If they didn’t do it this year, they might never do it. But it finally happened. And you can hardly blame them for celebrating as if they had won the ACC or even NCAA Tournament.
Clemson finally beat North Carolina in Chapel Hill. It never happened in Carmichael Auditorium, and not in the Dean Smith Center. Then Saturday came, and many in the media noted that this was perhaps as good a chance as they would have in a long time. It got to the point where you could add North Carolina beating Clemson in Chapel Hill to life’s certainties along with death and taxes. They were 0-59 in Chapel Hill, a streak that had taken on a life of its own as it is the longest home winning streak over one opponent.
Even in years where the Tar Heels were not good, they still beat Clemson at home. Think of the 2001-02 season, when the Tar Heels went 8-20 – one of those wins was a 96-78 win over the Tigers in the Dean Dome in the next-to-last game of the regular season. Whether they have been up or down, a constant has been beating the Tigers in Chapel Hill.
It looked like that might happen again on Saturday as well. North Carolina took a 66-55 lead on a three-pointer by Brandon Robinson (27 points) with 5:25 to go, and were still up by ten with 2:08 left. You would think that lead would be safe, especially with how so many teams struggle to score this season.
But Clemson scored the next nine points, aided by three Tar Heel turnovers, to get within one. After Robinson hit two more free throws, Aamir Simms hit a game-tying three-pointer with three seconds left, and after Robinson missed at the buzzer, overtime resulted.
The Tigers never trailed in the extra session, though North Carolina would tie it at 74 after the Tigers scored the first four points. The Tar Heels would get two chances to tie it in the final seconds, but neither shot feel as Clemson finally had a win in Chapel Hill, a 79-76 overtime win over the Tar Heels.
Clemson shot the ball a lot better from deep than North Carolina did, as the Tigers were 12-31 from long range while the Tar Heels were a dreadful 6-26 from deep. The latter isn’t surprising when you consider the Tar Heels shoot three-pointers at less than a 30 percent clip on the season. The Tigers also had a 39-30 rebounding edge.
When the game was over, Clemson head coach Brad Brownell was as excited as he’s ever looked, even yelling, “It’s over!” after the buzzer sounded. He is rumored to be on the hot seat, even though he is two seasons removed from a Sweet 16 run, and this season started with some promise in November but has gone downhill since then. You can’t blame him for celebrating this one a little more than most during the regular season.
North Carolina is already down talent-wise, but injuries have set them back more. That won’t always be the case, though, so the Tigers had to take advantage of this chance. They most certainly did, and now the streak is no more.
Side Dishes
For more on many of Saturday’s games, please see the Saturday Notes.
An injury to keep an eye on is the apparent sprained left ankle that Dayton forward Obi Toppin suffered in the Flyers’ 88-60 romp over UMass on Saturday. The sophomore, an All-America candidate, went down hard early in the second half, at which point he had already scored 16 points. Naturally, they hope it’s not serious and he won’t be out for long given that the Atlantic 10 is better this year.
Vanderbilt has had a tough go of it in Jerry Stackhouse’s first season, and that isn’t shocking as most can see he won’t turn them into big winners right away. The challenge for now just went up, as the SEC’s leading scorer, Aaron Nesmith, is likely out for the rest of the season due to a right foot injury. Stackhouse told reporters that Nesmith’s injury will likely keep him using a scooter for about six weeks.
Finally, a note that we glossed over from Friday night. Jim Calhoun won his 900th career game between Division I and Division III on Friday as his University of Saint Joseph routed Pratt Institute 105-61. The hyper-competitive 77-year-old coach won 873 games at UConn and Northeastern and is now one of just four coaches with at least ten seasons in Division I to reach 900 career wins.
Tonight’s Menu
It’s a much lighter slate with just 15 games on tap, one involving a non-Division I school, but the day starts and ends with good ones.
- The day gets going with Purdue hosting Michigan State and UConn hosting Wichita State (noon)
- The other Big Ten game on the day is right after that with Minnesota hosting Michigan (1 p.m.)
- The MAAC takes over the middle of the afternoon as Canisius at St. Peter’s and Niagara at Iona tip at 1 p.m., while Siena at Manhattan, Rider at Marist and Monmouth at Quinnipiac all tip at 2 p.m.
- Northern Kentucky travels to IUPUI in the first of two Horizon League games (2 p.m.), with UIC hosting Wright State in the other (4:12 p.m.)
- The lone American Athletic Conference game on the day has South Florida hosting Memphis (4 p.m.)
- In ACC action, Miami hosts Pittsburgh (6 p.m.)
- The Pac-12 takes us through the end as Colorado hosts Utah (6 p.m.) and Oregon State hosts Arizona in the last game of the night (10 p.m.)
