Surprising Clemson Tigers enjoying more good than ugly basketball

Scott Keepfer
The Greenville News

CLEMSON – After a day of savoring a Tuesday night’s victory against North Carolina, the Clemson basketball team was back at work early Thursday morning, watching film of its most recent win and being shown the good, the bad and the ugly by Coach Brad Brownell.

The ugly?

“There’s always ugly,” Brownell said.

That may be true, but fortunately for Brownell, his team has produced far more good moments than ugly this season – a development that has the Tigers among the biggest surprises of the 2018 college basketball season.

Clemson head coach Brad Brownell talks with a referee as his team plays Georgia Tech during the first half at McCamish Pavillion in Atlanta on Sunday.

Picked to finish 13th in a 15-team league in the Atlantic Coast Conference’s preseason poll, the Tigers are 18-4 overall, 7-3 in the league and tied with preseason favorite Duke for second place in the ACC standings.

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“I like where we are,” Brownell said. “I like how our guys have competed. We’ve won some close games and to be successful in this league, you’ve got to win your share of close games.

“We’re not going to overpower anybody with our talent; we’ve got to execute a game plan and play well.”

Brownell is hoping for another solid performance Saturday when the Tigers play at Wake Forest (9-13, 2-8), which snapped a seven-game, four-week losing streak with a 76-72 victory against Florida State Wednesday night.

Brownell is anticipating a big challenge, literally. With six players who are 6-foot-8 or taller, including a pair of 7-footers, the Demon Deacons are well-equipped to dominate inside.

From left, Clemson guards Shelton Mitchell (4), Marcquise Reed (2), and Gabe DeVoe (10) during the closing seconds of the Tigers win over North Carolina on Tuesday, January 30,  2018, at Clemson's Littlejohn Coliseum.

“They have two 7-footers and we haven’t seen that too often,” Brownell said. “It will be hard to get to the rim and it’s going to be hard to finish around the basket. It’s going to force us to shoot more jump shots.”

Clemson has proven adept at that game of late, making 25 3-pointers in consecutive victories against Georgia Tech and North Carolina, but Brownell says his team will take nothing for granted.

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“We’re just to keep improving daily – that would be my slogan,” Brownell said. “Not overreacting to wins or losses, and just trying to play the way we practice. We’re looking forward to trying to continue our success with another good game at Wake.”

Clemson has enjoyed success against Wake Forest in recent years, winning four in a row and nine of the last 10 against the Deacons. Brownell just hopes that late-season fatigue doesn’t rear its ugly head.

“We’ve been going kind of non-stop,” Brownell said. “We’ve played a lot of basketball.”

But there’s plenty remaining – eight regular-season ACC games, to be precise, and the Tigers will be hoping for a better finish than unfolded the last time the team got off to a 7-3 league start in the 2015-16 season. Clemson limped home by losing five of its final eight games and missed out on an NCAA Tournament berth that year.

After Saturday’s game, the Tigers will earn some semblance of a break, getting five days off before facing Pittsburgh and another five-day break before playing at Florida State on Feb. 14.

That should help the Tigers get Mark Donnal back in action. Donnal remains in concussion protocol after suffering a blow to the head against Georgia Tech last Sunday.

“If no symptoms come back, he’ll try some contact in practice,” Brownell said. “If his symptoms are gone and he feels good, then we’ll be free to use him.”

SATURDAY’S GAME

No. 20 Clemson (18-4, 7-3) at Wake Forest (9-13, 2-8)

Tipoff: 2 p.m.

TV: Fox Sports Carolinas

Radio: WCCP (105.5 FM), WORD (1330 AM)