Brownell and 'Panicked' Tigers Must Find Consistency to Obtain Tournament Glory

A first-round exit against an injured but talented Miami team by only three points is a fair reflection of Clemson basketball's entire body of work this year.

With a chance to crush Miami's ACC Tournament hopes and dreams with a few ticks left, Nick Honor took a go-ahead floater with eight seconds remaining in Wednesday's second-round matchup and couldn't get it to fall; as an Isaiah Wong rebound secured the game for Miami with just 2.9 seconds to go. Jim Larrañaga's Hurricanes would move on and lose in the third round to the eventual conference champion Georgia Tech.

"He took it to eight or 10 feet and missed it. I mean, it was a good look, but it didn't go; and obviously, that's not what caused us (to lose), we had some other possessions that were poor, and we panicked just a little bit at times midway through the second half," Clemson head coach Brad Brownell in Wednesday's postgame press conference.

"We're still disappointed because we wanted to play well here; we wanted to do better. Are we excited about Indianapolis and the NCAA Tournament? Yes. Are we excited right now? No. But tomorrow, when we wake up, we know that it looks like we're going to be in."

The Tigers prepare for selection Sunday with the big dance beginning in only four days. Clemson must internalize what they need to change, so nothing from Greensboro translates to Indianapolis.

Throughout the regular season, the Tigers' strength was always defense, ranking 14th for scoring defense in the country heading into the NCAA Tournament. When guards Clyde Trapp, Nick Honor, Al-Aamir Dawes, and even Second Team All-ACC forward Aamir Simms created consistent offense, wins came seemingly at will for Brownell's team.

The Tigers' shot lights-out from beyond the arc in their matchup against the Hurricanes, finishing the contest 52.2% from three; a massive uptick from the 34.6% average that lands Clemson 130th in team three-point percentage amongst Division I teams.

Despite the success from long range that has hurt Brownell's team all year, it didn't matter in the end for Clemson losing for the first time this season to a team down to only seven players.

"I think we got sped up a little bit and let their pressure bother us and take us out of our offense. In a situation like that, you get frustrated, you have mental lapses, and you start to make a mistake after mistake," Simms said after Wednesday's loss.

"I think that was just the theme of our game late down the stretch, which is making mistakes; we know the pressure really doesn't bother us too much, but we let it get to us in this game, and we just started messing up from there."

The last time Clemson made the NCAA Tournament, the Tigers moved all the way through to the Sweet 16, losing by only four points to the Final Four bound Kansas Jayhawks and missing on a chance for the school's second Elite Eight appearance and the first since 1980. Clemson is also the only original ACC member to have never won the conference and have only managed to make the conference championship game twice in their history in 1962 and 2008.

The blame shouldn't be placed on Brownell for this, as recruiting in college basketball remains arguably the most difficult in collegiate sports with the amount of turnaround to the NBA. Brownell has done far more than most coaches working under a 'football school' repertoire; similarly, over in the SEC, Georgia has struggled historically to find consistent success in basketball despite the occasional big-time recruit and the school's high notoriety across the country.

If the Tigers want to muster a cinderella run and surpass Brownell's highest finish in the Sweet Sixteen, Clemson must find a balance between playing high-level defense and keeping up with some of the potent offensive teams they're bound to clash within the Indianapolis bubble.

Clemson created 13 turnovers against Miami but had 15 themselves, and ultimately those two possessions were the difference in moving onto the next round and sitting where they are now. If the Tigers can run a patient offense, play inside-out basketball through Simms and create movement on the wings for open shooters and play the top-ten caliber defense they're capable of, Brownell could have a recipe for something special in a tournament sure to be full of firsts.

"I would've liked to win a couple just to stay here longer, and keep us a little isolated, keep us practicing, keep us playing, keep us sharp and keep us executing," Brownell said Wednesday.

"We have had a lot of guys log a lot of minutes, So we'll refresh; that way, we can look at what we're doing and try to figure out some things to do a little bit better and if there's anything we need to change or enhance leading into the tournament. It's gonna be honest and quick. Selection Sunday is right around the corner, and we'll be traveling, so there'll be a bunch of things that we got to get in place for that as well. We'll be busy, but we're going to learn from this (Miami) film too as well."

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