CLEMSON BASKETBALL

Weary Tigers look to forget Virginia game, concentrate on Wolfpack

Weary Tigers look to forget Virginia game, concentrate on Wolfpack


by - Senior Writer -

CLEMSON – The Clemson basketball team had just endured an embarrassing loss to Virginia Thursday night in Charlottesville when a bad night got even worse – the plane wasn’t there to fly the team home.

Instead of flying back after the 78-41 loss, the Tigers had to take the bus home, arriving back in Clemson shortly before 6 a.m., giving them just a few hours of rest before they began preparations for N.C. State. The Tigers host the Wolfpack Sunday at 1 p.m. in Littlejohn Coliseum in what has become a must-win for both teams – Clemson has lost two straight and N.C. State is on a three-game slide.

Brownell said that he hopes the Tigers are better prepared to take on N.C. State, because he feels like he didn’t do a good job of preparing the team for Virginia.

“I don’t think we prepared very well. I didn’t do a good job of preparing them, in terms of dealing with their smaller lineup,” he said Friday. “We didn’t have a lot of time for that. Just, maybe, didn’t have some things to help them, offensively, get off to a good start and build confidence. I don’t think our players played well. I don’t think I coached them well. It’s a thing you’ve got to put behind you now.”

Brownell said the Cavs surprised him with the smaller lineup.

“They run some motion a couple of different ways. We prepared a lot for the three-man motion-type stuff that they’ve been running a great deal more,” he said. “They did a little more five-man stuff. It just had us on our heels a little bit, to be honest, defensively - more than just about anybody that we’ve played.”

He said he won’t show the Virginia tape to the team, and will instead have them concentrate on the Wolfpack.

“I’m not going to show anything to our guys today - thought about it, but we really kind of need to put this behind us,” he said. “I certainly made a lot of notes for myself - things we could work on. Specifically, I always have to tell them, this is a result of that. Then, obviously, you can bring some guys in a little bit, individually, show them some things. I think we’ll do that, for sure. I’m not going to make a lot of this.”

Brownell said the Tigers probably aren’t as good as they’ve shown in spurts at home, and aren’t as bad as they’ve played on the road. The key is finding the middle ground and playing consistently at that level.

“Like I said in the post-game, when you have some wins and are playing well, you’re probably not that good,” he said. “You’re not as good as you think you are when you’re playing really well. You’re also not as bad as you are after a bad loss or two. You’re somewhere in the middle. You’ve got to be careful not to overreact one way or the other, change everything just because you had a bad performance. This late in the season, you’ve got to tweak some things, especially for games when teams play you differently.”

He then said the Tigers just need to move, get a little swagger back, and prepare for N.C. State.

“We’ve got to move to the next thing. And the next thing is N.C. State,” he said. “We’ve got to have a couple of good practices to get ready for that. We’ll just try to practice well for two days. That’s the best thing you can do --practice well, so you feel like you deserve to win, so you deserve to play well.”

GAME SETUP

Site: Littlejohn Coliseum (10,000)

Date: Sunday, February 10, 2013

City: Clemson, SC

Time: 1:07 PM

Radio: Clemson Tiger Sports Network (Pete Yanity - play-by-play; Philip Sikes - color)

TV: ACC Network (Steve Martin - play-by-play; Mike Gminski - color)

SERIES NOTES

Overall: NC State leads 98-48

at Clemson: NC State leads 31-30

at Littlejohn: Clemson leads 23-17

at NC State: NC State leads 47-13

at Neutral: NC State leads 20-5

First Meeting: NC State won, 22-15, in 1923-24

Last Meeting: NC State won, 66-62, on Jan. 20

Streak: NC State won the last meeting

QUICK FACTS

• Clemson and NC State will meet for the second time this season, and for the 147th time in series history. NC State holds the all-time advantage, 98-48, and won earlier this season in Raleigh, 66-62, on Jan. 20.

• Clemson is coming off a pair of road losses to Boston College and Virginia, but has won four straight at Littlejohn Coliseum over ACC foes entering Sunday’s game.

• NC State has lost three straight, the last two without injured starting point guard Lorenzo Brown against the ACC’s top two teams, Miami and Duke.

• The Wolfpack won the first meeting between the two teams on Jan. 20, a 66-62 final margin after Clemson had tied it late on two occasions.

• Clemson has won four straight at home over NC State, including last year in overtime. The last Wolfpack win at Littlejohn was in 2005-06, when Herb Sendek’s team prevailed 94-85 in double overtime.

Devin BookerDevin Booker
Sr. Forward
#31 6-8, 250
Whitmire, SC

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had a career-high 27 points in the first meeting with NC State. He made a career-best 13 field goals on 18 attempts, and played all but one minute at PNC Arena.

• Sunday’s game will feature two of the ACC’s top rebounders. In fact, NC State’s Richard Howell (3.9) and Clemson’s Booker (3.2) rank one and two in the conference in terms of offensive rebounds per game. Howell is one of two players in the ACC averaging a double-double.

• Booker is now 15th in Clemson history with 672 career rebounds, and needs just eight to move into 14th place.

Rod HallRod Hall
So. Guard
#4 6-1, 210
Augusta, GA

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had his top game of the season at NC State on Jan. 20. He scored 16 points and was 7-for-13 from the field, scoring 12 of his 16 after halftime.

K.J. McDanielsK.J. McDaniels
So. Forward
#32 6-6, 200
Birmingham, AL

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was Clemson’s only double figure scorer in Thursday’s lopsided defeat at Virginia. The sophomore posted 10 points, the 13th time in 22 games he has recorded double figures in the scoring column. That figure is second on the team behind only Booker.

Bernard SullivanBernard Sullivan
So. Forward
#22 6-7, 230
Gastonia, NC

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has scored in four straight appearances, shooting 6-of-9 from the field during that stretch.

Jordan RoperJordan Roper
Fr. Guard
#20 5-11, 165
Columbia, SC

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has been Clemson’s top freshman scorer each of the last two games, posting 11 at Boston College before tallying eight last tim

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