told, is the object of basketball, eventually ballooning the lead to 11 at 36-25 on a Darrion Williams three with 2:45 remaining in the half.

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The double-digit deficit appeared to snap the Tigers out of their offensive slumber, with the Tigers finishing the half strong on an 8 to 1 run spurred by five points apiece from Carter Welling and Ace Buckner. NC State took a 38-33 lead to the break, but had to feel like they missed an opportunity to end the game early at the end of the half.

After both teams struggled on offense in the first half, things got a little spicier in the second, with both teams starting to convert on offense. Clemson pulled within two on an RJ Godrey dunk at the 18-minute mark, kicking off one of the most frustrating halves since the last time the Tigers played a Will Wade team. It’s not that Clemson played poorly…or you know what, scratch that, it’s not like Clemson played any more poorly than NC State (this was far from a basketball teaching tape), but they could not get over the hump for the majority of the second half. NC State would stretch it to six or seven, and then Clemson would reel them back in and close the gap to a couple of points, only for the Wolfpack to push the lead back to five again.

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Publish date : 2026-01-21 03:29:00

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