Clemson Basketball falls in first test vs. Michigan 69-61

And really, the game was not as close as the score might look. The Tigers fell behind early and spent most of their time anemically trying to claw their way back into the game.

Brownell said Milton Jennings hasn't been playing as well of late, but his replacement- Tanner Smith was abysmal last night. It was painful. He fouled a guy shooting a three, then threw up a horrid shot.

Brownell had this to say of the Milt/Tanner, "Milton (Jennings) wasn’t as good as he’s been of late. And he could have played defense a little better. So we had to start playing guys like Tanner (Smith) and Noel (Johnson) to force something and try to overcome it. We are not going to play that way very much, but Michigan was packing it in defensively"

The key to that quote is "We are not going to play that way very much." God, I hope not. It was ugly. It looked like an OP offense, minus the dorking around for 20-25 seconds then missing a contested shot. This was just plain missing bad shots. The game plan seemed to lack a bit.

While Clemson is still learning the motion offense, Michigan was running it with aplomb.  It helped that their team was hitting their shots. It didn't help that the Tigers were afraid to go inside, even with the defense "packing it in defensively."

Now the team get a brief break before a tough road game against the gamecocks, followed by an early ACC match up against FSU.

It is time to start figuring things out Tigers. It will not get any easier. This could/should have been a tough win. Instead, it is a tough, though deserved, loss.

You can read more about the game, the stats, etc, here:

SCACCHoops
ESPN-
notice that at the end of the basketball article, it is no longer about basketball, but rather about Kyle Parker and the presentation of the CWS rings. Nice work ESPN- stay focused!
Tigernet