Clemson Wins Sixth Straight in Coach Brownell's 450th Career Victory.

Clemson Tigers guard Chase Hunter (1) dribbles the ball up court during the college basketball game between the Clemson Tigers and the North Carolina State Wolfpack on February 1, 2025 at Lenovo Center in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Photo by Katherine Gawlik/Icon Sportswire)

The Clemson Tigers improved to 18-4 overall and 10-1 within ACC play as NC State dropped to 9-12 on the season and 2-8 within the ACC. The two stars of the game for the Tigers were Chase Hunter and Viktor Lakhin. Hunter finished the day with 20 points on 6/12 shooting, while Viktor Lakhin had a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds. This is Clemson’s sixth win in a row and ninth out of their last ten games. Head Coach Brad Brownell secured his 450th career victory today. This is a great career milestone for Coach Brownell.

It was a terrific start for Dontrez Styles and the Wolfpack as he got a quick 5 points to put NC State up 7-2 just 2:30 into the game. The Tigers struggled to stop the Wolfpack on the offensive boards, which gave NC State some early second-chance points. Chauncey Wiggins and Chase Hunter combined for two threes to give the Tigers a 10-9 lead. But, former Clemson player Ben Middlebrooks was able to take the lead right back and put the Wolfpack up by 1 heading into the under-16 timeout. Neither team looked crisp after the media timeout; the Tigers were still getting beat up on the offensive glass, and both teams missed a couple of easy shots to give themselves the lead. Ian Schieffelin finally got his first points of the day almost nine minutes in, with a floater off the backboard to give the Tigers the lead. Although Clemson didn’t start the game the way they wanted to, Chase Hunter was still playing like Chase Hunter. The graduate student had a quick 6 points capped off by an and-one. From the 9:41 minute mark until the under-8 media timeout with 6:22 to go, the Tigers could not score and gave the Wolfpack a chance to take the lead as two Paul McNeil three-pointers would make it a 20-19 lead for NC State. Schieffelin would end the three-minute rut for the Tigers with an easy layup. The Tigers continued to give NC State far too many offensive rebounds, which helped Jayden Taylor and Dontrez Styles give the Wolfpack a one-point lead. After the under-4 timeout, Lakhin and Zackery combined for a couple of layups to give the Tigers a three-point lead with just over a minute to go. At the half, Clemson was able to hold a narrow 34-31 lead over NC State. Dontrez Styles led the way at the half for the Wolfpack with 10 points and three rebounds, while Chase Hunter had 8 points on 3/5 shooting for the Tigers. NC State dominated the offensive boards as they outrebounded Clemson 8-1. Even though the Tigers were sloppy on the boards, they only allowed four second-chance points, which helped them take a 3-point lead heading into the locker room. Wiggins and Lakhin started the second half in the best way possible for Clemson; both hit mid-range jumpers to put the Tigers up seven early in the second period. The Wolfpack fired right back with two corner threes from O’Connell and Styles to get Lenovo Center fired up heading into the under-16 timeout. The Tigers had not scored for 7 minutes, their last baskets being the Wiggins and Lakhin jumpers to start the quarter, but they were able to finally end their rut on an Ian Schieffelin tip-in, which gave them a one-point lead heading into the under-12 timeout. After the 7-minute scoring drought, it seemed as though the Clemson offense started to click. Hunter hit three free throws after being fouled from behind the arc, and Del Jones made a shifty reverse layup to put the Tigers up by 6 with 10 minutes to go. Two threes from the top of the key by Chase Hunter and Viktor Lakhin would give the Tigers a 5-point lead heading into the under-8 timeout. Dontrez Styles continued to kill the Tigers with a three-pointer, giving him 18 points to head into the media timeout. Out of the timeout, Lakhin and Wiggins teamed up for a couple of big buckets to give the Tigers a 9-point lead until Dontrez Styles hit his fifth three of the day to cut it down to 6 and give himself 21 points on the afternoon. Every time Clemson tried to put NC State away, the Wolfpack would keep themselves in the game with clutch buckets and big offensive rebounds. But, in just 58 seconds, the Hunter brothers were able to shut down the Wolfpack with a Dillon three and 4 points from Chase to ensure their sixth straight win. The Tigers ended the game with a couple of made free throws by Dillon Hunter to win 68-58 against a resilient NC State team. Chase Hunter led the way for the Tigers with 20 points on 6/12 shooting from the field and 6/6 from the line. Viktor Lakhin was also terrific for the Tigers with a double-double, 13 points and 11 rebounds. Clemson plays next at 9:00 PM on Tuesday, February 4, at Littlejohn Coliseum and is available to watch on the ACC Network.