Duke Coach Feels Clemson Treated Same Way
By: will-vandervort January 29, 2024

DURHAM, N.C. — This one stung.

Prior to Saturday, Clemson had lost to Duke 20 consecutive times at Cameron Indoor Stadium. In a few of those losses, the Tigers had a late lead and failed to execute down the stretch.

It happened two years ago when Clemson led in the final two minutes and lost by two points. Other times, strange things happened with the shot clock or there was a questionable call or two.

However, none of those hurt as bad as Saturday’s 72-71 loss to the Blue Devils. All the things mentioned above happened throughout the previous 28 years, at different times. On Saturday, it all happened in one game.

Clemson turned the ball over four times in the final two minutes of Saturday’s game, including on three consecutive possessions. However, the Tigers overcame those mistakes and took the lead with 7.4 seconds to go.

All the Tigers had to do was get one more stop, which it appeared they did when Duke’s Tyrese Proctor’s final shot was not successful. However, Josh Beadle was called for a foul with one second to play, ultimately bailing out the 12th-ranked Blue Devils.

Proctor made both free throws and Clemson’s desperation attempt to win the game was fumbled away after some contact on PJ Hall and a no-call from the officials. It allowed the Blue Devils to stretch their home-win streak against the Tigers to 21 games.

“We lost by two the last time I was here, and we had the lead with two minutes to go,” Clemson head coach Brad Brownell said. “I have been here in this same situation about four times, within a possession. I have not won one yet.

“So, tonight was as close as we got. We got to one second and had it taken from us.”

Clemson (13-6, 3-5 ACC) has not won at Duke since a 75-70 win on January 4, 1995.

The Clemson bench was emotional in the aftermath of this heartbreaking loss.

First Brownell had to be restrained by his coaches as he jawed at the officiating crew of Bert Smith, Lamar Simpson and Tommy Morissey. Then guard Joe Girard took off after the officials before he was caught by Brownell and Clemson athletic director Graham Neff.

“I think we’ve had some history with that official,” said Brownell, who did not elaborate on which official he was talking about. “So, there was a lot of emotion from our bench because we’re a passionate group that fought their tails off and feel like the game was maybe taken from us a little bit, and it shouldn’t be decided like that.”

Brownell was right. It was taken from them.

Seven of Duke’s final 11 points came from the foul line. Some of the calls were legitimate and some were questionable. The Blue Devils had just two field goals in the final six minutes of the game.

“Like I have said, it is hard to win here for a lot of reasons. It really is and tonight was an example of that,” Brownell said. “That is all I am going to say. That’s really disappointing.”

Besides the call on Beadle with one second to go, the most questionable call came in the first half at the 11:47 mark.

Following Dillon Hunter’s layup on a fastbreak, which gave Clemson a 16-12 lead, his teammate, Jack Clark was called for a technical foul for supposedly being “too rough” when handing the basketball to Duke’s Sean Stewart following the made basket.

Jeremy Roach made just one of the two technical free throws. However, that one point turned out to be the difference in the outcome.

As for Duke coach Jon Scheyer, he felt the game was physical and was called that way.

“For me, I can go through the whole game and talk about the different plays of them pushing us in the back when we’re blocking out,” he said. “I can go down the whole game.”

Maybe he can.

However, Duke played in the double bonus for the last four and a half minutes of the game, while the Tigers never got to the double bonus. Though the Blue Devils struggled to make their free throws, they had 11 more attempts than Clemson.

Duke finished the afternoon 21 of 33 from the foul line, while the Tigers were 18 of 22.

“This will be hard. This one stings,” Brownell said.