CLEMSON, S.C. — If this was North Carolina’s final stand to maneuver the needle on its tenuous NCAA Match hopes earlier than the stretch run of the common season, the Tar Heels did not precisely go down swinging.
Sinking UNC received clobbered by No. 23 Clemson 85-65 in ACC basketball at Littlejohn Coliseum, and suffered its fifth loss throughout the final seven video games.
Viktor Lakhin poured in 22 factors, Chase Hunter provided 19 factors and Jaeden Zackery added 16 factors, because the Tigers backed up their court-storming toppling of Duke from two nights prior with this beatdown of the Tar Heels, who dropped to 1-10 in Quad 1 video games within the NET rankings.
A lot for now or by no means, do or die. UNC (14-11 general, 7-6 ACC) once more did not measure up towards among the finest groups on this mediocre convention, and have become a blowout sufferer on this evening. Hunter’s jumper lower than 7½ minutes into the second half put the Tigers forward 65-44, they usually had been on their manner.
Carolina was left shouldering a defeat that matched its worst to Clemson in program historical past, equalling a 93-73 loss from January 1977. Clemson (20-5, 12-2) received for the eleventh time within the final 13 video games, and claimed its first sweep of Duke and UNC right here on this constructing since 1990.
RJ Davis scored 18 factors for the Tar Heels, and Seth Trimble and Elliot Cadeau had 12 and 11 factors, respectively. Clemson out-rebounded UNC 41-28. Ian Jackson, UNC’s second-leading scorer on the season, practically put up one other goose egg. He made three free throws within the recreation’s concluding 92 seconds, after going scoreless in Saturday’s squeaker previous Pittsburgh.
Tar Heels tumble in first half, fall into deep gap
Clemson led 49-33 by halftime, a juncture by which the Tar Heels discovered themselves in loads of bother. UNC was inside 30-25 of the lead, earlier than falling aside throughout the final 7½ minutes of the primary half. Elliot Cadeau’s runner inside of 4 seconds previous to halftime marked simply the second bucket for UNC within the closing 4½ minutes of the primary half.
Carolina had no reply for Lakhin within the first half. He pumped in 20 factors on 8-for-11 capturing from the sphere, underlined by an ideal 4-for-4 clip from 3-point vary. The large man entered Monday evening having by no means related on greater than two 3-pointers in a recreation throughout his 115-game school profession. However he sank them right here with ease towards the Tar Heels.
RJ Davis’ 9 factors and Trimble’s seven factors paced UNC throughout the first half. The Tar Heels went greater with their starters, scrapping their four-guard lineup and plugging in 6-foot-9 ahead Jae’Lyn Withers for Ian Jackson. The freshman guard Jackson, UNC’s second-leading scorer on the season, went scoreless within the first half, two nights after ending scoreless towards Pittsburgh.
In the meantime, Clemson grabbed six offensive rebounds within the recreation’s first eight minutes and went on to construct a 20-9 benefit in whole rebounds by halftime. The Tigers shot 56.3 % from the sphere within the first half, together with a crisp 8-for-12 from past the arc (66.7 %).
Earlier, Carolina led 20-19 on Trimble’s putback of Jackson’s miss and 23-21 on Davis’ candy 3-point swish on a step-back transfer towards Clemson’s Dillion Hunter. However Lakhin’s fourth 3-pointer of the sport, this one off a pick-and-pop with Jaeden Zackery, surged Clemson forward 35-25 and capped a 14-2 run.
Subsequent on the schedule
UNC wraps up its stretch of 4 highway assignments throughout 5 video games with Saturday evening’s go to to Syracuse (6 p.m., ESPN). The matchup marks the Tar Heels’ solely assembly with the Orange throughout the common season. And its the beginning of six straight convention video games towards groups positioned under seventh-place Carolina within the ACC standings. Video games towards NC State, Virginia, at Florida State, Miami and at Virginia Tech observe the Syracuse highway project on the Tar Heels’ schedule coming down the stretch run of the common season.
Syracuse (11-13, 5-8) has misplaced 4 of its final six video games getting into Tuesday evening’s recreation on the highway at Miami. The Orange are 9-5 in house video games this season, and a mixed 2-8 in highway and neutral-site assignments. UNC leads the all-time sequence 17-7 towards Syracuse, together with 5-3 in highway video games at JMA Wi-fi Dome, the previous Service Dome. Carolina leads the sequence 13-3 since January 2015, however has misplaced two of its final three visits to Syracuse’s domed house.
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