By Will Vandervort

Clemson head basketball coach Brad Brownell spent a lot of time this past Sunday and Monday going through all the box scores and stats as he tried to find a trend on why his basketball team has lost five of its last six games.

What he discovered is what he already knew. When the Tigers, who host North Carolina Thursday at Littlejohn Coliseum, play defense a lot of good thing happen. Brownell discovered that in nine of the 14 ACC games his team defended well enough to win or have chances to win.

“When we do not defend at a high level, it is just hard for us because we are not going to win many scoring games,” he said. “In eight of those nine, we probably should have won. We defended very, very well. In about six of them, it was excellent.

“We didn’t win all of those, but if you went back and looked at the way the game was played, we probably had great chances too, and should have won it in a lot of cases.”

So Brownell brought his team together and alerted them to really think about what gives them the best opportunity to win.

“We have known all year that our margin for error is a little smaller than for some because we do not score it quite as well,” the Clemson coach said. “We can’t be frustrated by not winning or poor offense at times. We have to try to shorten our droughts the best we can and try to concentrate on free throws.

“If we do that and keep defending at a high level it will give us a chance to win. We can beat some good teams when we play that way.”

Clemson (13-13, 5-9 ACC) will have to play that way Thursday night against the Tar Heels. North Carolina has won three straight games and at 19-8 and 9-5 in the ACC, it has positioned itself for an invite into the NCAA Tournament.

The Tar Heels turned the corner this season when head coach Roy Williams decided to go to a smaller lineup, bringing more speed to the table and allowing them to get the ball up and down the floor much faster.

As a result, they beat Virginia 93-81, Georgia Tech 70-58 and NC State 76-65.

“The smaller lineup for them has been really good,” Brownell said. “It allows them to stretch the court. Obviously, the three-point shooting is a little bit different than what you see with most North Carolina teams.

“They are shooting a lot more threes and making a lot of threes. The other thing the smaller lineup does, it allows (Dexter) Strickland and (Marcus) Paige to be almost like two point guards on the floor. You have great pace with two different guys so the ball is coming at you unbelievably fast.

“They are as good as anyone I have seen this year at finishing in transition.”

Clemson has struggled against smaller lineups this season. Boston College used one in grabbing a 21-point lead on Clemson before having to hang on late, while Virginia’s smaller lineup ate the Tigers up defensively in a 78-41 loss.

And as good as Virginia’s lineup was Brownell warns that North Carolina’s is better.

“The pace is different. They are a lot faster,” he said. “They just come at you with unbelievable speed. They are very skilled with their shooting.”

In the last three games, the Tar Heels pace has allowed them to make 82 field goals – 27.3 baskets per game. Clemson has not made 25 field goals in a game since making 26 against Georgia Tech on Jan. 29, and has only done it seven times all year and only twice in the ACC.

So in the end, Thursday’s game will come down to one thing, how well the Tigers defend UNC’s smaller lineup.

“When we guard and our focused defensively and we defend at a high level, I think we are pretty good,” Brownell said. “When we do not defend very well, and because we do not score well, it makes it really hard for us.”