Always good to get a little ... a little something for the effort, you know.
It isn't often that wins over Southern Conference teams go down as huge wins, but Clemson's gutty, gritty effort against a good College of Charleston squad felt like a big win in Brad Brownell's attempt to impose his philosophy and get something meaningful out of his first season.
Some thoughts from last night's game:
-- Man, Demontez Stitt. I said going in that I'd be surprised if he played, so I was definitely surprised to see him go in that early. And absolutely surprised to see him look so good after undergoing minor knee surgery so recently.
The kid had some serious burst and was attacking the rim with aggression both in transition and in the halfcourt.
His eight points in 29 minutes do not tell the whole story. He had six rebounds (three offensive) and dished out four assists.
He also provided the game's biggest basket with 42 seconds left, hitting a pull-up jumper from the baseline to put the Tigers up five.
"He was hungry after having to sit out a couple of games," Brownell said. "He made some big plays for us. The shot at the end was huge.”
-- This team does not need Devin Booker and Milton Jennings to be great. It merely needs them to make some regular contributions and to limit senseless turnovers and fouls.
Stitt was clearly the most valuable player last night, but the Tigers don't win this game if Booker and Jennings are no-shows. They combined for 18 points on 8-of-16 shooting while pulling down 11 rebounds and committing just two turnovers in 44 minutes.
They were not perfect, but they don't need to be. Booker came up with a few big baskets in the paint after getting good position. Jennings had a sweet turnaround jumper in the low block early in the second half, then he buried a jumper off a shot fake to put Clemson up 60-54 with 2:34 left.
-- If you told me before the game that Clemson would win with Andre Young missing three of four shots from 3-point range, I wouldn't have believed you. He also missed two of three free throws, including the front end of a one-and-one with 26 seconds left.
Young did provide four assists and two steals, so it's not as if he was bad.
But Tanner Smith came up big from long range, hitting three of five 3-pointers. You can see his confidence growing.
-- Free throws might've been the difference in this game, and Clemson fans are so used to being on the wrong end of that difference.
Clemson went 12 of 14 from the line, and the Cougars went 11 of 18. Jerai Grant was a 59.3-percent shooter from the line last season, but he's shooting 73.7 this season after hitting all nine of his attempts last night.
In its last three road games (Charleston, Florida State, South Carolina), Clemson is 42 of 52 from the line (80.7). The Tigers shot 57.4 percent (27 of 47) in their last two home games against UNC Greensboro and Savannah State.
-- It shouldn't have taken me this long to mention the defense, because it was very good last night. Stud guard Andrew Goudelock got 21 points, but that was a few below his average. It was evident from the start that Clemson was going to put a lot of focus on him.
Guard Donavan Monroe missed nine of 10 shots. Forward Willis Hall missed six of seven. The Cougars had nine turnovers in the first half and shot just 35.7 percent after halftime.
-- One interesting sidebar to last night's game was Clemson actually running some set plays in the second half. Brownell acknowledged this and said it was easier to direct traffic with the Tigers going toward the basket in front of their bench.
This team is going to be fun to watch when it gets more players. Heck, last night showed that this year's bunch can be fun to watch.
With the resumption of ACC play looming, the heavy stuff isn't coming down for a while.
But they have last night going for them ... which is nice.
LW
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