‘A harsh reality check’: UNC doomed itself in the ACC Tournament vs. Clemson
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- UNC lost to Clemson 80-79 after 36 sloppy minutes and then a near comeback.
- UNC coach Hubert Davis said Clemson’s physicality bothered the Tar Heels.
- Tar Heels likely to be a 5 or 6 seed in NCAA Tournament; have one March opportunity left.
For 36 minutes, UNC gave an uninspired and sloppy performance against Clemson in the ACC Tournament Thursday night.
For the final four minutes, UNC woke up, got serious and nearly came all the way back from 15 points down with 3:36 left.
But that wasn’t enough. It was one-and-done for UNC in the ACC tourney, as the Tar Heels were undone by Clemson, 80-79, in an ACC quarterfinal at Charlotte’s Spectrum Center.
Afterward in a somber UNC locker room, Seth Trimble called the defeat “a harsh reality check.”
“It’s March,” Trimble said. “The losses hurt a lot more.”
Now UNC (24-8) has only one more chance to play in March. The Tar Heels will make the NCAA Tournament and likely get seeded around No. 5 or No. 6 when the field is announced at 6 p.m. Sunday. But they will make a quick exit if they play anything like those first 36 minutes Thursday in Charlotte.
“I’m proud of our guys for fighting,” UNC’s Jarin Stevenson said, “but we shouldn’t have been in that situation in the first place.”
Fans who came to the evening session at Spectrum Center got more than their money’s worth, especially if they were only there for good college basketball and didn’t care who won. Both games were decided by a single point and by the exact same score: Duke also edged Florida State in the early game, 80-79, but only after Florida State had a 3-pointer that would have won it rim out at the buzzer.
The Duke-Florida State game had runs by both teams and was close all the way. The UNC-Clemson game was not, as the Tigers led by eight at halftime and by as many as 18 points in the second half. UNC coach Hubert Davis was obviously frustrated with his players for letting Clemson push them around.
“I felt like their physicality took us out of our offense,” Davis said. “(It) took us off of our cuts, our screens, our moves, and (we) didn’t really respond to that until the latter part of the second half.”
Added Stevenson: “Whether shots are falling or not, we’ve still got to be playing defense.”
Clemson won multiple consecutive games at the same ACC Tournament for the first time since 2008. That drought included coach Brad Brownell’s entire tenure with the Tigers.
But Clemson was the stronger, better team in all facets until the last four minutes, when UNC hit one 3-pointer after another and nearly came all the way back.
”We played desperate but we play good when we’re desperate,” said UNC big man Henri Veesaar, who posted career highs in both points (28) and rebounds (17).
With 2.7 seconds to go, Clemson’s Nick Davidson went to the line for two free throws and the Tigers up, 80-79. He missed the first. Brownell then called timeout and told him to miss the second off the rim, knowing that UNC had no timeouts left and would have little time to advance the ball.
“The second (miss) was orchestrated by Coach Brownell,” Davidson said.
Davidson put up one of the best missed free throws you’ll ever see, which bounced softly off the front rim and took a while to corral. Stevenson eventually launched an 80-footer that was well short, and Clemson had advanced.
UNC hasn’t won an ACC Tournament since 2016, and this time couldn’t stick around past the quarterfinals. The Tar Heels certainly missed sensational freshman Caleb Wilson, who got hurt on Feb. 10 and hasn’t played since. He won’t play for the rest of the season, no matter how long or short it is.
The Tar Heels have sometimes played just fine without Wilson. But Thursday night wasn’t one of those times. UNC looked like a team playing its first game without Wilson, not its eighth (they are now 5-3 without him).
“We play for a lot more people than just us,” Veesaar said. “I know this is devastating for everybody on this team — we wanted to win this tournament, and play tomorrow, and play the next day. But I know there’s (a lot of UNC) fans right now who are just as upset as us, and I’m sorry (for us to) cause that.”
UNC could have avoided this mess simply by playing at anywhere near its level for the final four minutes for even half of the first 36. But it didn’t, and so now it’s Clemson that will face Duke in a 9:30 pm semifinal Friday, rather than the Duke-UNC matchup that ESPN certainly would have rather seen.
“It stings,” Trimble said. “You come that close, and now you’re out of the ACC Tournament.”
This story was originally published March 13, 2026 at 5:00 AM.
