MEMPHIS, Tenn. — After getting torched by Boston College in last week’s ACC Tournament, Clemson has an opportunity to redeem itself today when the sixth seeded Tigers play No. 11 New Mexico in the first round of the West Regional in the NCAA Tournament.
Clemson has not played in nine days, plenty of time to get itself ready for a possible tournament run. After giving his team a couple of days off, head coach Brad Brownell got the Tigers back on the court last Saturday, clearly sending his players a strong message.
“I think it was getting the edge back,” guard Joe Girard said. “Coach Brownell is someone who loves to go to work, loves to work hard. He said that to us. Ultimately, we had a lot of days in between our last game and (today), and likely we probably wanted a few more days off.
“But Coach Brownell is a guy who likes to get back to work. I think it’s good for us. It’s been good for us. It’s kind of given us that competitive spirit that will help us (today), and I think just the biggest thing is getting the edge back.”
The Tigers (21-11) need to get their edge back after dropping three of their last four games. The lone win came against Girard’s former team, Syracuse, on Senior Night. The three losses came on the road and on a neutral site floor in Washington, D.C.
“I don’t know if we have played as poorly as it’s been made out by some of the media,” Brownell said. “I realize we’ve lost three out of four. And we did play very poorly against Boston College. Some of that — I don’t want to take anything away from Boston College. Boston College is playing great basketball right now, and just had a really good win against Providence on the road. But we didn’t play well in that game.
“The loss to Wake Forest, we played pretty well. Wake lost one game at home all year, and we had a chance to win late and just couldn’t get it done. But we played well.”
Brownell mentioned Clemson’s 15-point win over Syracuse on March 5, as well as a seven-point win over a very good Pittsburgh team on Feb. 27. Prior to the end of the season, the Tigers won six of seven games between Feb. 6 and Feb. 27.
The lone loss was a last-second defeat to NC State. That three-week stretch also included wins at North Carolina and Syracuse, two places the Tigers have struggled to win in the past.
“We had some good wins in the last two weeks, at home against Pittsburgh and Syracuse, two 20-win teams,” Brownell said. “So, I don’t think we’re playing as poorly as some folks think, but we did play poorly in the ACC Tournament.
“We got home and had to face it. I was very direct with our players that it was a missed opportunity. And I was really disappointed in it.”
Brownell challenged his team to get back to the mindset that allowed them to get off to an 11-1 start to the season in November and December.
“It’s funny, but I asked our guys, in November, what were you thinking about in regard to basketball. And they said, yeah, we’re tired of practice. We just want to play. And it really doesn’t matter who we play,” the Clemson coach said. “And then as you’re winning in November and December, there’s a joy and an excitement and an enthusiasm that you ride that wave.
“But then the season hits and you’re going to have some ups and downs. And we certainly have been through a few of those. You’ve got to kind of reset.”
Did the Tigers reset fast enough?
“We just talked about resetting, recentering ourselves, eliminating as many distractions and as much of the noise as we can and get back to work,” Brownell said. “So, we practiced twice on Saturday and once on Sunday, did a very light workout on Monday and have worked out obviously Tuesday and Wednesday to get ready.
“I think we’re ready. I hope we’re recentered. But this is about players making plays and we’re going to find out where our guys are here come game time.”
Tipoff is set for 3:10 p.m., on TruTV.
—photo by Chris Day/ USA TODAY NETWORK
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