Wednesday February 15, 2012

Complete Team Effort

Complete Team Effort
Several times this season I have compared Clemson basketball to a small market club in Major League Baseball.

The Tigers can't miss on recruits. If they do then it is a major set back. They are like the Kansas City Royals or the Pittsburgh Pirates in that the margin of error is so small.

Meanwhile if Duke or North Carolina miss on a guy then they just go and sign another five star next year. This is comparable to the Yankees or Red Sox. If they miss on a free agent they pay $15 million a year then they can just go sign another one next year.

The same can be said for each game also. Clemson doesn't have to play perfect to win but they can't win in this league with their "C-minus" game.

Last night the Tigers played one of their most complete games of the season in beating Virginia 60-48. The loss denied the Cavs of their 20th win of the season. The Tigers defeated 22nd ranked Virginia, so it was Clemson’s first win over a top 25 team this year and first since the Tigers last night 22nd ranked Florida State last year by a 62-44 score at Littlejohn Coliseum.

One of the many keys to the game was the terrific defensive effort by Brad Brownell's team. The Tigers held Virginia to less than 25 points in each half.

Virginia is a fundamentally sound squad that protects the basketball but Clemson forced them into their second most turnovers of the season with 18 and had 14 steals which is the most against the Cavaliers all season.

Rod Hall ended the game with three steals including two late in the contest and Tanner Smith had four steals.

Clemson held Mike Scott to just 13 points and eight rebounds. Scott had just three points inside the last 11 minutes of the game.  It was the second fewest points by Scott in an ACC game this year.  He had 10 in a home loss to Virginia Tech earlier this year.

Both teams rebounded well on the defensive end. The Tigers gave up just three offensive rebounds to Virginia.

It is rare that a team shoots 50% from the field on the road in the ACC and still loses but that happened last night when the Cavs were 22 of 44 from the field. A major key was the fact that Virginia shot only one free throw the entire game. It was the fewest free throw attempts by a Clemson opponent since Nov. 30, 1986 when South Florida shot just one (0-1) in a game at Clemson.

Offensively the Tigers took care of the ball committing only nine turnovers.

Clemson outscored Virginia 36-24 in the second half due in part to Devin Booker who had all ten of his points in the second stanza.

Virginia is known for collapsing its defense and forcing you to make shots and it was nice to see Clemson make five three-pointers compared to Virginia's three.

Clemson shot 46% from the field and was led in scoring by Andre Young and Smith who poured in 13 points each. Booker was the only other Tiger in double figures.

It was nice to see Devin Coleman play well for the second straight game. He played the most he has all year with 23 minutes and scored nine points on 4-of-7 shooting from the field. Coleman scored nine total points in the first 23 games of the season and now has scored exactly nine points in each of the last two games, both Clemson wins.

After the game Brownell talked about how his team played with energy and played smart basketball. He had talked about how tough it was to play against Virginia because of their style but he was proud of his team because they played hard.

He mentioned that he was also proud of Booker who had the tough assignment of guarding Mike Scott for most of the night. The Whitemire native more than held his own last night.

Brownell also thanked the crowd tonight. The crowd was much bigger tonight than it was last week against Maryland thanks to some ticket specials. It would have been much better if someone had told the students there was a game last night (but I have given up fighting that fight).

It was nice to see the Tigers put a team away too. So many times this season they have let a game slip away from them late in the contest, so tonight was a site for sore eyes.

Clemson has now won two in a row and played about as well as any two game stretch this season. They take some momentum to Chapel Hill for a game this weekend.

Years ago I relegated myself to never have any expectation of winning in Chapel Hill, so I have skipped over that one. Clemson will go to Georgia Tech next Tuesday at 5-7 in the league. They then return to round out the home season with NC State and Virginia Tech before ending the regular season at Florida State.

On my radio show Monday Brownell talked about motivation for the rest of the regular season. He said he wanted his team to get motivated to end the season the right way. His team has taken major steps towards that goal with two straight wins.

The Brad Hughes All-State Insurance Agency

Prayer List
We have started a prayer list on the blog. Here are the guidelines:

If you are offended by prayer or prayer lists then I apologize in advance. The blog is free and the prayer list will be on the bottom of the page so you don’t have to read it.

If you would like to add someone to the list please email me at mickeyplyler@hotmail.com

*Please let me know when it is appropriate to take the person off of the prayer list.

Those who need our prayers include:Finn Brookover, Mary-Louise Pawlowski (John's daughter), Jo Ann Bachman, Kenneth Bryant, Pruitt Martin, Got igers and his family, David Rowland, Leonard, Gillespie and his family, Jim S, Daniel Rosborough, The Huffman family, Nancy Winkler, John Reeve, Ethel Southard, Vinnie Brock, Kaitlyn L, Susan Miller, Joyce Harley, Steve Proveaux, Jeffrey Greene, the Hutto family, Sherl Drawdy, Caleb Kennedy, Teresa O'Connor, Matt Jacobs,Perrin Seigler, Candee Massee, Lindsey Jordan, Sam Catoe, Tyler Felch, the Nicolopulos family, "the Jacksonville, FL guys", Kim Sims, the Coyle family, Ryleigh Tedder, Steve Lee, Kelly Trakas, Jimmy Moore, the Thomas. V Family, Emary Claire Young, Kitty Bowers,Julie Locke, the Scheider family, Lauren Kittles' family, Frank Gentry, Joyce Bussey, Stacey McKeown, Mary Priester, Dale Childs, Larry Lentz, Jr, Carl Sharperson, Scott Hannon, William Perry, Tyler Swaney, Randy Anderson, Lillian, Matt Hogan, Mark Feit, David Frame, Chad Berry, the family of Matthew M. Watson, Nancy Taylor, the Dowis family, Shervin Messer, Alan Putnam, the Olivers, Lee Tate, Ronnie Abrams, Eddie Greene, the Jackson family, Bill Vader, Nancy Taylor, Tina DeWitt, Rock Horne, Christopher Tuten, Jimmy Head, Bobby Wayne Thomas, Emma and Danielle Carothers, Robert Ditty, Murray Smith, Dot Cartee, Ayden Mills, Millie Heatley, Lynn Martin and family, Michael Pinson, Jack Bailey, Jake David family, Janice Thompson, Angie Crowley, Rachel Graves, Ira, Elsie Taylor, Mike Tolson, Poly Wells, Dr. Muriel Bishop, Jack Cunningham, Emily Jefford Meister, Zachary Stoller, Aaron Clackum, Pat James, Cortney Moore, William Moore, Angelia and Savannah Anderson.