GREENSBORO -- N.C. State sported new warmup shirts for the ACC tournament on Thursday.
"Impossible is nothing" it read on the front and "Wolfpack in the House" on the back. Both slogans proved to be true after State's 59-57 upset of Clemson to move into Friday's quarterfinals.
The 11th-seeded Wolfpack did what previously had been impossible, beat a big, athletic Clemson team for the first time under coach Sidney Lowe, ending a five-game losing streak in the series. In the process, extending its season to tonight's matchup with No. 3 Florida State.
Tracy Smith scored 19 points to lead State to its fourth win in five games after a 3-10 ACC start. While fellow Big Four rivals Wake Forest and North Carolina bowed out on Thursday, the Wolfpack will, as the shirt said, be in the house today.
State showed resilience and poise in its first ACC tournament win since the 2007 semifinals. That year, Lowe's first, the Pack played four times in four days but lost to UNC in the final. The Pack would like to stick around Greensboro for as long as possible. Perhaps the season got longer with Thursday's win — giving them six wins over teams likely in the NCAA tournament field — which should help their NIT chances.
N.C. State's upset almost unraveled on a four-point possession by the Tigers at the 9:54 mark of the second half. With State up 44-37, Farnold Degand was whistled for an intentional foul of Trevor Booker. The All-ACC forward hit one free throw and then Noel Johnson drained a 3 from the left corner to cut what was a 10-point lead to 44-41.
But Scott Wood's 3-pointer at 8:41 gave the Pack a little room and a 47-41 margin. Smith's tip-in follow of a Dennis Horner miss made it 49-41.
The Tigers, headed back to the NCAA tournament for a third straight year, made another run at the Pack, cutting it to 51-47 with 4 minutes left but a pair of free throws by C.J. Williams and then a tip-in basket by freshman Richard Howell made it 55-47 with 2:18 left in the game.
Booker scored 17 points for Clemson (21-10) before fouling out with 9.2 seconds left. Williams hit two more free throws to cap the unlikely win.
One of the main reasons State had been winless against Clemson under Lowe was it couldn't handle the Tigers' press. There were turnovers but the Pack handled Clemson's press and did so in the first half despite missing point guard Javier Gonzalez for more than 9 minutes. Gonzalez twisted his right ankle at the 16-minute mark and left for the locker room.
Without Gonzalez, State got steady ballhandling from guard Julius Mays and bonus production Howell to take a 25-21 halftime lead. The freshman power forward helped offset Clemson's size, holding bigs Booker and Jerai Grant to a combined seven points. Howell had five points and six rebounds in the first half.
The Tigers, who have gone 0-2 in the ACC tournament since playing in the 2008 title game, contributed to their own demise with a 3-of-7 start from the free-throw line and nine turnovers in the first half.
