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In all likelihood, the enduring and defining image of this season will be a positively stunned Clemson bench.

A group of coaches and players, standing almost frozen with their eyes wide, elbows up and hands covering the sides of their heads.

In disbelief over some calls at the end that somehow went the other way, yes.

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But mostly in disbelief that all these close games never came close to evening out.

They still had a chance in the end, even after those three questionable foul calls on Marcquise Reed, Elijah Thomas and Clyde Trapp.

Even after N.C. State made the two free throws to go up one, the Tigers still had a chance while inbounding the ball to their best player in the open floor with 2.6 seconds left.

And of course Reed's long, running 3-pointer doesn't come close.

It's the other team that makes that desperation heave against Clemson. Seemingly every time.

It's just been one of those seasons for Brad Brownell and the Tigers. One in which they've lost six games by one or two points.

Now they drop to 19-13 and 9-10 in ACC games. They are in for a long ride home from Charlotte. And a long and agonizing wait between now and Sunday evening, when they will learn whether their body of work is good enough for NCAA Tournament inclusion.

Since getting drilled at home by Florida State on Feb. 19, the Tigers have played well for the most part. They won four of six, and the two losses were by a total of three points to North Carolina and N.C. State.

Both of those losses ended in controversial fashion. The refs didn't call a foul on North Carolina when there was contact on a driving Shelton Mitchell. They did call those fouls on Clemson today when the contact was minimal, even non-existent.

That undoubtedly leaves a sour taste for a team that couldn't catch a break nor a call during all those close losses. And the taste is made even more wretched by the fact that two Tobacco Road rivals were on the right end of the questionable calls both times.

(And that doesn't even count N.C. State's miraculous regular-season win over Clemson, sealed on a last-second 3-pointer -- and on four straight missed free throws from Reed).

But if indeed this loss today in Charlotte cost Clemson a trip to the NCAA Tournament, the final takeaway on this season will not be how the Tigers were screwed by the refs.

It will be how the Tigers were so close to being really good, yet so far away.

For much of the year, Brownell has projected a mix of concern and surprise about this team's offensive inconsistency. Losing Gabe DeVoe was a much bigger deal than most folks anticipated. The Tigers could look great on offense over stretches, but then they could also slip into funks for other periods.

That dichotomy was presented in full color Wednesday. They couldn't miss in the first half, making seven of their first eight 3-point attempts and going up 18 before taking a 42-26 lead into the locker room.

But they seemed to fall in love with long-range shooting. Part of that was constant foul trouble for Thomas, which further shifted the burden to the guards. Part of that was Reed not looking like himself and missing shots he almost always makes.

With 15:12 on the clock, Reed made a layup to put Clemson up 51-37.

Clemson's next field goal came with 3:57 remaining. The Tigers missed 14 consecutive shots before Reed finally connected. And by this time, N.C. State had devoured the deficit and was up four.

According to our calculations, that's 11 minutes and 15 seconds without a basket.

According to our calculations, that's bad.

After his team beat Syracuse in the regular-season finale four days ago, Brownell said his team clearly looked like it belonged in the NCAA Tournament and it was hard to disagree.

But the team that made just six of 31 field-goal attempts in the final 20 minutes -- including 1-of-10 on 3-pointers -- didn't make a compelling case that it belongs in the field.

"We obviously didn't execute things in the second half very well," Brownell said. "I thought kids on both teams really competed at a very high level. Proud of the way our guys fought, and really disappointed with the way the game ended. Really disappointed with the way the game ended. Too much at stake for things to end like that."

Agreed.

But it's also reasonable to say there's too much at stake for them to play the way they did for most of the second half.

Maybe they still squeeze into the tournament and are able to work some March magic, to wash away the pain of all these agonizingly close losses.

In the moment, though, this feels defining.

This team was so close, so many times.

The law of averages suggests these types of games even out.

The law of Clemson basketball in 2018-19 suggests it's not going to happen.

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