SB Nation - Clemson Tigers

Around the ACC: 12.14

MRickman84 — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 15:30:19 -0000

Not much to report here as only three teams were in action yesterday. BC continued their slide and Clemson won their 27th straight meeting over Furman. And of course we all know the Wake results.

So let's run down yesterday's games...

Wake Forest 90, Elon 50

I don't throw this phrase out often, but Wake dominated. Everyone contributed, including Gary Clark (6-6), Ty Walker (4 points, 6 rebounds, 1 block and a couple good outlet passes). LD had a good game with 10 points and 5 rebounds and the freshmen dazzled again. Ari Stewart dropped 16 on 6-10 shooting and C.J. Harris had nine, four and four. I'll be discussing this later in the week, but Mount Ari is making his case to be inserted in the starting lineup. And I'll give my reasons then. Wake takes on UNC-W on Wednesday.

Clemson 82, Furman 53

Trevor Booker went 12-15 with 25 points and 14 rebounds (Babe!) and Demontez Stitt tossed in 9 points and 6 assists as Clemson ran away with this thing. The Tigers shot 53.8% and held Furman to 29%, forcing 26 points with 15 steals. When Clemson gets their swarming defense going, it is really hard to beat. Colin Reddick led Furman with 11 points and 12 rebounds.

Rhode Island 80, BC 69

BC's slide continues. After losing to Harvard, Boston College shot just 17.6% from beyond the arc, while URI shot 50% from distance. Corey Raji had a double-double and Biko Paris had 10 points, 3 rebounds and 7 assists in the loss. BC now has 4 losses on the year and lost Tyler Roche in the game. URI was led by Keith Coleman's 19 points.

Tigers roll over Furman 82-53

DrB — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 02:10:45 -0000

More photos » by Richard Shiro - AP

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Paladins vs Tigers coverage

Paladins vs Tigers boxscore

An all-around solid performance today for Clemson, Furman was just outmatched and clearly didnt have the athletes to stay with us today. A few scattered thoughts:

Trevor Booker had a great day, scoring 25 with 14 rebounds in 28 minutes of game time. Most of those points, however, were not from post play. Much of it was in transition and putbacks off the glass. This is the way Clemson is going to have to play to get him the ball in conference play, because until a shooter steps up to take pressure off the inside guys the big boys are just going to collapse on him all day.
Devin Booker really played well. 11 pts and 2 blocks in 13 minutes of play, and most of those points were in post action. Whereas Trevor is generally left-hand dominant, Devin will go left and right to the basket, which means he could potentially be the better scorer in the long run.
0 for 11 from the arc today, but they got good looks and took open shots. Nothing fell from the perimeter today. First game we went 0'fer since 2005.
Johnson and Jennings took shots today, a little less tentative shooting from each of them, and both at least attempted to attack the lane.
David Potter....I dont know about him offensively.
Stitt, at least right now, seems to be developing into a better PG. If he would just attack the paint more.....
Defense allowed 29% shooting overall and forced 27 turnovers.
Clemson narrowly won the rebounding, 42-39, and lost the offensive rebouding 14-11. This is likely a product of moving Booker around, but has to improve from the other guys.
12/25 from the free throw line. WTF.

“I was disappointed in the way we guarded the three-point shot,” Purnell said. “That was our emphasis because we knew Furman would need threes to beat us. But I liked our energy and effort coming out of exams. That showed a great deal of mental toughness from our guys.”

“As a team, we came out and played hard [in the second half],” Purnell said. “We started with energy and we finished with energy. That has only been a problem once that I can think of, and hopefully we learned that lesson against Illinois.”

“Devin’s been coming,” Purnell said. “He continues to improve. I would like to see him play more physical on the defensive end, by boxing out and hitting the glass. Trevor hit the boards hard today. He’s our emotional and energetic leader. We’ve fed off of him for the past couple of years.”

NCAA Basketball Stats

ACC Power Rankings: 12.8

MRickman84 — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 16:30:14 -0000

So this probably should have been done yesterday, but I really want to get in the habit of doing power rankings throughout the season. UNC occupies the top spot this week, with Duke coming in second, as both are coming off tough losses last week to strong opponents.

Let's take a look at who is where after the jump...

1.) UNC-- [W vs. Michigan State, L vs. Kentucky] UNC is getting better as was expected. The young guys are playing well and Larry Drew II looks a lot more comfortable. I'm still concerned about the Heels' bench, as Strickland looks a little lost out there and Henson just does not know what to do with his body. The Wear twins are eating up a ton of minutes without a lot of productivity. Tyler Zeller is a great player for them though and really makes the perfect sixth man. UNC gets another tough test when they head to Dallas to play Texas at the Cowboys stadium next week.

2.) Duke -- [L vs. Wisconsin, W vs. St. John's] I thought this Duke team was supposed to be able to shoot? Kyle Singler is looking average at best so far this year and is taking a LOT of shots. You know what you're getting out of Jon Scheyer week in and week out and that is a great stabilizer. Andre Dawkins has been spectacular so far and we are going to be seeing a lot more of him as Duke enters ACC play. Duke's big weakness is still down low--Zoubek and Thomas are just bad, but the Plumlees work hard and are good players.

