The Clemson Tigers fell to the Boston College Eagles by a score of 76-55 in the second round of the ACC Tournament on Wednesday night in Washington D.C.
The Eagles (19-14, 8-12 ACC) jumped out onto an early lead and never looked back, sending the Tigers out in their first postseason game of the season and taking out their conference title hopes.
Despite an 89-point performance in their first meeting, the Tigers (21-11, 11-9 ACC) tied for the lowest-scoring offensive performance this season, with only 55 points scored across the 40 minutes of play. The only other game Clemson scored 55 points was in their first game against North Carolina at Littlejohn Coliseum in January.
To start the game, the Tigers were slow to wake up, while the Eagles had one game already under their belt, defeating Miami a night before in dominant fashion.
Through Boston College center Quinten Post, the No. 11 seed in the tournament was able to get a 16-7 lead throughout the first seven minutes of the contest. Despite the Tigers going on an 8-0 run of their own to cut the lead to one later on in the half, the Eagles were able to retake control of the game, going into the break up by 12 points.
“We tried a lot of different things tonight,” head coach Brad Brownell said after the loss. “Tonight, we just didn’t have an answer.”
Boston College did a great job of crashing the boards, out rebounding the Tigers by 16 (43-27). Shooting and defending the 3-pointer was another success for the Eagles, shooting 34% on their side while limiting Clemson to just 20% from beyond the arc.
The team was unable to respond in the second half, with the Eagles only growing the lead to as much as 23 points before moving on into the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament when the clock struck zeroes. The team continued to hit tough shot after tough shot to hold a double-digit lead throughout the second frame.
The two bright spots for Clemson were center PJ Hall and guard Joseph Girard III. Hall found success in the post, scoring 21 points in the loss. However, he only sank one of four attempted threes from beyond the arc, a struggle in the game for the Tigers. He would also only record one rebound.
Girard added 13 points of his own, sinking three 3-pointers. A team-high seven rebounds were also recorded by the Syracuse transfer.
The Tigers will now await their fate for the NCAA Tournament, where they look to be a top seed in the Big Dance. Selection Sunday is set to begin at 6 p.m. to determine where and when they play next.
