CHARLOTTE — At one point in the second half of the 2026 ACC Tournament quarterfinals, UNC basketball’s Henri Veesaar was angry as he made his way to the Tar Heels’ bench during a timeout.
“Wake this (expletive) up!” Veesaar yelled.
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The 19th-ranked Tar Heels did eventually heed that message with an eye-popping rally, but the comeback came up just short against Clemson in an 80-79 loss at Spectrum Center.
“Obviously we dug ourselves in a big hole in the second half, first half, so we had to kind of – we played desperate, but we play good when we’re desperate,” said Veesaar, who had a career-high 28 points and 17 rebounds, but also a career-worst six turnovers.
“I think we’re going to keep that mindset when we go into the next games and into March.”
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OBSERVATIONS: UNC basketball can’t complete comeback vs Clemson in ACC tournament
UNC (24-8) lacked that March mindset for most of the night against Clemson (24-9), which trailed by five in the first 6 ½ minutes before responding with a 27-14 stretch the rest of the half to take a lead it wouldn’t relinquish.
The Tigers ballooned their lead to 18 points in the second half before a final seven-minute surge from the Tar Heels, who scored 30 points and made their final five shots, including four 3-pointers for the final tally.
UNC coach Hubert Davis said he talked at “great length” with his team throughout the week about its need to bring a “hunger and thirst” in the postseason. But both areas were largely lacking against Clemson, which had only one win previously against UNC in the ACC tournament (in 1996).
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“Just the inability to respond to physicality. I felt like it was the same thing (at Duke), and for most of the game (against Clemson),” Davis said.
“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. And I felt like their physicality took us out of our offense, took us off of our cuts, our screens, our moves, and didn’t really respond to that until the latter part of the second half.”
In addition to a defense that allowed the Tigers to shoot nearly 50%, UNC had 10 turnovers, was 10 of 17 (59%) from the free-throw line and finished just 8 of 18 (44%) on layup attempts.
Jarin Stevenson said he was “proud of our guys for fighting,” but felt like “we didn’t come with the right approach” to open the ACC tournament.
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“Just come with the right approach, be hungry,” Stevenson said, before adding, “them being physical and us not fighting back enough” was an issue.
“We gotta be more physical, not afraid to foul … be physical when we need to,” he said.
UNC didn’t consistently check enough boxes against Clemson. If that inconsistency carries into March Madness, it’ll likely result in another one-and-done postseason appearance for this group.
“When you lose in March, you go home,” senior co-captain Seth Trimble said.
“. … It’s a harsh reality check. We went into this ACC tournament with plans and knowing what we can do. But we didn’t do the proper things to fulfill that. It’s a reality check.”
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Rodd Baxley covers North Carolina Tar Heels athletics for The Fayetteville Observer as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his ACC coverage on X/Twitter or Bluesky: @RoddBaxley. Got questions regarding UNC? Send them to rbaxley@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: What went wrong for UNC basketball in ACC tournament loss to Clemson
