Chase Hunter's first desperation 3-point attempt found glass and then the net.
His second found air.
The No. 25-ranked Tigers lost their second overtime game in three days Tuesday in a 91-88 defeat at South Carolina.
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Hunter couldn't come up with the plays late in Saturday's home loss to Memphis, and his 27 points after halftime weren't enough for Clemson as it dropped to 9-3.
Missed free throws by South Carolina (8-3) late in regulation gave Hunter just enough of an opportunity and he capitalized by draining a soaring 3 to tie the score at 80 with less than a second left.
And after Ian Schieffelin fouled out with 3:16 left in overtime, Hunter was again up for the moment.
He drained a 3 from the top of the key to trim the Gamecocks' lead to 89-85 with 1:27 left.
Then he attacked the rim and drew Collin Murray-Boyles' fifth foul with 50 seconds left, making both free throws to cut it to 89-87.
South Carolina missed a three and a tie-up followed, giving Clemson possession.
Clemson got the ball across halfcourt and called timeout with 14.9 seconds left.
The ball went to Hunter, just as it did at the end of regulation against Memphis when he settled for a 3 that missed.
This time he attacked but appeared to slip in the lane while closely guarded by Nick Pringle. He threw the ball toward the rim and Christian Reeves.
Reeves grabbed the ball and was fouled by Pringle with 3.7 seconds left.
He missed the first one and tried to miss the second but banked it in.
Jamarii Thomas made both free throws to make it a three-point game, and the Gamecocks were trying to foul before Hunter got off a 3-pointer.
Hunter out-leaped Thomas for the ball and had a clean look over Morris Ugusuk.
Murray-Boyles had 22 points, nine rebounds and four assists over 28 minutes while battling foul trouble all night. Pringle had 18 points in 27 minutes.
Viktor Lakhin had a bad night after carrying the Tigers with 23 points and 11 rebounds against Memphis. He had four points, six rebounds and two turnovers in 15 minutes before fouling out.
Schieffelin had 23 points on 8-of-11 shooting and 12 rebounds before fouling out.
South Carolina out-rebounded Clemson 35-28 and had 13 second-chance points off 11 offensive rebounds.
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Hunter had a goose egg at halftime but made up for it. South Carolina was up seven inside of two minutes in regulation, and then Hunter got rolling with a 3 with 1:31 left.
Then he made another 3 in transition with 1:04 left, followed by a Gamecocks turnover on an offensive foul drawn by Jaeden Zackery.
Suddenly the deficit was just 76-75.
A 3-pointer by Myles Stute from the corner off an extra pass put the Gamecocks up 79-75, then Hunter got a quick two with 16 seconds left to make it 79-77.
Jacobi Wright missed two free throws with 10 seconds left, but Stute beat Chauncey Wiggins to the rebound.
Thomas was fouled and made the first but missed the second to give Hunter the chance to force overtime.
If there was one regret of the last minute of regulation, maybe it was letting someone other than Hunter shoot: Wiggins missed a 3 with 53 seconds left with Clemson down a point.
Clemson returns home to play Wake Forest on Saturday at 2 PM.
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