CHARLOTTE, N.C. — It felt like March at Spectrum Center on Thursday night.

The sixth-seeded SMU Mustangs (23-10) fought to the finish against three-seed Clemson (27-5), the No. 10 team in the nation, but ultimately fell 57-54, ending their run in this year’s ACC tournament.

Despite trailing by as much as eight points in the first half, SMU clawed its way back into the game. It led for most of the second half, but Clemson kept it close throughout and was able to take the lead in the last two minutes, which SMU couldn’t answer.

Here are five thoughts from the loss.

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SMU can’t secure elusive Quad 1 win

A Quad 1 win has been tough to come by for SMU all season.

Those wins are defined as beating a team ranked 1-30 at home, 1-50 on a neutral site and 1-75 on the road, and SMU went 0-5 in those contests ahead of Thursday night. They’re almost a prerequisite for any team seeking to make the NCAA Tournament as an at-large bid.

A win of that kind — or two — in the ACC tournament was necessary for SMU to have any shot at securing an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament beginning next week. Without even one Quad 1 win, SMU sits on the outside of the field looking in with no more opportunities to build its resume.

Mustangs recover from sloppy start

SMU was lucky it wasn’t out of the game early in the first half.

The Mustangs’ first 10 minutes of play were filled with mistakes from traveling violations to double-dribbles to shot-clock violations.

SMU turned the ball over eight times in the first 10 minutes and 10 times in the first half. The Mustangs were held without a field goal for six minutes in the middle of the half.

But SMU never trailed by more than eight points.

Clemson had a rocky start as well and was unable to fully capitalize on SMU’s mistakes.

The Mustangs surged back late in the first half, putting together a defensive stand of its own to trail by just a point at halftime. They were able to take their first lead moments after halftime and held a narrow lead for most of the second half.

Physical, defensive battle

Against one of the top defensive teams in the nation, SMU knew it would be tough to get its points. Its own aforementioned mistakes didn’t help either. The Mustangs went in with a strategy of matching the Tigers’ lockdown defense with a dominant defensive showing of their own.

Against a big, physical Clemson team, SMU hung with it throughout. The Mustangs held the Tigers to just 28 points in the first half, a six-minute field goal drought and fought down low all game.

Despite starting center Samet Yigitoglu not being 100%, the Mustangs outscored the Tigers 40-24 in the paint.

A rotation of Yigitoglu, Yohan Traore, Keon Ambrose-Hylton and Matt Cross was effective inside, especially in limiting Clemson forward Ian Schieffelin, who finished with just nine points and two made field goals, despite averaging 12.9 as the team’s second-leading scorer.

SMU did struggle against Clemson’s leading scorer Chase Hunter, who finished with a game-high 21 points.

Uncharacteristic 3-point shooting woes

SMU had one of its worst 3-point shooting games of the season. The Mustangs lead the conference in 3-point percentage, shooting 38.3% on average, but on Thursday, they could not hit a deep shot.

SMU went 1 of 14 from 3-point range. It didn’t make a 3-pointer until early in the second half when Cross hit one from deep.

Just a day after shooting 50% from beyond the arc in the same building against Syracuse, the Mustangs went cold.

It ultimately could’ve helped them down the stretch against Clemson. Chuck Harris went 0 for 7 from 3-point range and missed an attempt with under 10 seconds remaining for the win.

The Mustangs did not make a field goal for the last six minutes of regulation.

NIT next?

It appears SMU will go another year without reaching the NCAA Tournament, a drought that dates to 2017.

Nevertheless, the Mustangs exceeded expectations in their first season under Andy Enfield with 10 new players on the roster.

They may still have a chance to extend their season in another tournament such as the NIT, should they choose to accept an invitation.

But they’ll have to wait until next year to reach the Big Dance — and they’ll hope their elite recruiting class coming in can get them there.

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