By Will Vandervort
Before Sunday’s game against Virginia Tech, Clemson head coach Brad Brownell told his team that when it came crunch time, and at some point it would, that it was time for someone to a make a play and win a game.
As well as the Tigers played in their previous two games, that’s the one thing that was missing as they struggled to make critical plays on both offense and defense in back-to-back losses to NC State and Florida State.
Against the Hokies, two players down the stretch made, not just one play, but several in Clemson’s 77-70 victory at Littlejohn Coliseum.
“This is a great win for our team today,” Clemson head coach Brad Brownell said. “I’m very happy for several of our players.”
Damarcus Harrison hit a three-pointer from the left corner to give the Tigers a 64-60 lead with 2:49 to play, while senior Milton Jennings drained a jumper from the foul line a few minutes later and then proceeded to make nine out of 10 free three throws to seal the win.
“Coach said it will come down to the players, and we just have to make plays when it is crunch time like this,” said Harrison after scoring a career-high 19 points. “We stepped up big tonight and we made plays tonight.”
Harrison’s three came at perhaps the biggest time in the game. Leading 61-60, Clemson worked the ball around the court while attacking the Hokies’ 2-3 zone, which they employed for much of the afternoon. With the shot clock winding down, the ball went into the corner to Harrison, who first tried to work the ball underneath to center Devin Booker, but couldn’t. So with a defender in his face, he lifted a shot that found the bottom of the net to give the Tigers a four-point lead.
“I wasn’t thinking about it and let it go. It went in,” Harrison said. “I was just not thinking about it. You are supposed to shoot with no conscience. That’s how coach wants us to shoot it. You are supposed to be shot ready and put it up.”
Clemson (11-8, 3-4 ACC) put it up 21 times from behind the arc Sunday afternoon, while making 10 – the second most in a game this season for the Tigers. The strange irony in all of this is that the team’s best three-pointer shooter, Jennings, was 0-3 from behind the line, yet the senior scored a career-high 28 points to go with 14 rebounds, which tied a career-high, and four blocked shots.
Jennings made a crucial jump shot a few moments after Harrison’s three that put Clemson back up by four points, 66-62, with 1:26 to play. He closed out the game by scoring 11 of Clemson’s last 13 points and then blocked Christian Beyer’s shot with 17 seconds to go to all but seal the victory.
Jennings finished the afternoon 16 of 18 from the foul line. His 16 free throws were the most by a Clemson player in one game since 1969.
“He played outstanding and hit a lot of clutch free throws,” Brownell said. “He rebounded the ball and was terrific down the stretch.”
The play of Jennings and Harrison, plus K.J. McDaniels’ 17 points, which also tied a career-high, could not collectively come at a better time. Booker, the team’s leading scorer, for the second straight game played with a high fever, which Jennings said was around 103 prior to coming to the Coliseum, and was very ineffective on the offensive end, scoring a season-low three points on 0-of-3 shooting. It marked the first time Booker has not made a field goal since Feb. 12, 2011.
“When the horse or the man of your team is sick and he can’t play and stuff, it’s about who is going to step up next,” Jennings said. “The three of us stepped and played together like Book.”
And they did it when it mattered most.
“I was happy to see those guys play as well as they did when Booker was feeling under the weather and not himself. It was a good way for our team to win this one.”