I don’t know what surprised me the most today: that our offense won us the game or that it was reported that Clemson didn’t mention the football team once. That feels like a missed opportunity for cheap heat.
This was a weird one. It was fast (65 possessions when the matchup had averaged 57 over the last five meetings), run by the offenses (we scored 1.18 points per possession and shot 58%, Clemson 1.12 and 50%) and particularly by guards (our trio of Salt, Reuter, and Diakite played 28 minutes combined, Clemson’s Sidy Djitte played just nine).
The fun started early. A flurry of whistles (some inexplicable) saw Devon, Jack Salt, and Jarred Reuter all go to the bench with two fouls before the under eight timeout, and the resulting four guard look would carry over for most of the rest of the game, save for brief stints for Salt and Mamadi Diakite in the second half. The great thing — and the other side of what we’ve seen at some other points this season — is that it worked. Not only did the extra spacing chase Djitte from the floor and make Clemson adapt, it spread the floor for London, Darius, and Marial to get into the paint. Those looks in the lane led to a more free-flowing, offense, more free throws (13, which while not great is definitely better), and better looks for spot-up shooters. We even managed to hold our own on the glass (71.9% DREB, 30.4% DREB), thanks to a career-high tying rebounding effort from Isaiah Wilkins (13, nine on D) and great work on that end by Marial (seven defensive boards). While this lineup won’t work in some games this season (UNC’s frontcourt says what’s up), it was a lot of fun to see it work at times today.
Tony summed this one up best:
“They say shooting covers a multitude of sins.”
We saw Takeover London again today. Perrantes scored 25, including 14 in the second half and eight of our last 10, masterfully taking advantage of even minuscule amounts of daylight to square up and get a look against anyone he needed to. Marial Shayok was right there with him, scoring 17 for the second straight game. It’s a good thing they did — we managed just nine assists and got much more off the dribble than we’re used to. Marial and London both have stepped it up since Pitt: in our last three, London is at 21.7 points and 11–18 from three, and Marial is scoring 16 ppg, shooting 4–9 from the arc, and chipping in five rebounds and two assists per game. We’ve suddenly gone from zero reliable scorers to two.
If you had told me that we’d go into Littlejohn and shoot 58%, I would have assumed that we won by 22. Unfortunately, the big run never happened. We went up by seven six times in the second half of this game, and allowed two threes, a layup, a dunk, and a free throw on five of the six ensuing Clemson possessions, preventing that next step from ever happening and keeping the game within two possessions.
Part of the problem (and part of the reason the game was played at a faster pace) was turnovers. We committed 16 of them — good for our highest turnover percentage of the season (24.5%), higher even than West Virginia — and Clemson turned them into 23 points overall and 10 in transition, which is more than we’d allowed in all of ACC play coming in. Clemson is an athletic team that pressures the ball, and that contributed to our issues with ball security, but a lot of these were on us. There were Leitao-esque inbounding issues from Darius and London, ham-handed dribbles from Isaiah and Jack, and a general sloppiness rosterwide (all five starters had multiple turnovers) that went a long way toward keeping Clemson close. The Tigers also scored 42 points in the paint, made 37% of their threes, and moved the ball around well.
The defensive numbers are going to keep CTB and the staff up nights this week (and they should, that’s what the program is built around), but even so, it’s refreshing to see that we can outscore somebody to grab a win if it so happens we’re out of sync on that end. Clemson is a more talented team than their record indicates, and I’m stoked to grab this one. BC is up next.
Notes:
- Such a relief to see Kyle Guy nail two first half threes. When he hit Darius for a jumper and then hit two threes in three minutes, I thought we were in for a big one.
- Darius is thriving as a change of pace point guard off the bench in ways he wasn’t starting alongside London and Devon. He comes in for short stints, moves London off the ball, and pushes it into the lane for either his own offense (he’s got 27 points in these four games) or a look to a teammate (two assists in our last three games). No matter who starts as the third wing, I think he’s found a role that fits.
- It feels like Jack has become less comfortable with the basketball in his hands, but, and it’s a big one, it was great to see him catch under the basket and throw down without throwing up that little half hook.
- I’m either missing what is holding Mamadi Diakite back from being unleashed on the likes of Michael Young and Jaron Blossomgame, or CTB and I have differing opinions of on-the-job learning. It’s almost definitely the latter.
Highlights
