The Upside - Clemson | Syracusefan.com

The Upside - Clemson

SWC75

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- We finally got a win over a ranked team. Clemson was ranked #18 in both polls and BPI and #8 in RPI but we beat them. I count three quadrant 1 wins and four quadrant two wins along with 4 road wins, twice as many as last year. If we win on Tuesday, we can get to 20 wins. Our last three teams didn’t have 20 wins on selection Sunday.

- Unlike the game in Boston, this team played like they knew they had to win this game to have a shot at the NCAAs. Paschall Chukwu played like a man possesse4d on defense, swatting away shots, (officially, 4 of them), including two in one possession with the game tied late. Oshae Brissett drove with determination, making 3 of 5 two pointers and 8 of 9 form the line. He also got 3 blocks, including the game saver. Tyus Battle was en fuego to start the second half, scoring our first 8 points to carry the game from the 22-25 halftime score to a 30-30 tie. Marek Dolezaj decided to contribute offensively and scored 8 points, 7 in the first half.

- Our defense, an asset most of the season has answered in recent games. After a terrible performance at BC, legitimately held Clemson 22 point sunder their season average. Part of it was pace – there were 111 possession in this game compared to our season average of 131. But that’s a defensive maneuver. The tigers missed 16 of 29 two pointers and 11 of 16 three pointers. As Jim said, we were on the shooters most of the time. They weren’t missing wide-open shots. We also had 7 blocks, 5 steals and 21 defensive rebounds. Jim compared Clemson’s line-up to Boston College’s but they scored 33 fewer points.

- After that early time out there was a snap to our passes. They seemed to have a specific purpose. We had only 6 turnovers the rest of the game. And, while we didn’t run like the old days, we also brought the ball up quickly to get into our offense. That’s doesn’t guarantee results, (55 points), but the optics were better.

- We are as good a team as they are, (similar in several ways) and could easily have had their record, (22-8, 11-7). If we did, we'd be worried about seeding, not the bubble. Maybe that's where we belong.

- Beating nationally ranked Clemson teams in the Dome doesn’t get old. We are the Big Orange, baby!


19-12 (8-10) with 2+ to go


LET’S GO ORANGE!
 
Last edited:
Not sure if this is Upside or Downside, but it was funny (well, in hindsight, not at the time) to see Boeheim draw up the perfect play after some of us were groaning about what kind of terrible set they'd run out of a timeout, as usual, only to have his player fail to execute an open layup.

He's working with that kind of team this year (this wasn't a one-off: probably 5 of our 7 players can be expected to miss a layup at any given time), so this ought to be an Upside for good coaching.
 

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