By Will Vandervort.

By Will Vandervort

The last couple of weeks have added a few gray hairs on Brad Brownell’s head.

During the four-game stretch, his Clemson Tigers lost a four-point game at No. 19 NC State, lost on a desperation three at Florida State, watched senior Milton Jennings make nine of 10 free throws in the last two minutes to hold off Virginia Tech at home, and then two nights ago, use a great defensive stand in the last seconds to get a 63-60 win over Georgia Tech.

“It is probably good for them to go through these things,” Brownell said. “It’s not good for me at all, but it’s good for them.”

It is good for Clemson. A team that has only two seniors in Jennings and center Devin Booker and no juniors, the Tigers are a work in progress, not just for this year, but for the years to come. Going through moments like they have in the last four games can only help a young team that is trying to figure out who they are and where they want to go.

There are times in practice where Brownell sets up moments where his team is up two points and has to make a stop on defense, or down two and has to make a basket to either tie or win the game. Put that’s practice, and in situations like the last four games, only game experience can truly make a team better.

“It’s not realistic in terms of what a real game is like and being in the bright lights and having to make a stop and doing difficult things,” Brownell said.

Case in point, the loss at Florida State played a big role in why Clemson (12-8, 4-4 ACC) was able to get a stop on the Yellow Jackets’ last possession to preserve the victory Tuesday night.

Against the Seminoles, the Tigers came out of a timeout up three points with under a minute to play. Brownell’ instructions were not let anyone get off a three-pointer, especially an uncontested one. But getting caught up in the moment, trying to get an important and very rare road win in the ACC, freshman guard Adonis Filer left his man, Devon Bookert, to help out on a driving Michael Snaer, FSU’s best shooter and leading scorer.

When Snaer noticed the freshman made a mistake, he kicked the ball out to Bookert, who drained a wide open three-pointer to tie the game. Snaer later heaved a shot that backed in as time expired to beat the Tigers.

Though Filer and his teammates had to experience at heartbreaking loss like that, a lesson was learned.

Against Georgia Tech, the Yellow Jackets got the basketball with 16.4 seconds to play following K.J. McDaniels’ two free throws. Again, the instructions were to let Tech have two points if it wanted it but no one was to get a look at a three-pointer.

No one left their man and Brandon Reed’s attempt to force overtime was contested and nowhere near the basket as it fell off the back of the rim.

“The last defensive possession by us was great. They tried a couple of different things and could not really get a good look,” Brownell said. “It wasn’t just five seconds. It was 13 seconds or whatever it was to defend a three.

“That is something you don’t think about. We came out of a timeout at Florida State up three and specifically said don’t leave a shooter, don’t leave anybody. We are just going to give up a two, and one of my freshmen helped off a shooter and they tied it. They should have never had a chance for the game to be tied.

“(Tuesday) was because of that, it helped. So being in these situations doesn’t hurt us. Our guys need to go through these kinds of things.”

It’s all a part of a young team growing up.

“It shows that we are growing,” sophomore Damarcus Harrison said. “We had those two early ones where we lost at the end of the game, and the last two we won them at the end of the game. This shows we are progressing and we can just build off this.

“We are growing up and we are learning the game, game-by-game with the freshmen and everything.”

And as the Tigers get set to play at Boston College on Saturday, maybe they have matured enough to go on the road and get a conference win.

“We have got a little bit better,” Brownell said. “Now we don’t have enough fire power to just come in and knock people out. That’s not going to happen. These are the kinds of games we are going to have to win.

“It’s going to be like this. Hopefully, it is going to get us in position at Florida State, at NC State and hopefully we can do that at Boston College. Hopefully, we can do that somewhere else and get one. That’s the way it is going to be because we are not talented enough offensively to go throw up 77 (points) very often on somebody else’s court, let alone our own. These grinding it out kind of games, that’s what we are going to have to get good at winning. It’s good to win one like this.”