Tom Suiter: ACC Confirms the Obvious About Clock-Keeping in Duke-Clemson Game

The Atlantic Coast Conference acknowledged on Friday what everybody knows who saw the Duke-Clemson game: somebody goofed big time. The ACC admits that a “timing error” occurred in the final seconds of the Blue Devils 68-66 win over the Tigers.

Yeah, I think we all know that. Coordinator of basketball officials John Clougherty says league officials reached that decision after reviewing game films and after conversations with referees, both coaches and ACC staff.

There were five seconds left and Duke was up 66-63 when Josh McRoberts gift-wrapped a pass to Clemson’s Vernon Hamilton, who drained the game-tying three. When Hamilton caught the pass, the game clock just didn’t start. Everybody saw it, and why the officials put as much as 4.4 seconds back on the clock I’ll never know.

They were able to watch the TV monitors, and it was clear that it took more than two seconds for Hamilton to get off the tying three. After watching the replay in our office, we figured that between 2 and 2.4 seconds should have been on the clock. And then there’s the common sense that nobody can catch, step back and shoot in just 0.6 seconds.

But 4.4 was put on the clock, and that was enough time for Duke to make a great play, getting the ball down the court in time for David McClure to score at the buzzer for the Duke win.

And it was a huge Duke win that propelled them to 4-2 in the ACC and a 17-3 overall mark. It was an equally huge loss for Clemson that dropped the Tigers to 4-3 and 18-3.

There’s no question this was a blown call. Duke may have indeed been able to win it anyway with 2.4 seconds left or even in overtime, but Clemson had seized the momentum, so who knows.

Clougherty says the matter is being handled internally, which I guess means nothing more is being said officially about the matter.

Now, Carolina will have an interesting game on Saturday at Arizona. The 4th-ranked Tar Heels will play at 1p.m. eastern time, which will be 11a.m. in the Mountain Time Zone. If I were Carolina, I would keep my clocks set on Eastern Time and everything will be normal.

Last year, Arizona made the trip to Chapel Hill and was completely outplayed by the Tar Heels. Now Carolina returns the favor. You wish there were more non-conference games like this one.

Arizona is a good athletic team that hasn’t played all that well lately. They are 14-5 overall, and their leading scorer, Marcus Williams, was suspended for the Arizona State game earlier this week, but he is expected to play against UNC.

Carolina hasn’t played many tough games away from the Smith Center, so this will be a good test for them and a game that everybody around the country will watch with interest.

Arizona has athletes, but not as many as Carolina. UNC is a better team with more weapons, but playing on the road is never easy, especially a cross-country trip in January.

You can watch this one on WRAL-TV Saturday at 1 p.m.