It wasn’t always pretty, but we escaped from Clemson with a win, and that’s what’s important. With the W over the Tigers, we’re now 12-5 in the ACC and almost assured of a double-bye in the ACC Tournament (barring Notre Dame winning twice, Duke beating UNC, and us losing to Louisville, which would place us fifth).
It looked like a rout early. We went up 12-0 before the first media timeout, and Malcolm alone outscored Clemson 14-13 over the game’s first nine and a half minutes. It didn’t last. Clemson did a good job denying the ball to the guards coming off screens on the wings, and we appeared unable or unwilling to try to emphasize the post game.
On the other end, Jaron Blossomgame proved again that he’s a bad match up for us. The story on Blossomgame last season was that he was kind of a big man in a wing’s body, but now that he’s refined his game to be more of a wing in a bigger wing’s body, he’s become a versatile and formidable cover. Blossomgame torched Isaiah Wilkins, scoring 18 in the middle 20 minutes of this game and 31 overall, popping threes (4-6), going to the rim (6-10) and getting to the line (7-9). It wasn’t until Malcolm took over the assignment midway through the second half that things quieted for the Clemson forward, and even that came with more perimeter help than we’re used to doling out (which is good, because it shows that CTB isn’t as rigidly set in his ways as we sometimes worry that he is).
The good news is that, once again, no one else showed up for Clemson. The trio of shooters that the Tigers start alongside Blossomgame combined to shoot 2-17 from the field and 1-9 on threes, missing both contested and wide open looks. Big man Landry Nnoko put up a pedestrian eight points, and really only fearless reserve gunner Gabe DeVoe (seven points, six assists) looked capable of giving Blossomgame any help.
Brogdon cooled off significantly after his hot start (2-9 overall, 0-3 on threes after his rampage through the first eight minutes), but his guys had his back. Anthony Gill struggled to get his offense against the 6’10” Nnoko, but was active on the offensive glass (four) in finishing with a double double (11 and 10) and made a beautiful dish to Devon as the pick and roll ballhandler late in the second. London Perrantes scored 13, hitting a huge corner three late that moved a one point lead to four and taking eight threes for the game, right in that 6-8 attempt happy zone I want him living in.
Devon Hall and Marial Shayok were the story. The much-maligned duo combined for just two points in the first half (with Marial not attempting a shot in nine minutes), but combined for 16 in the second (including 10 of our final 15) and grabbed 12 rebounds for the game (which was key since we went to four guards early in the second in our efforts to stop Blossomgame). We’re going to be trouble anytime those guys make a run at 20 points between them. Marial always puts forth a good effort on defense, but he’s too talented on offense (going to the rim, spotting up for threes, dishing to teammates — you name it) to be one dimensional and play long stretches without even a look toward the basket. He sees a lot of minutes with Malcolm and London, and I think he tries to defer to those guys, but when he’s scoring and presenting a threat, he makes life easier for them too. His second half — a three, two layups, and an assist — was a snapshot of what he’s capable of. I was thrilled that both he and Hall — who have both had moments of shakiness at the line this season — stepped to the stripe confidently and knocked down a pair in the last five minutes.
The bench beyond Marial was invisible. None of them scored. Mike Tobey was either scored on directly or failed to provide adequate help on eight of Clemson’s first 12 points (thanks Whitey), negated a pair of nice assists (one of them a gorgeous high/low look to Isaiah) and a steal with three turnovers, and went 0-2 from the floor in 10 minutes. After scoring in double figures three times in five games in early January, he’s hit for at least 10 just once in 13 games since and has devolved defensively to the point that he’s been borderline unplayable in the last two games (he’s played 19 total minutes). Darius Thompson was one shot attempt away from a hideous nine trillion, and has scored fewer points (nine) in 101 minutes in eight games over the last month than he did in 22 minutes against Villanova (11). Evan Nolte’s stint was brought to you by the number three: he committed three fouls and a missed a three in three minutes and was never heard from again. As Brian Schwartz pointed out at Streaking the Lawn, we may not be as deep as we thought we were. I think that everyone mentioned above could help us yet, but the last two games (with only Marial playing more than 10 minutes off the bench) could be a harbinger of what’s on tap for tournament play if they don’t snap out of their slumps.
Even though we were markedly worse than Clemson over the middle 25 or so minutes of this game, I felt good about it afterward. Being able to overcome a long lapse and survive a star going off to beat a good team (yeah, Clemson’s pretty good) on the road by seven is a good sign. Things aren’t going to go perfectly in March, and being able to survive a long lapse and an opposing star going nova to win anyway makes me more confident in our ability to respond when they don’t. On to the next.
