CLEMSON — It might pain longtime followers of Clemson basketball to hear this, but guess what one of the biggest root causes of the Tigers’ late-game struggles is?
You guessed it: free throws.
Following Tuesday night’s disappointing 64-62 loss to Maryland – the third consecutive defeat by a grand total of eight points – Clemson is shooting 67.7 percent from the line as a team.
That’s eighth in the ACC, but it doesn’t tell the whole story.
The Tigers have a problem with clutch shots – and free throws are certainly an extension of that.
Six times this season, a Clemson player has been fouled with 10 seconds or less to go and a chance to either win or extend the game. Clemson is 1-5 in those scenarios.
Overall, the Tigers are 1-8 in games decided by five points or less and have lost five ACC games by a total of 13 points.
Against South Carolina, the Tigers trailed 56-53 with nine seconds left when Tanner Smith – a career 72-percent shooter – was fouled shooting a 3-pointer.
He made two of three shots, and Clemson lost 58-55.
At Hawaii’s Diamond Head Classic, the Tigers trailed Southern Illinois by three points late when freshman guard Rod Hall was fouled on a made layup. He hit the free throw, forced overtime, and Clemson won 83-75.
Against Duke, the Tigers made 10 of 20 free throws in a 73-66 home defeat.
Boston College was particularly painful. Down 58-56 with 10 seconds left, junior forward Milton Jennings made one of two free throws.
The Eagles made one of two, and following a Clemson miss, junior forward Devin Booker was fouled on the rebound with three seconds left. He missed the first, intentionally missed the second, and the Tigers fell 59-57.
At Virginia Tech, freshman guard K.J. McDaniels drove the lane down 67-65 and was fouled going for a power slam. He missed the first free throw, intentionally missed the second, and Smith’s 3-pointer from the left corner hit the back right of the rim.
Young entered last night as the ACC’s best free throw shooter, making 88.4 percent from the line.
So even though Booker had missed a pair over the previous 30 seconds, Clemson had reason to be confident when Young was fouled shooting a 3-pointer with 10 seconds to play.
The first? Rimmed out. The second? Off the back of the rim. He made the third, but those two misses were the difference in a 64-62 defeat.
“I felt comfortable,” Young said. “I thought I was going to make all three. The first one went down and out, the second one hit part of the rim. It felt good, it just didn’t go down.”
Coach Brad Brownell knew Young was hurting afterward.
“I know how much he puts into it,” he said. “He wants to win and wants to be situations like that. He’s not going to be good tomorrow. We want guys like that – it means he cares. This isn’t going to sit well. It’s a situation where he’s not going to do well for 24 hours. We’ve got to make sure it doesn’t linger.”
As a team, Clemson is shooting better from the line than some of Oliver Purnell’s historically hideous free throw groups; the Tigers made 60.1 percent in 2004-05, 61.7 percent in 2005-06, a truly wretched 57.8 percent in 2006-07 (the year of the 16-0 start and collapse to an NIT finish), and 62.3 percent in 2007-08.
However, they’re down from Brownell’s first season, when Clemson made 70.1 percent of its free throws. The Tigers were even better when it counted, making 74.7 percent of their shots in ACC play.
It goes back to leadership: the two best free-throwers a year ago were Demontez Stitt (73.2 percent) and Jerai Grant (71.1 percent).
With five freshmen on the floor (who combined for six points in 43 total minutes Tuesday), Clemson’s margin for error is spectacularly slim.
Right now, they’re paying for it at the free throw line.
Clemson falls to North Carolina
Baseball. Tigers lose game, win…
Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group
Comments » 6
savagetiger writes:
I must say im disappointed with our seniors this year. They have had chances to take the game into there hands an make the last second shot and they failed. I love who they are as people, but as basketball players they have choked. I really thought young would be our rivers or stit this year. I hope we salvage a nit bid, but i wouldnt be surprised if we didnt. Either way ill be cheering win or lose. GO TIGERS!!
ClemsonHooper writes:
Someone call OP and offer a ton of money to him so he comes back! We still couldn't make a stupid free throw but at least we had some numbers in the "W" column! If Brownell did so well at Wright state or whatever the school was ask them if they will take him back! Tell them we will pay for him to go back! We got screwed!!!!!!!!!!
84tele writes:
Hoop,
we had numbers in the "w" because we played marshmallow teams for the first half on the season. Remember 17 - 0 start and ending up crashing in conference? And who are going to get? Another Larry Shyatt? Lets support the guys and support the coach.
YabbaDaboDooDoo writes:
Marshmallow teams? You mean like Coastal Carolina? College of Charleston? UTEP? Hawaii? Those kind of marshmallow teams? It's not as if Brownell is playing a tougher schedule than Purnell played. He's not. There's no excuse for losing to CofC and Coastal Carolina on your home floor. And Purnell would've beaten UTEP and Hawaii by 15-20 points.
Purnell was a good hire. He left. It was time to make another good hire and you whiffed. Wake up man. You've GOT another Larry Shyatt.
ClemsonHooper writes:
I am not gonna argue-- we did play some really weak teams, but we were no where near as bad and we didn't have to take it to the last minute to win or lose by a buzzerbeater. We had a great staff with Purnell. We had Shaka who is doing a awesome job where he is at VCU and Bradley who is in the hall of fame in the Big South Conference for being the winningest head coach in BSC history and at Radford. Was TDP too stupid to pick someone who had a great track record to be the coach or was he just playing politics and make a stuypid decision? Look at the stats for Shaka and Bradley and Purnell if you want to know what we had for a jam up staff 3 years ago. Get rid of Brownell and get someone who has a clue how to coach.
ClemsonHooper writes:
And about the "crashing in conference"-- How many post season NCAA appearances did Purnell get? He may have lost the first game, but he got us there. The only reason we made it to the dance last year is do to the expansion from 64 to 68 teams. And correct me if I am wrong but dont you have to have a better than .500 record in conference play to get to post season play (usually)? That being the case, if you can't get top 10 recruits because evryone wants to go to Duke or UNC you make due with the talent you can get and the fact that we were in the running for 3rd or 4th in the ACC with a lesser grade of talent than Duke or UNC is proof of a solid coaching style. Bottom line is Brownell only looks good because he got the team Purnell recruited and left for him 2 years ago, and he was in the NCAA only because of the expansion. This year it's his recruits, his total coaching style and he obviously can't cut it. So if your definition of crashing in conference is going from number 11 or 12 in ACC standings to number 3 or 4, then you are correct. Otherwise for all the people with common sense- we didn't crash.
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