Basketball thoughts

A few impressions from last night's 76-73 defeat at Miami:

-- It's becoming a bit of a cliche to say "tough loss for the Tigers tonight," because that's exactly what was said after the Boston College and Duke defeats.

But this one was really difficult for Brad Brownell's team to take because they did so many things right.

Tanner Smith came up big in the first half, drilling shots left and right to give his team confidence in coming from behind. Catalin Baciu looked really comfortable and created a big impact with 10 points. Same deal with K.J. McDaniels (11 points).

The Tigers got three players to play over their heads at times, and you'd have thought that'd have been a winning formula. But it was the same old story of this team failing to produce late in a close game.

Clemson has lost three of its first four ACC games for the first time since 2004-05, and the three defeats have come by a total of 12 points. That hurts.

-- Sixteen combined points from Devin Booker and Milton Jennings is just not going to cut it. They played really well against Duke, and the big question after that game was whether they could sustain the intensity and focus. Booker didn't do a good job of it last night, looking like he was in a daze at times.

And even though the Tigers didn't produce in the late-game moments, it was hard for Brownell to keep from gnashing his teeth at some early-game failures. The Tigers had the lead and quickly lost it in large part because of an inability to convert on opportunities in the paint. Three times early, the ball was fumbled away or jarred loose within a few feet of the basket. That led to high-percentage transition opportunities that Miami converted, and it was a huge momentum swing.

-- An 0-for-6 night from 3 by Andre Young isn't going to cut it, either. Young is the team's best outside shooter by a mile, and he has missed 16 of 20 shots from beyond the arc in the last three games.

-- When you commit just 11 turnovers and shoot 47 percent from the field, most days you win -- unless you allow the opposition to shoot 52 percent from the field and hit nine 3-pointers. That, coupled with seven missed free throws, is why Clemson lost last night.

-- Since going 28 of 33 from the free-throw line in the 20-point win over Florida State, Clemson has compiled a 35-of-59 clip from the line in the last three games. Twenty-four missed free throws in three close games is a killer.

-- Seems like T.J. Sapp and Rod Hall are hitting a bit of a wall. They combined for two points on 1-of-8 shooting last night in 32 minutes after totaling two points against Duke.

-- This team played well enough to win in a lot of areas last night, but it couldn't close the deal. Has to be very, very frustrating for Brownell and Co.

LW