0-59: No. 20 Clemson unable to complete ferocious second-half comeback in Chapel Hill

CHAPEL HILL -- Fear is a funny motivator.

You could argue there was more pressure on North Carolina to keep Clemson’s winless streak in Chapel Hill alive than Clemson had on it to end it.

Nobody wanted to be that team that ruined it.

When it looked like Clemson potentially could have gotten over the hump down the stretch, The Tar Heels didn't let tonight be the night the streak ended.

No. 20 Clemson wasn’t able to overcome an 18-point second-half deficit against No. 15 North Carolina and fell on the road 89-79.

Clemson (16-3, 4-2) is now 0-59 at Chapel Hill.

The Tar Heels were led by Cameron Johnson, who had a team-high 21 points. He drained six threes on the night.

The savvy point guard Joel Berry added 17 points. All four of his field goals were threes.

Marcquise Reed scored 19 of his 21 points in the second half to lead Clemson in scoring.

“A little disappointed in the way our guys played tonight. I don’t think we played very well,” Brad Brownell said. “We were a little down and just kind of pouted a little bit based on our poor offense. We never defended like a good team. They made us pay all night.”

Everything that could have gone wrong for Clemson early did. Donte Grantham said Monday that Clemson would be loose coming into the game, but maybe the Tigers were too loose.

The Tigers turned the ball over four times in the first four minutes. With the game tied at five, the Tar Heels started making three after three on their way to a 13-0 run. They made six threes in the first half.

Meanwhile, Clemson’s offense couldn’t find any groove. The only player who gave the Tigers any sort of life in the first half was Gabe DeVoe. He had 11 of Clemson’s first 18 points.

Playmakers Donte Grantham, Shelton Mitchell, and Reed didn’t make one field goal until the second half. The trio combined to shoot 0-for-13 from the field in the first half.

“I think we got caught up in the moment, really. Especially with the past - how we haven’t won here,” Mitchell said.

The Tigers, struggling to stay in it, were down 41-23 early in the second half and looked dreadful on both sides of the ball. The life looked drained from their eyes.

Then, the lights came on.

After missing its first shot of the second half, Clemson made 15 consecutive shots from the field to mount an unbelievable comeback. The Tigers didn’t miss for over 11 minutes until 7:02 remained in the second half.

15 straight shots. North Carolina head coach Roy Williams couldn’t believe it.

“I’ve coached over 1,100 games, and I’ve never seen anything like that,” Williams said.

Reed, who was 0-for-5 in the first half, started 6-for-6 in the second half and before you knew it, Clemson was right back in it.

Tar Heel fans began to get nervous as Clemson cut the lead to 11. Eight. Five. Two.

“I knew we were never going to give up,” Mitchell said. “We all kind of relaxed and started playing Clemson basketball.”

Grantham, Mitchell, and Mark Donnal made threes on consecutive possessions to cut it to 61-59. Was this the time Clemson would finally close the deal on the road?

When the Tar Heels needed them most, their National Championship playmakers stepped up to keep a Clemson comeback at bay down the stretch.

Berry and Luke Maye made clutch plays down the stretch to answer every Clemson run. The Tigers cut North Carolina’s lead to one possession four different times but were unable to get the stop they needed to get the ball back with a chance to tie.

Whether it was a Berry three, a Johnson three, or two clutch Maye jump shots to ultimately pull away, North Carolina’s best players didn’t tighten up when things got interesting.

For Clemson, it was too little too late.

The Tigers shot 61.3 percent and scored 56 points in the second half, but ended the game making only three of their last 12 shots.

The Tar Heels ended up shooting 65 percent in the second half while making their final five shots down the stretch to give them the 8-point win.

Missed opportunities like turnovers and free throws will haunt Clemson as it heads home from Chapel Hill still winless in the Dean Dome.

The Tigers committed 15 turnovers, allowed 18 points off those turnovers, and shot 14-of-21 from the free-throw line.

“We’ve won enough games where we know we are a good team,” Brownell ended with. “We have to play really well though to beat a team like North Carolina at North Carolina.

“We didn’t do anything to set a tone like we were a really good team coming here to win. We just played the game, and that’s disappointing.”

Clemson gets its chance to rebound at home against Notre Dame this Saturday at 4:00 PM.

But the streak in Chapel Hill, at least for another year, lives on.