Just minutes before midnight on Thursday, Clemson put the world on notice. Nudging No. 19 UNC 80-79 at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, the Tigers punched their ticket to the ACC tournament semifinals, where Duke awaits.
Clemson had six players score in double digits: RJ Godfrey, Butta Johnson, Dillon Hunter, Ace Buckner, Nick Davidson and Jestin Porter. Those six guys accounted for 93.75% of all of Clemson’s points.
But the story is much more dramatic than that. Ahead for most of the game, Clemson was taught a lesson about leading from the front.
The lead was as high as 18 with less than 12 minutes remaining, and Clemson led by 15 at the 3:36 mark.
But in March especially, the pressure can’t let up. The momentum can’t swing. The focus can’t break. Those things are easier said than done.
In the blink of an eye, the lead was only five with 1:04 remaining. And then down to three with 24 seconds on the clock. And then it was a 2-point game with 12 seconds left. When all was said and done, a purposefully missed Nick Davidson free throw actually allowed UNC to make a game-winning shot in a 1-point game — albeit a full-court heave.
On a night where Clemson shot well — 49.1% from the field and 47.4% from three — nothing was falling in the dying moments of the contest. If not for some clutch free throws late from Dillon Hunter, this might have been front-page news for all the wrong reasons.
With tonight’s win, Clemson moves to 2-15 all-time against UNC in the ACC tournament, with the last win coming 30 years ago.
But for Ace Buckner, this one was special for a few different reasons.
In the looming absence of Carter Welling, Buckner got the nod from head coach Brad Brownell to start for just the second time this season. Logging 31 minutes, his second most this season, Buckner scored 11 points and dished three assists to his teammates.
“It means a lot, just the fact that we won the game tonight. I feel like we just really came together tonight. We found a way to win, especially for Carter going down with that injury yesterday,” Buckner said.
But with Buckner in the lineup, this one might have been written in the stars.
Clemson’s last ACC tournament win over UNC was in 1996, also in the quarterfinals. On that fateful night, Ace’s father and former Tiger Greg Buckner was the man of the moment.
Trailing 73-67 with 5:56 remaining, Clemson put on a defensive display that this year’s team, the No. 2 defense in the ACC, would have been proud of. For the remainder of the contest — almost six minutes — the Heels would not score again. Meanwhile, Clemson chipped away until the score was even at 73.
Holding possession with less than 10 seconds on the clock, Greg’s teammate, Harold Jamison, was swarmed at the free-throw line by Carolina Blue jerseys, leaving Greg open under the basket.
“I saw his eyes get big,” Ace’s father said of Jamison, “and then he dumped it off to me.”
In the blink of an eye, Buckner rose and dunked the ball, leaving just 0.6 seconds on the clock. Buckner finished with 20 points and a lifelong memory.
But the story doesn’t end there. Greg Buckner’s night to remember — March 8, 1996 — was forever memorialized 10 years later with the birth of his son on, you guessed it, March 8, 2006.
With tonight’s win, Ace now has a magical March moment of his own — and the month isn’t even halfway through. You couldn’t ask for a much better birthday gift.
“It’s fun to be able to celebrate my birthday with my guys and just be in the ACC tournament right now, it’s a great time,” Ace said.
Clemson’s triumph over the Tar Heels, a Quadrant 1 win, will likely boost the team from a No. 8 seed in the NCAA Tournament to a No. 7 seed. That’s not a bad birthday present either.
But as is the case with March, the biggest game is always the next one.
“Onto the next game, I feel like we got to get two more,” Ace said ahead of the semifinal against Duke.
