The night of December 22, 2015 might be looked as the low point and the high point in Clemson’s 2015’-’16 basketball season.
With their star player, Jaron Blossomgame, under the weather the Tigers were hammered on the road at Georgia. It was the second of three straight losses by Clemson, but it was the epitome of a disturbing trend that carried over from the year before.
“I think what really hurt our team at the beginning of the year is that for whatever the reason, our highs and lows were just way out of kilter,” Clemson head coach Brad Brownell said.
The Tigers’ highs were seven win over teams they were supposed to beat, while the lows were disappointing defeats to Alabama, South Carolina and of course the 23-point loss at Georgia.
Brownell told his team before the season that if there was one thing they needed to change from the year before was that issue. He wanted this team to become more even minded, have more accountability in the locker room and to gain confidence in one another, win or lose.
“That happened to us last year. I could never get the players to grab a hold of the team and grab a hold of each other,” Brownell said. “That is what has to change. Hopefully, that is what is starting to happen. Avery (Holmes) is more comfortable and he is a vocal guy so he will say some things. (Jordan) Roper is kind of quiet guy but he is starting to say more.”
And then there is Landry Nnoko. Immediately after the Georgia loss, Nnoko asked Brownell to leave the locker room because he wanted to call a players only meeting.
“I’m sure he thinks that was the be-all-end-all,” Brownell said smiling.
The meeting lasted about 20 minutes and since then the Tigers have gone 4-1, including four straight victories in the Atlantic Coast Conference and that includes back-to-back wins over No. 16 Louisville and No. 9 Duke this past Wednesday – the first time a Clemson team has beaten top 25 teams in back-to-back games in 27 years.
“We need guys to lead, and just the fact he would say in that manner, like “Get out, I want to talk to the team,” and they talked for about 15 minutes – that at least started to establish something,” Brownell said.
It started accountability. After the Tigers got back from Christmas break Roper said guys got up early and hit the gym. They started putting up extra shots before and after practice. In a win over Florida State, they connected on 16 of 20 fouls shots in the last three and a half minutes to salt away the win. They shot the ball well at Syracuse, and again made their foul shots in close wins against Louisville and Duke.
“(The players’ only meeting) definitely sparked us. It’s been the difference in our team,” Blossomgame said. “But I think the break at home really gave guys a chance to refocus their minds and get mentally ready for the ACC season.
“We knew it was not going to be easy with the stretch we had in the first eight or nine games, but we are a confident team and we all believe in each other and it is obviously showing.”
It showed against Duke as the Tigers rallied from 12- and eight-point deficits to beat the defending National Champions, 68-63. On Saturday, they will have an opportunity do something no Clemson basketball team has ever done – win three straight games over nationally ranked opponents. Miami comes into the 2 p.m. tipoff as the No. 8 team in the country.
“We are trying to build something special right now within ourselves,” Blossomgame said. “This guy (speaking of Nnoko), I’m doing it for him. I’m really close to him. He is my buddy. He is the leader of this team. We do it for each other.”