Clemson Edges Tar Heels, 80-79, Despite Veesaar's Career-Best Effort

Thursday, March 12

Charlotte, N.C.

9:30 p.m.

North Carolina

24-8,12-6ACC

Clemson (Quarterfinal)

24-9,12-6ACC

Clemson

North Carolina

Henri Veesaar

Photo by: MAGGIE HOBSON UNC MEN'S BASKETBALL

Clemson Edges Tar Heels, 80-79, Despite Veesaar's Career-Best Effort

March 12, 2026 | Men's Basketball

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By: Matt Bowers

CHARLOTTE — Henri Veesaar played the best game of his college career, posting career highs with 28 points and 17 rebounds, but Clemson held off a North Carolina rally and edged the 19th-ranked Tar Heels, 80-79, in a thrilling ACC Tournament quarterfinal on Thursday night at the Spectrum Center.

Veesasar hit 10 of 16 field goal attempts in his 14th double-double, second-most in the ACC, and his seventh 20-point game of the season.

After trailing by as many as 18 points at 61-43 with 11:36 to go in the second half, the Tar Heels roared back all the way to within a point in the final minute, nearly pulling off the comeback win, but they couldn't close the deal and fully dig themselves out of their deep hole.

"Clemson has always been physical defensively, and one of the things I always say is you never let a defense dictate and decide how efficient you are on the offensive end," said Tar Heel head coach Hubert Davis afterword. "And I felt like their physicality took us out of our offense, took us off of our cuts, our screens, our moves, and [we] didn't really respond to that until the latter part of the second half."

In addition to Veesaar's career-best night, Derek Dixon starred for the second game in a row for Carolina. Coming off a career-high 17 points with five three-pointers at Duke in the regular season finale last Saturday, the freshman point guard hit 4 of 6 from behind the arc and 6 of 9 shots overall for 16 points.

Seth Trimble scored 13 points and distributed a career-high eight assists (setting a career assist high for the second game in a row after having six at Duke). Jarin Stevenson pitched in 12 points with seven rebounds.

Six Tigers scored in double figures, led by 17 points by Nick Davidson, who hit all four of his three-point tries and added 11 rebounds.

"I thought our defense was outstanding," said Clemson head coach Brad Brownell. "Obviously they made some big-time shots late. It gets scary there when they bank one in on you there at the end. But I thought our guys were really good. We didn't turn the ball over against the press. They pressed us and were aggressive in it for the last two minutes of the game, and our guys got it up the floor. We broke it, got fouled, made big free throws."

Trailing, 76-71 in the final 30 seconds, Trimble drove the length of the floor and scored on an off-balance, lefthanded layup to make it 76-73 Tigers with 23.8 seconds remaining. Clemson's Dillon Hunter then hit a pair of free throws to expand its lead to 78-73, but Veesaar's third three-pointer of the night with 12.2 seconds left made it 78-76 and led to a Tiger timeout.

Hunter hit two more clutch free throws with 11.1 ticks on the clock to give Clemson an 80-76 lead, but Dixon then hit a three-pointer with 2.8 seconds on the clock, making the score 80-79 Tigers. Neither team scored the rest of the way.

The Tar Heels made their last five shots while their defense held Clemson without a field goal for the final 3:36 of the game, but clutch free throw shooting by Hunter and Davidson sealed the Tigers' trip to Friday's ACC semifinals against Duke.

The Tigers improved to 23-9 with the win and move on to Friday's ACC semifinals to meet top-seeded Duke. Carolina fell to 24-8 with its second consecutive loss and now awaits word on its NCAA Tournament fate to come on Sunday evening.

Both teams shot well from outside with UNC hitting 11 three-pointers (led by four from Dixon and three from Veesaar), while Clemson hit 9 of 19 led by Davidson's four.

Clemson shot 50 percent from the floor and dominated bench points, 15-2, in the first half and led, 39-31 at intermission. The Tigers finished with a 29-5 edge in points off the bench, a deciding factor after Carolina outrebounded Clemson (38-29), had more offensive rebounds (11-3) and second-chance points (16-2) and a 32-24 edge in points in the paint.

How It Happened
First Half
• Both teams started hot offensively, with Carolina hitting 7 of its first 12 shots and Clemson starting 6 for 12.
• Clemson used a 9-0 run to take its biggest lead at 31-22 in the final six minutes of the half, forcing the Tar Heels to miss 9 of 10 shots.
• Carolina went on a 7-0 run to pull within a basket at 31-29.
• The Tigers responded with back-to-back three-pointers to for a 37-31 lead shortly thereafter.
• Clemson's bench outscored the Tar Heel reserves, 15-2, in the first half, 15-2, in the first half.
• The Tigers led, 39-31 at the break.

Second Half
• Clemson ripped of an 8-0 run to take its biggest lead at 58-41with 12:23 to play.
• The Tigers doubled their lead from nine to 18 in less than two minutes with an 11-2 burst concluding with a Nick Davidson three-pointer with 11:36 to go.
• Veesaar hit a big three-pointer from the top of the key with 7:15 remaining to cut the Clemson lead to 12 at 64-52 with 7:16 on the clock.
• The Tar Heels ripped off a 7-0 run in 1:01 to pull within single digits at 73-65 with 2:22 to play.
• Carolina's comeback effort fell shot in the end. A Dixon three-pointer finally got UNC within a point at 80-79 with three seconds left, but it could get no closer.

Up Next
Carolina awaits word on its NCAA Tournament destination and opponent. On Sunday evening at 6 p.m. on CBS, the NCAA will release its brackets in the 68-team field.