GREENSBORO — As the women’s basketball team walked off the court at the Greensboro Coliseum with faces of shock and disappointment, Clemson players stormed the court in celebration and onlooking North Carolina players exchanged high-fives in support of the Tigers’ 65-60 upset of N.C. State on Thursday.
Though the game featured the No. 8 and No. 9 seeds in the ACC tournament, the Pack’s 89-57 thrashing of Clemson the week before in South Carolina had the Wolfpack overconfident heading into the contest, according to junior guard Shayla Fields. With a rematch against North Carolina only a game away, the Pack overlooked Clemson and came out unprepared, Fields said.
“We came out thinking about the next game, thinking about playing Carolina again,” Fields said. “I think it affected us in the worst way, and we lost the game. I think a lot of players were thinking that we would come out and beat Clemson like we did at Clemson, but it wasn’t going to be that way.”
State’s lack of respect for Clemson showed from the opening tip. The Tigers led by as much as 11 points in the first half, though the Pack fought to make it a three-point game at the half.
Clemson opened the second half on a 6-0 run, but the Pack whittled away at the lead and had a chance to win the game. With 12 seconds of play left, senior forward Khadijah Whittington missed a layup that would have given the team the lead. After a State foul, Clemson guard D’Lesha Lloyd missed a jumper for the win as time expired.
In overtime, Clemson connected on all eight of its free throw attempts to hold on for the win. The close nature of the loss and State’s inability to repeat success against a team it blew out a week before disturbed coach Kay Yow.
“Considering everything, it might be our worst game of the year,” Yow said.
Yow said Clemson’s defense schemes were the same in both games, though it upped its intensity in the tournament. As a result, the Wolfpack’s three starting guards had a combined 7-for-34 shooting from the field and struggled to attack Clemson’s pesky zone defense.
“Our effort was sub-par, and part of that can be contributed to the defensive effort of Clemson,” Yow said.
Though Whittington finished with a game-high 19 points and 16 rebounds, both of her hands were taped in the game, which seemed to influence her 8-for-23 shooting from the floor as Clemson coach Cristy McKinney noticed “she got a little tired down the stretch.”
“They outplayed us in a number of ways, even though a lot of our stats were very similar,” Yow said.
What’s worse for the Pack, according to Yow, is that the Pack’s chance at an NCAA Tournament appearance is very unlikely with the team’s 18-12 overall record and 6-8 ACC mark. The Pack has been to NCAA Tournament the past four seasons.
“I really feel that [with] this loss, certainly, I don’t think our chances are good or even exist at all for the NCAA [tournament] after this game,” Yow said.
Yow hopes to returnAfter the loss to Clemson, coach Kay Yow said that though the difficult season has worn on her, she plans to return as N.C. State’s coach next season.
“There’s no reason to believe that I won’t be back at this time,” Yow said. “It’s a really disappointing loss to me. I think things like this take a lot out of you because you always like to see your team play the very best that they can play, and when that’s not happening, it makes coaching tough. At this time, I definitely will be back.”
Whittington racks up honorsSenior forward Khadijah Whittington has earned several honors for her play this season, including First-Team All-ACC honors, receiving five votes for conference player of the year from voting media affiliates. Whittington was also named to the first-team All-ACC Defensive Team.
Here’s a look at some of Whittington’s numbers during the regular season:498 points (17.2 ppg ranks third in ACC)327 rebounds (11.3 rpg leads ACC)71 steals (2.45 spg ranks sixth in ACC)45 blocks (1.55 bpg ranks sixth in ACC)
