Reflections on the Wake loss: 78-68

The OP Stat of the Game: Clemson 23-77 FG

Here is the math: Wake had 19 turnovers, 27-56 FG, and 22-28 FT.
The Tigers had 10 turnovers, 23-77 FG, and 11-20 FT.

Offensively, Wake clearly dominated. They play with purpose and efficiency. On several possessions, when the Tigers would hold them without a shot until about nine seconds left on the shot clock, Teague or Aminu would take over. Both of them are legitimate players with legitimate NBA hopes- let's hope sooner than later.

Their size withstood Booker and our inside game and they had several key blocks. They were able to break our press with aplomb. While it was our press that got us back in the game, cutting the the lead to 2 points with about five minutes lefts, they never really stopped missing shots. This combined with our inability to hit ours, spelled our demise.

The Wake defense prevented us from going inside. And when neither our jump shots, nor our outside shots fell, we could not create as we needed.

And while no loss is good, yesterday's game should give us a pretty good indication that we still have work to do. Wake is a good team- and to see that we lost to the team that will probably now be the number one team with Pitt's loss and came up short. We will not see another team with their kind of height, athleticism, nor guard play. UNC is good, maybe better in some respects than Wake, but we match up better with UNC. The same goes for Duke.

OP will certainly use the loss as a lesson.

We are still a Top 15-20 team. We had a bad day. We are still better than most teams in America. We lost by five points in each half. We had stretches of strong play- our pressure defense in the second half of the second half. They have weaknesses, but we were unable to capitalize upon them.

Now, the seemingly insurmountable task of winning in Chapel Hill is upon us. 0-53 is unbelievable. If anyone will be able to break the jinx, to break the bubble, OP can. And of the coaches who have had chances to do so in the past, the past is over. And now, I hope it OP who gets to do it.

Read what others have to say about the game:
SCACCHoops: Stats
Anderson Independent
Greenville News: Recap, Commentary
The State: Recap, Commentary
CnnSI
Go Tigers!