Basketball thoughts

A few thoughts on last night's 69-46 loss at Coastal Carolina:

-- You could tell Brad Brownell was really surprised that his team put up such little resistance in this one. The 23-point defeat was the worst of his Clemson tenure, and the point total was also the lowest.

-- No one, not even the folks at Coastal, expected the Chanticleers to win with this kind of ease. It was one thing for a veteran-laden crew to go to Clemson last year and stun the Tigers on a buzzer-beater. This team was much younger and entered with losses to Ole Miss (90-72), Tennessee Tech (71-69), Florida International (87-77), Boston University (74-44) and Boston University again (69-63). Coastal had the best player on the floor in Anthony Raffa, who scored 25 points. But still no excuse for Clemson to lose like this.

-- A few of the more discomforting things that stood out to me: Tigers were so weak with the ball, totaling 18 turnovers (13 on steals); Milton Jennings was pretty much awful in the first half; and, of course, outside shooting was dreadful (4 of 21 from 3). When teams are going to pack it in and double the post, you're going to have to hit some outside shots. The Tigers missed nine of 10 from 3 in the first half, and by that time Coastal had the momentum. When you go nine minutes without a field goal in the first half and six minutes without one in the second half, it's hard to beat anyone.

-- We told you earlier this week this was a dangerous game for Clemson because Cliff Ellis was building it into a monumental event for that program. The only opponent Coastal had faced in the previous six days was Toccoa Falls, and clearly this team was jacked for Clemson.

Ellis after the game:

“I think it does a lot for Coastal Carolina University. A game like this, everybody knows what’s happening. I was told ESPN broke in and played the last few minutes of the game. It gives [the players] an opportunity to show who they are. It’s good for Coastal Carolina University – when it comes to admissions, when it comes to fundraising, when it comes to whatever. People wake up tomorrow whether you’re in Rock Hill, whether your in Garden City, whether you’re in Columbia, wherever, people are going to say, ‘Hey, what happened here?’ ”

-- That had to be a long, quiet bus ride back to Clemson last night.

LW