By Will Vandervort
Brad Brownell has been here before as a head coach. When he was at UNC Wilmington, he had a couple of teams that just could not get out of their own way at times as they suffered one heartbreaking loss after another.
His 2011-’12 Clemson team was the same way as the Tigers posted a 5-12 record in games decided by nine-points or less. This year isn’t much better.
Currently, Clemson is 4-7 in single-digit games, including last-second defeats to Florida State, NC State (twice) and last Sunday’s stunning loss to third-ranked Miami in which Rod Hall missed a layup and then K.J. McDaniels a tip-in that could have sent the game into overtime.
“I have had a couple of seasons where it doesn’t seem like the close games even out and that happens,” Brownell said. “Usually, that happens a lot of times with younger teams. We had some close loses last year and we won a few.
“In the nature of basketball, it is going to happen. You are going to be involved in closer games and some are closer than others. But that’s just part of it. It takes special players to rise up in those situations and really want to be difference makers and hopefully the experience our guys are getting from this year will help us not only the rest of this season, but in the future.”
If those numbers are supposed to even out, then the future looks bright at Clemson. But right now, Hall says it is difficult dealing with the same issues and having nearly the same results over and over again.
“If we pay more attention to the details, then we would not have these losses that we have,” the sophomore guard said. “If we change these simple mistakes then everything would be better.”
Like Brownell is saying, the mistakes mostly come down to inexperience. For example, Hall is the most experienced ball handler the Tigers (13-12, 5-8 ACC) have. Adonis Filer and Jordan Roper—the other two that play the point—are both freshman and from time-to-time make freshmen mistakes.
“I’m proud of Rod’s attempts to drive to the basket,” Brownell said. “In the NC State game, he made it. He made a tough six-foot runner that gave us a four-point lead. Obviously, he had some shots that he probably should have made in the Miami game and had one tough call that eats at us a little bit.
“K.J. is still learning and is getting comfortable doing that. But that’s part of what you go through in these situations with young players is their ability to try and deal with that. Sometimes they are going to be good and sometimes they are not. You just keep talking to them about it and keep moving.”
Also, it doesn’t help that Clemson’s two most experienced players—seniors Milton Jennings and Devon Booker—are post players, and only get the ball when plays are designed to come to them. What it boils down to is this. The Tigers are going through the growing pains of having a young team.
“Some people think that the details really don’t matter until they miss a (film session),” Hall said. “They figure out when we go through film that they could have changed what just happened.”
Clemson will try to change its fortune at noon when it takes on the Maryland Terrapins at the Comcast Center in College Park, Md.
At 18-8 and 6-7 in the ACC, the Terps sit on the proverbial bubble in regards to next month’s NCAA Tournament, while the Tigers are just hoping to move up a notch or two in the standings before the ACC Tournament begins in a few weeks.
Right now, Maryland sits one-game ahead of Clemson and is tied with Florida State for sixth place in the ACC standings. The Tigers are one game ahead of Georgia Tech and Boston College for eighth place.
“This game is getting extra significance from their coaches the last couple of days, and I’m sure the questions they are getting are ‘Is this a must-win for the NCAA Tournament berth?’ They are going to be jacked and ready to go,” Brownell said.
“We don’t worry about (the standings). We are going to play our league and see how we do. The last day or two of the season, there will be three, four or five different scenarios and we will see how it all shakes out.”