Three Takeaways From Clemson Basketball's Victory Over Stanford

No. 20 Clemson men’s basketball fought until the very last second for a two-point win over Stanford on Wednesday night. With the win, the Tigers have won nine of their first 10 to begin ACC play.

Head coach Brad Brownell and his team begin the two-game West Coast trip with a win. Below are three takeaways from the mid-week contest.

Free Throw Shooting Improved, But Almost Backfired

Clemson had 22 chances from the free-throw line on Wednesday night. It would make 17 of those chances, a strong 77.3%.

That’s a tad better than the Tigers’ season average at 76.8%, where they are fourth in the ACC in free-throw percentage. However, those missed free throws came during important moments, and although Clemson played great defense on the other end to nullify the misses, the time when making your free throws in clutch time is only around the corner.

At the 1:31 mark in the second half, RJ Godfrey would go to the line and miss two free throws in a 62-62 tie. The second one would only graze the bottom of the net. Godfrey went 3-of-6 from the charity stripe in the win.

However, Brownell put Nick Davidson in down the stretch, and he was fouled. He made the two most important free throws of the night, putting Clemson up two with 23.9 seconds remaining.

“Fortunately for us, we put Nick in because we thought he’s a guy who can make plays like that for us,” he said after the game, “and we were just in a good situation where he got fouled, and was able to make two.”

Many of those late-February or March games end in free throws, and the Tigers passed the test when it mattered most.

Clemson’s Bench Has Enough to Win Games Single-Handedly

The Tigers scored 43 of their 66 points from bench pieces, being such a difficult team to beat because of how interchangeable they are. In fact, no starter scored more than 10 points in Wednesday’s win.

Forward Nick Davidson had one of his best days in a Clemson jersey. The Mission Viejo, California, native came home this week with a 16-point, 7-rebound performance to help the Tigers.

The young pieces played a huge part as well. Freshman Chase Thompson had a career-high 10 points in the win, playing 18 minutes while Godfrey was on the bench with two fouls in the first half. Ace Buckner also finished with 11, including two clutch free throws to put the game at a four-point deficit with seconds remaining.

“Super proud of some of my guys off the bench,” Brownell said. “Chase Thompson had a huge game, his best game at Clemson, been waiting for a game like that from him. . .Ace was huge down the stretch. Those are good, young players for us that made important plays in this game.”

The Tigers are 32nd in the country in bench points with just over 30 per game. If that number is higher, it helps the team’s chances of winning games even more.

Cleaner Basketball = Better Future Results

A lot of the game, Clemson was playing sloppy basketball. Half-court sets were disrupted by bad passes or turnovers, and that will need to change against better opponents.

The Tigers lost the turnover margin, allowing 12 turnovers to Stanford’s seven in the win. Clemson generally wins this margin, and when it doesn’t, it makes games a lot closer. The Cardinal had 11 points off those turnovers that night.

Clemson also shot 27.3% from three in the first half, which helped Stanford go into the half with a lead.

“I thought both teams guarded extremely hard, and it was hard to get good rhythm,” Brownell said. “It was hard to get really good shots.”

Teams like Duke, North Carolina and Wake Forest remain on the schedule for the remainder of the season, all being top 10 in the ACC in turnover margin. All those games are also away, meaning that cleaner basketball will help generate better results during these road contests.