The Tigers cannot be tamed in the NC State blowout

GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) –Ian Schieffelin and PJ Hall each scored 15 points and Clemson pulled away from North Carolina State in the second half to earn an 80-54 victory in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament on Thursday night.

Clemson (23-9), the No. 3 seed, will face second-seeded Virginia in Friday night’s other semifinal game.

NC State started strong and held a nine-point lead midway through the first half, 20-11. The Tigers roared back and took a 39-36 lead at halftime. Chase Hunter hit three straight jumpers to get Clemson going in the second half, and the Tigers outscored the Wolfpack 41-18 over the final 20 minutes.

From midway through the first half, Clemson scored two points for every point the defense allowed, outscoring the Wolfpack 69-34.

Hall gave Clemson a double-digit lead by jumping out to a 57-46 lead midway through the second half. Brevin Galloway and Schieffelin hit back-to-back 3-pointers as the Tigers went on a 12-0 run to close the game on a 25-8 run.

Hunter scored 11 points and grabbed nine rebounds for Clemson. Hunter Tyson had a double-double, scoring 10 points and pulling down 12 rebounds, opening a 41-28 dominance for the Tigers.

DJ Burns Jr. paced NC State (23-10) with 12 points. Terquavion Smith scored 11 points and Jack Clark and Jarkel Joiner each added 10 points

.Attention Thursday in quarterfinals 4

– Clemson (23-9) advances to the semifinals against second-seeded Virginia (24-6) on Friday nights at 9:30. The Cavaliers took the teams’ only regular season meeting in Charlottesville on Feb. 28, winning 64-57.

– The Tigers improved to 23-68 all-time in the New York Life ACC Tournament and 9-27 in tournament games in Greensboro. Clemson will play in the semifinals of the tournament for the 14th time on Friday night and will look to the championship game for the third time in program history (previously 1962 and 2008).

– Clemson trails NC State 105-60 in the all-time series, but Friday night’s win was the Tigers’ fifth straight in the series and seventh in the last eight meetings against the Wolfpack. Clemson has swept three games against NC State this season by a combined 65 points.

– This is the first time Clemson has beaten an ACC opponent by at least 14 points three times in the same season.

– The margin of victory is Clemson’s second-largest ever in an ACC Tournament game. The school record is 34, which was accomplished in an 82-48 win over BC in the 2008 quarters.

– Thursday’s game was the teams’ fourth New York Life ACC Tournament game in the last seven years. But regularity hasn’t always been the rule of the series. In fact, live New York Life ACC tournaments were held without a meeting between the two founding members (1964-84). In 21 tournaments from 1989 to 2009, they met only once: Tiger won in the first round in 1994.

– Clemson has won multiple games in the ACC Tournament while ranked sixth or lower for just the second time. The first was in 1962.

– The Wolfpack fell to 74-59 all-time in the ACC Tournament and 28-26 at the Greensboro Coliseum.

– Clemson’s Hunter Tyson, who was honored before the game with the Skip Prosser Award as the ACC Men’s Basketball Scholar-Athlete, posted his 16th double-double of the season with 10 points and 12 rebounds. Tyson now ranks seventh in program history with a season double-double.

– Chase Hunters nine assists for the Tigers Friday night led all players and was two shy of his career high set on Feb. 11, 22 against Syracuse.