Pack's NCAA Chances Getting Slimmer With Loss To Clemson

On a day when the 1983 National Championship team was honored for its 25th anniversary, the current N.C. State squad was left wondering if it will need a similar run to continue this season into the NCAA Tournament.

With five games left on the schedule, the likelihood of an at-large berth continues to get further and further out of sight as the Wolfpack (15-10, 4-7 ACC) dropped its third straight ACC game Saturday, falling 71-64 to Clemson.

A win over the Tigers (18-6, 6-4 ACC) would have surely given the Pack a “quality win” that it sorely lacked, but back-breaking shots by the Tigers’ K.C. Rivers and Terrence Oglesby prevented any padding of the résumé on this day.

Oglesby salvaged Clemson’s next possession was when he nailed a highly-contested 3-pointer as the shot clock ran down under five seconds, erasing the 2-point deficit.

“We didn’t stop them when we had to,” freshman Javi Gonzalez said.

The Tigers’ full-court press didn’t disrupt Gonzalez or the rest of the team as much as it did in this year’s previous contest. In fact, State thrived in the game’s more up-tempo parts as it edged Clemson 20-6 in fast break points.

But the Pack didn’t lack in the mental lapses category, as all but four of the 16 turnovers came in the half-court sets.

Those mistakes are only going to become more costly as the hourglass starts to run out on the Pack’s NCAA chances.

“If we put this effort that we put in today [into] these next ball games and not break down mentally, we’ll definitely give ourselves a chance,” coach Sidney Lowe said.

The Pack has now placed itself in a precarious position by losing three in a row after pulling to 4-4 in the conference. State has the unenviable, if not unlikely task of gathering enough wins to ensure a Big Dance invite with dates with North Carolina and Duke up ahead.

“One of our main team goals was to make the NCAA Tournament,” J.J. Hickson said. “Some people are saying its looking slim now but I think we’ll bounce back from this loss and get a couple of wins.”

The Freshman center pulled down an ACC season-high 23 rebounds in addition to his 13 points and four blocks. But despite his efforts, the Pack dug itself into too much of a hole to recover against the Tigers.

State clanked all nine of its first half 3-point attempts and trailed 34-23 at the break after falling behind as much as 13.

Whether the hole that State has been digging this season is too great to overcome, time will tell. But when two remaining opponents are in the top-5, the chances look slim.

Fells even called the team’s next game against the Tar Heels a “must-win.”

Gavin Grant, the lone scholarship senior on the team, echoed the sentiment.

“Any game after this is a must-win,” Grant, who led all scorers with 18 points, said.

And there are five must-wins left.

“We’re not going to quit,” Gonzalez said. “We just have to come back strong and play the way we did tonight.”