Tip Drill: South Carolina State

12/3 vs. South Carolina State

Result: 65-49 Victory
Leading Scorer: Devin Coleman (16)
Key Stat: Clemson committed just three turnovers in the second half

• Clemson was sloppy in the first half, committing eight turnovers and getting burning by the Bulldogs' mid-range shooting.
  
  
• South Carolina State moved to a zone defense pretty early on and we were very ineffective against it. We failed to pass inside the zone and instead moved it around settling for too many 3-pointers. There were a lot of substitutions early on as Brownell seemed to be searching for the right combination to attack the zone. Filer was on for a while, but was ineffective enough to get yanked and only played two minutes all night. Clemson fell behind 0-7 before Devin Coleman hit his first three pointer.
  
  
• Thank goodness Devin Coleman was around. He started at the #2 guard for the first time this season and scored 16 in the first half. What I love about Coleman is he's aggressive and looking to score, but doesn't take foolish shorts--a tricky balance. One of the things that impressed me most was his quick release. He's able to catch and shoot quicker than any Clemson player I've ever seen.
  
  
• Coleman didn't score in the second half. His points have come in bunches this season, but he is just the scorer this team needs. I'm looking for him to find some consistency as be begins to get those minutes we were expecting back when we shared our season preview.
  
  
• McDaniels seemed to be settling for jumpers all night. He was only 3/10 with seven points. Half of his shots were from behind the 3-point arc. It was critical that someone else (Coleman) step up when he wasn't right.
  
  
• Clemson didn't take their first lead until 15 minutes had passed in the first half.
  
  
• Landry Nnoko was another bright spot. Although this game got off to an atrocious start, the play of Coleman and Nnoko had me feeling great at the conclusion. Nnoko posted a double-double (13 points, 13 rebounds). He was playing so well he stayed on the court when Josh Smith came in the game, the first time I've seen them play together all season. Josh Smith looked sharp during that stretch as well, hitting a 15-footer and showing aggressiveness on the boards. If the Clemson bigs continue to develop (to call them undeveloped at the start of the season is putting it nicely) we'll be better off that the experts expected.
  
  
• It looked like there were all of 100 students there, yet they pulled off another successful fake shot clock countdown. As they counted down 3-2-1, the State player wildly threw up a shot. Little did he know there was plenty of time left. Kudos to the pep band for that one.

• Although Clemson struggled, this game showed me a lot of positives from a player development perspective. It got me excited about what Nnoko and Coleman can do moving forward. What do you think? 
  
  
• Look out for our full recap where we'll dig a bit deeper. Next up, we travel to Arkansas this Saturday. It's our biggest remaining challenge in the non-conference schedule. If we can pull off a win there, we should be able to make it to ACC play at a cool 11-1.