What We Learned From Clemson's Thrilling 70-67 Win Over West Virginia

The Clemson Tigers bounced back from a seven-point halftime deficit to earn a much-needed quality win over the West Virginia Mountaineers on Friday night.

After advancing in the Palmetto Bracket at the Shriners Children's Charleston Classic, here’s what we learned in the 70-67 victory:

RJ Godfrey has emerged as Clemson’s most consistent player

The Georgia transfer has shot a red-hot 70% from the field this season. At this point, it’s no secret that he’s Clemson’s steadiest place to look for offensive scoring against quality teams. In the Tigers’ 79-74 loss to Georgetown last Saturday, the 6-foot-7 forward scored just three points, but that was more related to him playing just 12 minutes.

Against West Virginia on Friday night, Godfrey turned in his most impressive performance of the season, given the opponent. A 14-point, six-rebound, three-assist performance against an opponent with the inside talent that the Mountaineers possess can’t be overlooked. Throw in an impressive three blocks on the defense end, and it was obvious. Friday night was Godfrey’s best game in a Tigers uniform.

“Clemson grit” isn’t just a tagline; it’s real

As West Virginia gained more and more momentum in the second half, it would’ve been easy for Clemson to fold and look on to a consolation game on Sunday night.

They didn’t.

Despite the adversity, Brad Brownell’s team dug in and chipped away at the Mountaineers’ lead. West Virginia led from the 8:30 mark of the first half to the 2:14 mark of the second half. That’s 26:16 consecutive minutes of game time. Despite trailing throughout the game and facing a WVU-partisan crowd in Charleston, the team didn’t blink. That’s a trait that is welcome to see from the Tigers, particularly after they struggled to handle a revved-up arena on the road against Georgetown just six days ago.

“I think we didn't compete as well in the second half,” senior guard Dillon Hunter said when asked about learning from the loss to the Hoyas. “The emphasis coming to this game was 'The next 20 (minutes).' We have a lot of younger guys, so we have to get used to it and the physicality.”

Brad Brownell’s 5-for-5 substitution patterns are here to stay

Throughout Clemson’s non-conference schedule, Brownell has substituted five players in at a time frequently, no matter the opponent. The “hockey line change” style of rotation has produced four wins over inferior foes, but it paid off with a victory tonight.

In their previous game against another strong opponent, Brownell relied on a “hot hand” mentality when determining who closed the game. Senior forward RJ Godfrey started against Georgetown, but only played 12 minutes and was replaced by fellow big man Carter Welling, who played 27.

Against West Virginia, the hot hands were both Godfrey and Welling. The pairing started together and played 28 and 24 minutes, respectively. Brownell turned to them to close a nail-biter inside a raucous TD Arena.

Next up

Clemson will take Saturday off before taking on the winner between Georgia and Xavier on Sunday afternoon in the championship game of the event’s Palmetto Bracket. Tip-off is set for 1:00 p.m. at TD Arena in downtown Charleston. ESPN will televise the game.