By William Qualkinbush.

There was no questioning Jaron Blossomgame’s mood in the wake of a disappointing 77-74 home loss to Winthrop on Monday.

The normally jovial sophomore forward was frustrated following a 12-point, eight-rebound performance individually that was not enough to knock off the Eagles. In fact, he said the entire team failed to do enough to get the win, a process that begins in practice.

“It starts with the first day of preparation,” Blossomgame said. “We can’t look at a team like we’re the superior team. We have to come in like we’re playing the teams in our conference and just focus on our objective every game.”

There were some glaring red flags scattered all over the Clemson portion of Monday’s box score. The Tigers lost the turnover battle by ten, giving Winthrop the ball 16 times and only taking it back six. They missed 16 free throws, including some critical clanks down the stretch that accompanied a nearly flawless performance at the stripe by the Eagles.

The Tigers made only three three-point shots on 13 attempts, while they ceded nine makes in 23 tries to the opposition. Even on the boards, where the Tigers were plus-18 and held a 16-5 edge in second-chance points, Blossomgame was unimpressed with the collective effort.

“We were the bigger team. We’re supposed to do that,” he said. “We’ve got to own the boards every game. That’s the mentality we have to have.”

It all added up to a mid-November defeat that could loom large come March, albeit against a Winthrop squad that expects to be playing meaningful postseason basketball this season.

Picking up the pace. It was no secret Clemson would try to play faster this season, but the Tigers have flown out of the gate in that regard—especially relative to the recent past.

Last season, Clemson averaged just over 60 possessions per game, which ranked among the bottom ten teams in the country. Against the Eagles, the Tigers played a 75-possession game, which is tied for the fastest in Brad Brownell’s tenure with the program. The other instance came last season against VMI, a program known for relentlessly running up and down regardless of the situation.

In a tiny two-game sample size, Clemson is averaging 72.5 possessions per game—a far cry from last year’s snail’s pace. Brownell says he does not mind it that way, for the most part.

“We’re certainly going to try to play a little faster,” he said. “I don’t feel like it was breakneck, but we certainly had a few turnovers because of the speed.”

Too much balance? In 2013-14, K.J. McDaniels was the man down the stretch for Clemson basketball. He made the plays that needed to be made and was called upon time and time again to bail the team out of tough situations.

This season, McDaniels is in the NBA, and no obvious choice has emerged to be his replacement. Seven different players attempted a field goal in Monday’s game, and no one shot fewer than six times or more than nine.

Such balance is indicative of a team full of possibilities yet still trying to figure out where the ball needs to go late in the shot clock or late in games.

“Right now, we’re not 100 percent sure,” Brownell said of his go-to guy. “I do think we had several guys try to make plays at the end and do some things and do okay.”