3.) GT [W vs. Siena, W vs. USC] The Jackets were left out of the Challenge this year because of their finish last season, and that really is a shame as I believe they would have won their matchup and turned the tide for the ACC. Instead, Tech put a whooping on Siena and USC last week. GT is stellar in the frontcourt with Lawal, Peacock and Favors, but losing Iman Shumpert is going to be sidelined for 3-6 weeks with a knee injury.

4.) Clemson [L vs. Illinois, W vs. South Carolina] Clemson is looking like bi-polar Clemson again, surprise! This is a good, solid basketball team. They have 5 players averaging at least 9 points per game and Trevor Booker is almost averaging a double-double (13 and 9). Their problem is that they just lose focus (as seen by the terrible collapse against Illinois). I think they are a better team than Georgia Tech, but they just can't pass them until they show some consistency.

5.) Miami [W vs. Minnesota, L vs. BC] Yes, I know they lost their first conference game. But it was very close and came down to the buzzer. They picked up a great non-con win over Minnesota, but still have not really been challenged other than their last two contests. Dwayne Collins is very good, but there's a lot of pressure on him coming into conference play since two of Miami's three strong guards are newcomers (Malcolm Grant from Villinova and freshman Durand Scott.) James Dews can get it done too, but we will see just how much the 'Canes miss Jack McClinton after the 1st of the year.

6.) Wake Forest [L vs. Purdue, W vs. Gonzaga] After a disappointing loss at home to William & Mary, the Deacs took to the road for two very tough tests. After a hard-fought loss to Purdue, the Deacs looked like they finally clicked in a win over Gonzaga at the Kennel. If the Demon Deacons can use this as a momentum builder, they could enter the new year at 10-2. They will be tested by UNC-W, who has played some good teams tough, as well as Richmond, which received votes in the polls this week. Freshmen C.J. Harris and Ari Stewart are looking like the real deal, but the Deacs absolutely need to get consistency from their bigs and from Al-Farouq Aminu.

7.) Virginia Tech [W vs. Iowa, W vs. Georgia] I like VT. They're better than they look on paper, and their loss to Temple is not a bad one--the Owls almost pulled off the upset against Georgetown a few games ago. They easily could finish anywhere between 6th and 10th, but the combo of Malcolm Delaney and Jeff Allen should be good for at least 6 conference wins.

8.) Maryland [W vs. Indiana, L vs. Villanova] I've seen Maryland play 4 times now this year and I'm sorry, I just don't think they are very good. Greivis Vasquez takes way too many ill-advised shots and he is shooting 32%. Sean Mosley and Landon Milbourne are the strong points to this team and Eric Hayes keeps them calm sometimes, but they aren't deep and I'm not sold on their front court. The Terps were a hot pick to start the season, but they have to prove something to me before they can move up the board.

9.) Boston College [W vs. Michigan, W vs. Miami] Here we go again. It's the same old story every year. BC looks sparse on paper and then Al Skinner does a great job coaching his team to overachieve. It'll probably happen again this year and their last two wins are a big indicator of this. Reggie Jackson could be a great player, and BC gets bumped up a spot just from his nasty dunk against the 'Canes (on a terrible offensive foul call in the last 30 seconds) and his clutch FTs to seal the win. Raji, Jackson, Trapani is a great combo and they get a good effort out of Josh Southern too.

10.) Florida State [L vs. Ohio State, W vs. FIU] Florida State looked downright ugly against Ohio State. And downright ugly against Florida. But that win against Marquette was big, so they have that in them. Alabi, Singleton and Kitchen are a nice 1-2-3, but the 'Noles need to be getting more out of Xavier Gibson and Ryan Reid.

11.) NC State [L vs. Northwestern, W. vs Marquette] After their loss to Northwestern, I didn't think at all that the Wolfpack would beat Marquette. It was the furthest thing from my mind. State is 6-1, but they are a mess and there is just not much there.

12.) Virginia [L vs. Penn State, L vs. Auburn] Hey, at least Virginia has beaten Cleveland State, something Wake wasn't able to do last year. Sylven Landesberg is a heck of a player, but when your next two leading scorers are Mike Scott and Sammy Zeglinski, there's a problem there. Virginia is not very good.

Thoughts from the loss in Tampa and moving forward

FIGUREFOUR — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 16:33:42 -0000

More photos » by Chris O'Meara - AP

10 days ago: Clemson running back C.J. Spiller (28) gets a lift from teammates Thomas Austin (65) and Mason Cloy (62) after scoring a first-quarter touchdown against Georgia Tech during an Atlantic Coast Conference Championship NCAA college football game Saturday, Dec. 5, 2009, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Carlson)

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A few shots regarding the game, the atmosphere, and Tampa in general. First off, Tampa seems to be a cool place to host a football game, especially in good weather (unfortunately, it was chilly and overcast all day...fortunately we avoided the rain). The stadium is a great venue. A lot of fans referred to Coral Gables on the ride in, as there was a lot of tailgating in people's front yards. We were able to run into some old friends and folks from my years at old CU...all positives. Unfortunately, this is the ACC and it is geographically difficult to pack out a football game in Tampa. While the venue and town itself is not an issue, it really makes a lot more sense to put this contest in the more centrally-located Charlotte area. I just hope that I will have the opportunity to see Clemson play in one of these games in Ericson (or whatever they call it now) Stadium in the Queen City.

