Duke Edges Tigers 73-66

by Peter_G on Jan 15, 2012 8:09 PM EST in Clemson Basketball

Despite a late spark, it was too little too late for the Tigers. This team has struggled this year, and it was no different tonight. After getting off to a strong start, marked by solid shot selection and good defense, Brownell's squad was up by as many as nine points early in the first half. This lead was soon erased due to turnovers and poor shots and Clemson was unable to come back from it. With the loss the Tigers fall to 1-2 in the conference, having lost 3 of 5.

The biggest missing ingredient tonight was consistent offensive output from Andre Young who you wouldn't even know was on the floor at times. Just 12 points from the senior guard, most of them coming very late in the contest, was instrumental in the loss to the Blue Devils. Your leading scorer is going to have to produce more than 4-15 from the field against a very good team like Duke. What was perhaps most frustrating was the Tigers had next to no success from three point land, forcing a ton of bad shots and only making 4/17 all night.

The Tigers were able to keep the game close at times due to winning on the offensive boards and committing fewer turnovers than the Blue Devils. Still, the lack of production from Young and Smith, and brutal free throw shooting (50%) in particular was too much to overcome. This team is going to need consistency from both of these guys and a better percentage from the charity stripe in the second half of this season if Brownell's club is going to have any success in the ACC this year.

Next up is Miami. Clemson has a few days to try and rebound off of back to back losses before the Hurricanes come to town.

Tweet Comment 7 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Milton

played well tonight. To much to ask if he turned corner tonight? Think BB was right about once crowd really got into it early, guys just got excited, got out of offense & started rushing shots. Proved to b to much to overcome

by TigerFan74 on Jan 15, 2012 8:35 PM EST via mobile reply actions

Meh

Not too disapointed with tonights performance. Just gonna have to get used to it this season, we simply don’t have enought offensive firepower to win consistently. Positive from tonight was the play of Milton and signs that Devin can hustle if only for a few minutes. Also have to get used to the fact that his only problem is not effort he is no where near as talented as his brother.

Still for the second season in a row I’m seeing week to week improvement from Brownell teams, looks to have a decent class shaping up and honestly all I expect out of our team is to be competitive so I’m not too down.

by harcumcs on Jan 15, 2012 8:41 PM EST reply actions

Reasonably Competitive

is OK in basketball. for now at least

by PenthouseTiger on Jan 17, 2012 1:34 PM EST via Android app up reply actions

Better than expected

Duke is an elite team and we’re no where near their talent level. Hard to lose a close game but realistically, Duke should beat us by 10+. Just need some more horsepower and Young is the only upper classman that I feel could lead the scoring the way we need to. He’s in a slump and there is no one who is naturally a good enough scorer to overcome his poor shooting.

by rswdad on Jan 15, 2012 10:10 PM EST reply actions

Milton had a hell of a game today. It seems like with this team, everyone time one player steps up, several other key guys have a bad game. Today, it was Milton that stepped up but Andre and TJ struggled.

by F1NS on Jan 15, 2012 10:46 PM EST reply actions

Free throws

God awful and nobody ever brings it up. we lose games because we cant hit our Free throws. Thats awful and its a lack of discipline and its not what BB supposed to be about. I have said it before but here goes again. After tonight’s 50% free throw mark I would be running all these kids doing suicides yelling “Again” until they start to put the necessary time into practicing free throws.
We will never win when we hit 50% of our FT’s and our opponent hits 70%.
Shame, because we could have won tonight.

by Tigerpaws37 on Jan 16, 2012 1:14 AM EST reply actions

Overall

This team is shooting really close to 70% on the season they have just had two really bad games in a row. Last year was the same and in both years under Brownell we are shooting better FT% then we ever did under Purnell. Still painful to watch when you lose two close games and both times you are at 50%.

by harcumcs on Jan 16, 2012 7:13 AM EST reply actions