CLEMSON – Senior Nights have mostly been good to Clemson, with the Tigers entering their home finale against Boston College with a 71-29 record in those games.
Tuesday was mostly good, too – until a bunch of youngsters decided to make it Kids Night before 7,102 fans at Littlejohn Coliseum.
Boston College’s youth-laden team opted to lie in wait for much of the game before making a move on the Tigers with just under nine minutes to play. Once the Eagles did the Tigers had no answer, falling 68-61.
The Eagles went on a 12-0 run to turn a 46-43 deficit into a 55-46 edge and Clemson never led again.
The shot that gave Boston College a 47-46 lead marked its first advantage of the game, and it came courtesy of a Ryan Anderson jumper.
“Obviously disappointed we didn’t send our seniors out in a better way,” Clemson coach Brad Brownell said. “We competed hard but we just didn’t make enough threes. Our perimeter guys did some good things but we missed some open shots.
“A lot of these games are two or three (3-point shots) from being different.”
Freshman guard Olivier Hanlan led the way for the winners with 24 points and Anderson, a sophomore forward, added 18 more as BC improved to 14-16 overall and 6-11 in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
“(Hanlan) is very good, very poised, plays with confidence,” Brownell said. “Got in the paint a lot and played really well. He’s a good player already and he’s going to be a great player in this league.”
The youth movement overshadowed an outstanding showing by the Tigers’ two seniors, Devin Booker and Milton Jennings.
Booker had a team-high 19 points and eight rebounds, while Jennings had 18 points and seven boards.
“It’s pretty upsetting,” Booker said. “We wanted to win but we just couldn’t make enough stops to make it happen.”
Jennings said the loss was a product of the same problem that has plagued the team throughout the season.
“We came out and played with a lot of energy but then we fell into a lull,” Jennings said. “We take teams to the wire and get them sweating but we don’t know how to win.”
Clemson has now lost five in a row with a road date on Saturday against No. 6 Miami.
The Tigers also continue their free fall in the ACC standings. At 13-16 overall and 5-12 in the league, only Virginia Tech has more losses in the conference.
On Tuesday both teams shot around 45 percent from the floor but the Tigers made just three of 16 3-point tries and were outrebounded 37-32.
Clemson had 14 turnovers to BC’s 11.
“Defensively we had a hard time guarding them in the second half,” Brownell said. “We got whistled for some fouls that got our guys tentative. We get in a rut where we have six or eight minute droughts and it’s because we have holes on the team.”
Jennings came out strong in the early going, collecting nine of his team’s first 14 points and leading an effort that helped Clemson keep Boston College at bay for most of the half.
Each time the Eagles would close the gap the Tigers surged, and the hosts led 23-16 with 7:14 left in the opening period – with a chance to put some distance between themselves and the visitors.
But the Eagles remained cool down the stretch, tying the game twice before settling for a 29-27 deficit at intermission.
Jennings and Booker had nine points apiece to lead Clemson while Anderson was good for eight BC points.
The teams would continue that path until the Eagles took a lead – and took control three-quarters through the contest.
BC also benefited from Anderson’s 11 boards, while Joe Rahon scored 10 points to give the victors three double-digit performers.
Damarcus Harrison added 11 points for the Tigers.
ACC: Durham Bulls Athletic Park
G1: ACC Tournament Pregame
ACC: Thursday Practice
Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group
Comments » 2
michtiger writes:
Same old story, we played hard but had a few bad plays. Notice how other teams at this time of year have their Fr. playing better? This is a very poor team and there is nothing pointing to improvement. we do not get the player ready to play but we should get those that can improve. Brownell has taken the team down to a lower level each year. Lets not play the next year game as we did with Bowden. His offense looks just like a pick up game. confused and sloppy. I am not sure his defense is that good. The stats do show holding teams to low levels but that has other factors than good defense. We play a style that slows the game thus shortening the game, our completely chaotic play gets the other team off key ( but notice they come back ) and honestly it must be hard to get up for this poor team. Lets make the change, and yes we may lose some recruits but Brownell's record is not that good. If he stays it would be foolish for Roper and McDaniel to stay. You lose the close games because you are not tough, not luck.
HoopsMan writes:
Just a little bit of interesting info -- Shane Larkin who is at Miami and doing an outstanding job at this time playing for them could have been at Clemson this year. One of the previous coaches Ron Bradley had him almost signed and Larkin loved Clemson but then TDP hired Brownell and we lost Larkin. Check out the story on espn.com -- Larkin is a big hit with Miami We could have had Bradley a coach with a lot of ACC experience,not to mention he has a better resume than most coaches in the country, who helped build the program with Purnell and have Larkin. But we got Brownell. TDP screwed us.
Share your thoughts
Comments are the sole responsibility of the person posting them. You agree not to post comments that are off topic, defamatory, obscene, abusive, threatening or an invasion of privacy. Violators may be banned. Click here for our full user agreement.