An all-around solid performance today for Clemson, Furman was just outmatched and clearly didnt have the athletes to stay with us today. A few scattered thoughts:
- Trevor Booker had a great day, scoring 25 with 14 rebounds in 28 minutes of game time. Most of those points, however, were not from post play. Much of it was in transition and putbacks off the glass. This is the way Clemson is going to have to play to get him the ball in conference play, because until a shooter steps up to take pressure off the inside guys the big boys are just going to collapse on him all day.
- Devin Booker really played well. 11 pts and 2 blocks in 13 minutes of play, and most of those points were in post action. Whereas Trevor is generally left-hand dominant, Devin will go left and right to the basket, which means he could potentially be the better scorer in the long run.
- 0 for 11 from the arc today, but they got good looks and took open shots. Nothing fell from the perimeter today. First game we went 0'fer since 2005.
- Johnson and Jennings took shots today, a little less tentative shooting from each of them, and both at least attempted to attack the lane.
- David Potter....I dont know about him offensively.
- Stitt, at least right now, seems to be developing into a better PG. If he would just attack the paint more.....
- Defense allowed 29% shooting overall and forced 27 turnovers.
- Clemson narrowly won the rebounding, 42-39, and lost the offensive rebouding 14-11. This is likely a product of moving Booker around, but has to improve from the other guys.
- 12/25 from the free throw line. WTF.
“I was disappointed in the way we guarded the three-point shot,” Purnell said. “That was our emphasis because we knew Furman would need threes to beat us. But I liked our energy and effort coming out of exams. That showed a great deal of mental toughness from our guys.”
“As a team, we came out and played hard [in the second half],” Purnell said. “We started with energy and we finished with energy. That has only been a problem once that I can think of, and hopefully we learned that lesson against Illinois.”
“Devin’s been coming,” Purnell said. “He continues to improve. I would like to see him play more physical on the defensive end, by boxing out and hitting the glass. Trevor hit the boards hard today. He’s our emotional and energetic leader. We’ve fed off of him for the past couple of years.”