Clemson had a chance to something at Duke it has not done since 1995, win a game at Cameron Indoor Stadium. However, it could not finish out the upset bid against the 18th-ranked Blue Devils on Saturday.
After Elijah Thomas grabbed a rebound off after a missed three-pointer by Frank Jackson with seven seconds left to play, the Tigers had an opportunity to win or tie the game on the final possession, but Shelton Mitchell could not get the final shot off as time expired.
Duke hung on for a 64-62 victory thanks to great defensive effort by Luke Kennard, who twice deflected the ball out of bounds, forcing the Tigers to lose precious time and an awkward inbounds play for forward Donte Grantham with 4.3 seconds left, which led to Mitchell not getting the final shot off.
“We did not have any timeouts so it was hard,” Clemson head coach Brad Brownell said on the Clemson Tiger Sports Network afterwards. “We were kind of in an awkward place on the floor on the other side of half court. You don’t get to run one of your normal half-court inbound plays that you kind of have special.
“This was a tough play. I wish Donte would have lobbed it to (Sidy) Djitte and run passed him. I think we could have just flipped it back and he could have gone to the rim for a better opportunity, but give Duke credit, they made a good play at the end.”
Saturday’s loss was the second time this week the Tigers lost a game on the final play. This past Tuesday, Syracuse made a game-winner as time expired to beat Clemson by one point.
Clemson, who is now 4-60 all-time now at Cameron Indoor Stadium, fell to 13-11 overall and 3-9 in the ACC. The Tigers have now lost three straight games and nine of their last 11.
Mitchell led Clemson with a career-high 23 points, including 21 in the second half as he led a fierce rally after Duke took a 13-point lead, 38-25, following an Amile Jefferson jumper with 15:57 to play.
“I’m really proud of our guys, but it is a little disheartening,” Brownell said. “We played a great offensive game against Syracuse and lose on a last-second shot, and then play a great defensive game today against an incredible offensive group.
“Our guys came in here and probably had a couple of standing eight-counts, but they fought back. Shelton was able to get to the rim and make plays for us. I’m very proud of the way our guys competed today in a very difficult environment.”
The Tigers scored nine straight points to cut the lead to 38-34 with 14:00 to play. Jaron Blossomgame, who scored just seven points but had nine rebounds, stole the ball from Grayson Allen and made a layup before Avry Holmes made two free throws to cut the Duke lead to four.
“I thought we got in the paint a lot in the first half, we just did not make any shots,” Brownell said. “Kind of the way Duke guards you, the try to take away your threes. They really try to win by making a million more threes than you make. They make you make twos.
“Sometimes, that is what you have to do. I thought we were able to throw the ball inside to Eli and we were able to get into the paint, we just did not make enough shots early in the game.”
Clemson scored just 18 points and shot 18 percent from the field in the first half as it trailed the Blue Devils, 29-18, at the break.
“We came in at halftime and our guys were really down,” Brownell said. “I told them how proud I was with the way the competed because defensively we were great. I told them if we did the same thing in the second half we will have a chance to win. We will score in the second half.
“Obviously, we had a chance, but we did not get the chance with the (final) shot.”
Clemson got the chance thanks to the play of Mitchell and Thomas, who scored 15 points and had nine rebounds.
Trailing by six at the time, 44-38, Mitchell completed an old-fashion three-point play with a drive to the basket, and then followed with an assist to Thomas for a dunk to make the score 44-41 with 11:17 to go. Then Gabe DeVoe made a layup thanks to an assist from Blossomgame to cut the Duke lead to one. Marcquise Reed followed with a steal from Allen and raced end-to-end to give the Tigers their only lead of the half at 45-44 with 10:10 to play.
Kennard quickly put Duke (20-5, 8-4 ACC) back in the lead with back-to-back threes. At one point he scored 15 straight points to finish with a game-high 25 points
But Mitchell and the Tigers were not done. Mitchell first hit a three-pointer from the left wing and then Thomas put back a rare Mitchell miss to make the score 62-57 with 1:43 to play in the game.
Mitchell later drove to the basket for a bucket and a foul and his free throw with 1:10 to play, made the score 62-60.
Following a couple of free throws by Kennard and a Reed layup with 37 seconds to play, the Tigers had their chance to steal a win on the road that no one expected. But it was not meant to be as Duke got the final stop to hang on for the two-point win.
Clemson returns home to host Wake Forest at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
—Above photo: Duke guard Luke Kennard (5) drives past Clemson guard Shelton Mitchell (4) in the second half of their game at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Saturday in Durham, N.C. Kennard led Duke with 25 points, while Mitchell led the Tigers with 23. (Mark Dolejs-USA TODAY Sports)