CLEMSON – In the first half of No. 18 Clemson’s 80-76 loss to NC State at Littlejohn Coliseum Tuesday, the Tigers turned the ball over eight times and shot only 45 percent from the field.

For a team that was undefeated in conference play and off to the second best start in their ACC schedule in program history, trailing for nearly 30 minutes was uncharacteristic. 

“We just started off slow,” veteran guard Dillon Hunter said postgame. “We weren’t in the groove and didn’t have enough energy coming into the game, so we kind of gave them their flow. They were able to come in here and just feel energy like ‘oh they can play with us,’ so that was our bad. That was on me as a leader to get the team going starting out a good way.”

Before the matchup with the Wolfpack, the Tigers (16-4, 6-1 ACC) were allowing opponents only 61.5 points per game on 40 percent shooting from the field, second among all Power Four schools, according to ESPN.

In the first half against NC State (13-6, 4-2 ACC), however, Clemson allowed 38 points on 48 percent shooting. 

After holding a Miami team that averaged over 87 points per game, to 59 points three days prior, Clemson’s forced turnovers, points off turnovers, and fast break points were all significantly lower against the Wolfpack.

As Hunter put it, Clemson’s “groove,” and “energy,” appeared depleted after playing five games in less than two weeks. 

The lack of flow also showed in the turnover margin, in which NC State committed only seven total turnovers to the Tigers’ 13 (second-most this season.) To put it simply, the Tigers struggled to find any offensive rhythm early.

“I thought the story of the game, I thought our turnovers were killers,” head coach Brad Brownell said. “Obviously points off turnovers. I just didn’t think our guards played as well tonight as they’ve been playing. We had some some poor decision making and took some bad shots.”

Those bad shots resulted in only 32 percent shooting from beyond-the-arc on 9-of-28 attempts, while NC State scored 19 points off turnovers to Clemson’s six. 

“We just didn’t pick our spots right in the first half, so that kind of got us going slow,” Hunter said. “And then, finishing out the game, we started to get the flow, but just wasn’t enough.”

While the shots failed to fall from long range, the Tigers still found success getting to the foul line. Again, they failed to capitalize.

Clemson shot only 62 percent from the charity stripe on 15-of-24 shooting. Before the game, they averaged well over 70 percent as a team.

Like Hunter, Brownell believes that turnovers, poor shots, and decision making – what he called a lack of “sharpness” – came from a sloppy tone set at the beginning of the game.

“I felt it a little bit this morning in our shootaround, it was a little harder today,” he said. “You have a school day and it’s not the same as a Saturday where you just focus and play. You got some other things on your mind, and then you got to get geared up sometimes.

“That’s one of the great things about being the road team, all you do all day is meet, and rest, and talk about the game, and watch more film. The home team has a little more going on, but we didn’t have it quite the way we needed to at the beginning.”

Brownell and his team will have a chance to play with entirely new energy this Saturday as the Tigers end their three-game homestand and head to Atlanta to take on the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (11-8, 2-4 ACC) at McCamish Pavilion. 

Clemson looks to avenge one of its only two ACC losses in 2025, a triple-overtime thriller against the Jackets, and right the ship after the first conference loss this year. Tipoff is set for noon and coverage will be shown on the ACC Network.