By Will Vandervort.

By Will Vandervort

It was just five minutes into the second half Tuesday and Wake Forest’s Travis McKie was worn out. The Demon Deacons starting foward put up a shot from the right baseline that had no chance of going in the basket.

It was a line-drive kind of shot, usually the first sign of fatigue in an offensive player. Wearing an opponent down with tough man-to-man defense is the staple of Brad Brownell’s basketball program at Clemson.

The Tigers, who visit No. 14 NC State on Sunday, are second in the ACC in points allowed at 55.4 points per game. They are first in blocked shots at 5.3 and second in steals at 7.8. Their opponents are shooting just 38.8 percent from the field.

“This team is defense first,” Clemson forward Milton Jennings said Friday. “We rely on it heavily. We jam and stuff and we have a center that protects the point guard so they don’t get blown by. We have everybody helping.”

That proved to be the case against Wake Forest as the Tigers (10-6, 2-2) held the Demon Deacons to 24.6 percent shooting, the second best field goal percentage defense in school history against an ACC school.

Jennings says playing in Brownell system is like being a puppeteer. You have to know what everyone else is doing and what their next move is. He says that’s why the Tigers have been able to hold Virginia and Wake Forest below 45 points the last two times out, which by the way is a first for Clemson against ACC competition.

“Everybody has to work together and help out,” the senior said. “When that happens, we are probably the best defense in the country, in all honesty. I’m baffled sometimes as a player. I have fun playing that kind of style because when you get into people, they can’t do anything.”

Brownell’s attitude of playing stingy defense came during his days at UNC-Wilmington when he was an assistant coach. Brownell spent five seasons in charge of scouting opponents, and it was turning those long nights he developed a defensive mentality.

“When you are responsible for the scout, you are constantly thinking of ways defensively to stop teams,” the Clemson coach said. “I guess in some ways, I was like a defensive coordinator. That probably got me going that way even more and it carried over to when I became a head coach.”

Brownell’s third team at Clemson is no different than his first two. In his first two years, Clemson ranked among the ACC leaders in just about every defensive category, including being second last year in points per game.

“Coach says our identity is defense first and we all believe that,” Jennings said. “We all accept that and that is the first step, accepting what your identity is and then going out and doing it.”

Brownell says he has very little patience for laziness in anything, especially on defense. Throughout his four-year career, Jennings has discovered that a time or two.

“The plan is to go guard your man and if you can’t do that, it is time to go sit beside Coach,” he said. “Everybody finds the best way to guard their man. It is kind of fun.”

Sophomore K.J. McDaniels is having fun. He established career highs in both rebounds (9) and blocked shots (7) in the win over Wake Forest. He has had at least one steal and one block in 10 of the last 12 games.

“When we come in, we come in with the mindset that we are going to play defense,” the forward said.

That’s what Brownell likes to hear.

“We want maximum effort, and we need it.”