CLEMSON — Brad Brownell knew immediately his Clemson men’s basketball team would have a minimal margin for error this season.
That’s the price you pay adding five freshmen into a rotation that lacks a true go-to scorer.
As the ACC season reaches its midway point, the Tigers have been competitive. Their margin for error simply hasn’t been as generous as Brownell would like.
Entering today’s 4 p.m. game at Virginia Tech (12-10, 1-6 ACC), Clemson is 11-10, 3-4 in league play. Five of Clemson’s seven ACC games have been decided by seven points or fewer.
The Tigers have won just one of them, hanging on for a 64-62 victory over Georgia Tech.
To change their middle-of-the-pack status, they must change that trend over the season’s second half.
“We don’t have enough offensive firepower to be able to make up for defensive mistakes,” Brownell said. “If we have a guy like Andre who has a tough night it’s tough for us to score enough to win sometimes.
“So we have to play pretty darn well, pretty efficiently, to win games at this level. We’ve been there pretty close, we’ve been in a lot of really good games. On the road it’s usually a couple possessions one way or another that help you but in this case it’s been helping the home team.”
Tuesday at Virginia was a perfect example. Clemson led the No.16 Cavaliers 30-26 at halftime, but some defensive lapses allowed UVA to build an 11-point second-half lead. The Tigers closed to within 61-58 with 20 seconds left and the ball.
Out of a timeout, Young came off a perfect Devin Booker screen for a wide-open 3-point look from the left wing. The ball clanked off the right rim, and the Cavs hung on for a 65-61 win.
“I think it speaks again to the character of our team, the way we’re playing every night to the standpoint of our losses,” Brownell said. “There’s teams that are getting blown out every once in a while and our team hasn’t been that way.
“We’ve been in every game, we’ve competed, we’ve given ourselves chances to win. We haven’t made a couple of plays in certain situations to win the game so it becomes frustrating. It feels like you’re playing well enough in some instances to get a win and you don’t.”
Clemson spent time this week correcting defensive mistakes, especially in transition, after Virginia shot 55.8 percent against the Tigers, a season-high for an opponent. The Cavs sank five of eight 3-pointers in the second half, and guard Joe Harris had 19 points on five 3-pointers.
Virginia Tech will be similarly hungry for a win. The Hokies have lost seven of their last eight, with the only win a 47-45 grinder at Virginia. Five of those defeats have come by four points or less. They face a quick turnaround from Thursday’s 75-60 loss to No.7 Duke, a game the Blue Devils led by as many as 22 points in the second half.
“I don’t think they played as well against Duke as they wanted,” Brownell said. “I’m sure they’re having a very spirited practice (Friday) and are going to be excited about the opportunity to play someone. When you play like that you want the opportunity to play again right away. We’re going to get a good shot from them. Virginia Tech is a team that’s surprised me a little, in that they’re good enough to go to Virginia Tech and win, but yet they’ve lost some games that have Seth (Greenberg) a little upset.”
Tech is keyed by a pair of veteran guards in junior Erick Green and senior Dorenzo Hudson. Green averages 16 points per game, while Hudson averages 11.6.
Both are among the ACC’s top 25 scorers; Green is fifth and Hudson 24th. Young called them the Hokies’ offensive catalysts.
“Green is just a terrific player,” Brownell said. “ He can get his own shot, he’s 6-3, 6-4, he’s tall, long, he gets the ball over his head. I think he can put it on the ground and score, he shoots 3s, he’s a good defender, he gets a steal or two, so they put the ball in his hands a lot. It’s hard to keep him from getting 16 points.”
Clemson will play again without junior forward Milton Jennings, who is suspended indefinitely for academic reasons. Freshman guard T.J. Sapp started in his place at Virginia. Brownell said that Jennings isn’t practicing with the team.
“I’ve set some guidelines that I want him to meet,” he said. “He’s got to take care of those things. If he does and gets where I think he’s in a good place, we’ll talk about bringing him back.”
It only makes that margin for error smaller. Junior forward Devin Booker said the Tigers simply need greater consistency.
“We’re a great team with good talent, we’ve got to know how to put our tools together as a team and use them,” he said. “Just play Clemson defense, pressure the opponents. Our offensive game will come along. We just have to put one complete game together and just get us going.”
Clemson falls to North Carolina
Baseball. Tigers lose game, win…
Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group
Comments » 1
ClemsonHooper writes:
Brownell said. “There’s teams that are getting blown out every once in a while and our team hasn’t been that way."
That's true but a loss is a loss and I would not brag about "how close" the game was. If you want to do that then you open the door to talk about how the close the College of Charleston game was and Coastal Carolina. There is no excuse for being in the position we were in to lose those games. None. Young team or not, we have the raw athleticism to be up by 20 points by the end of the game.
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