By Will Vandervort.

The last two games of the regular season are a good representation of why Clemson is sitting at 16-14 and is the No. 8 seed in the ACC Tournament, which began today in Greensboro, N.C.

In a home loss against NC State, the Tigers defended the basketball pretty well in holding the Wolfpack to 66 points, but they could not buy a basket as they made just 29.9 percent of their shots and went 14 minutes and 13 seconds without a field goal.

In last Saturday’s regular season finale, Clemson shot much better—41 percent from the field—and got 22 points from Jaron Blossomgame and 19 from Landry Nnoko. Generally, when that happens under Brad Brownell, the Tigers win, but his teams usually play better defense than they did in South Bend, Ina.

The Irish shot 54.5 percent from the field and scored a season-high 81 points against the Tigers for a 14-point victory.

“I don’t think we have played as poorly as people on the outside might think,” Brownell said while trying to defend his team.

But the Tigers have not played well, either. Clemson comes into the second day of the ACC Tournament as losers in six of their last eight games, with those two victories coming over No. 14 seed Virginia Tech and No. 13 Georgia Tech.

“We have to find are way back,” Nnoko said. “We have kind of lost are way defensively and have lost our identity. The whole second half, we could not stop (Notre Dame). We just have to get together and find a way to improve.”

One key against the Seminoles (16-15) will be for Nnoko to stay on the floor. He played 30 minutes at Notre Dame and besides scoring his 19 points, he also grabbed nine rebounds, had two assists and blocked a shot.

Those productive 30 minutes against Notre Dame were one less than he had combined against Florida State in two games. He tallied just 31 total minutes and scored just three points and had seven rebounds in the two games combined.

“I kept myself on the floor (at Notre Dame) and did not pick up any of those crazy fouls that I usually get in the first half,” he said. “The team started looking for me and I was being aggressive.”

The Tigers will need Nnoko to be aggressive, but to play smart against the Seminoles. At Florida State on Feb. 4, the junior played only seven minutes before fouling out, though Clemson still managed to find a way to win the game, 62-56.

But the Tigers can’t afford to take that chance against FSU this time around, especially considering the Seminoles are one of the longer and more physical teams they play.

“We have to go out there and be aggressive and play physical,” Nnoko said. “I have to stay out of foul trouble and help my team anyway I can.”

The Tigers and Seminoles split the season-series with FSU winning the first game at Littlejohn, 59-55, back on Jan. 19.

“It is very physical every time we play Florida State,” Brownell said. “It is hard to score at the basket. Both teams do a good job of guarding each other. We play each other tough because we play twice every year. They have great length inside and do a really good job defensively as well so points are always hard to come by.

“It might come down to somebody with a hot hand or which team creates easy baskets off turnovers.”