Now on to the game. It really seems like I repeat myself each week, talking about deficiencies up front offensively and out of the linebackers. I will go ahead and get these out of the way now. Daboreally needs to evaluate Brad's role on this staff, as we are still behind the curve here. I really don't feel like rehashing the points that both of us (particularly Dr. B) has repeatedly made on this point. Clemson's linebacker play has repeatedly caused problems for the Tigers this season. Brandon Maye (AKA Maddog, per Doc Walker) is constantly out of position and is not able to make the plays that he must make to keep this defense in football games. I really expect to see a shakeup here, as Coach Swinney is not happy with the play out of this position.

On to specifics...simply stated Clemson's offense put up plenty of points to win and the defense could not get it going. While the offense was far from perfect, ridiculous numbers from C. J. Spiller kept Clemson in the game. Spiller had 233 yards rushing and accounted for 4 of the Tiger's 5 TD's on the afternoon. Kyle Parker was not sharp Saturday, although his first interception was clearly the root of Andre Ellington not holding onto a catch-able ball. I am still not sure about the 2nd interception. To me, it appeared as though the coaching staff started to press, as Clemson was down 10 at the time. Spiller (on what looked to be a wheel route from the stands) was well covered and Parker floated a gift for this GT defense. I would have continued to run the football and pound this struggling GT front four. Rule number 1 in offensive playcalling...If you can run the football, run it again and again and again. There is no need to throw the ball unless absolutely necessary.

I would also like to see more of Ellington and less of Harper. Ellington does a great job hitting holes quickly and has some shifty moves. Best of all, after Ellington gets to the hole quickly, he makes few moves then gets North-South and picks up some nice yardage. I just think that he is a better all-around back than Harper at this point in both players' careers.

Defensively, I was a little miffed by the two point stance shown by the ends as well as Steele's strategy to swap option assignments. The ends were a little high all night (and you know what we think about playing high--LOW MAN HAS BETTER LEVERAGE ALWAYS WINS BATTLES UP FRONT). Nesbit was also able to beat Clemson on keepers all night. Clemson swapped force assignments and I really think this strategy backfired. Like Dr. B, I want Bowers or Sapp forcing Nesbit Many times on the evening, the force (here a linebacker, got caught up inside and was not able to get into position to slow down the QB, leaving Nesbit without an option decision and Nesbit with over 100 yards and a TD on the ground. Overall, Clemson had no answer for GT's ground attack and were lulled to sleep and gave up some critical pass catches. Clemson was also scorched on a long pass play out of a cover 4 look. This game turned into a track meet and not how the Tigers needed to play to beat a good GT offense.

I thought I was going to have a stroke following our botched extra point. We are 13 games into this season, why can Clemson still not kick PAT's correctly? There is no excuse for even one missed PAT opportunity, and Clemson has screwed this up countless times this season. This poor execution really hurt the Tigers late, as Clemson could have played to hold GT to a field goal a the end of the game to force overtime instead of a filed goal for the win. Missing a 52 yard field goal on Jackson's part is not the end of the world. GT really cleaned up Saturday with four (4) field goals in the contest. Scott Blair was clutch for the Jackets, converting three (3) field goals of 40 yards or more.

Overall, I would like for Swinney to evaluate the continued poor state of our offensive line and the causes of the poor play out of this group. Brad Scott will continue to receive (deserved) scrutiny. Our linebacker play has been a glaring problem down the stretch. We have pointed out deficiencies in their play all year, and teams really took advantage of this late in the season. Clemson has to get more talented at the linebacker position. The linebackers also need to play a little smarter, as they are often out of position.

Here we are, 13 games in and Atlantic Division champions. Clemson surely is not world-beaters, but are a better football team this season than last. The fact that last year's receivers coach led this team to the ACCCG says a lot abut how important the head coaching position is in college football. CU played hard in all contests (but SC), and was one defensive stop away from a trip to Miami to play in the Orange Bowl. C. J. Spiller put up some ridiculous numbers on the season both as a running back and as an all-purpose player. We saw Bowers look like a man amongst boys this season and DeAndre McDaniel turn into nothing short of a ball-hawk. Clemson still has deficiencies offensively up front and at the WR position. Kyle Parker still has a ways to go, but clearly improved throughout the year. He has the tools necessary to become a star, he just needs to put it all together. It will be interesting to see how the baseball draft works out and whether or not Parker will be with this team next season. Who would have thought (this time last season) that we would be here today expecting to see Will Korn transfer to App. State? The player who received great hype and was glossed as Clemson's "Savior" just has not been able to make it happen here. You have to feel for the guy because he has been committed to this football team for what seems like an eternity, and only has one start to show for it.

I still think that Clemson has a long way to go to get where we need to get. We certainly are no Florida or Alabama, but then again we are no longer the Tom Bowden group of excuse makers. Clemson is moving in the correct direction and I believe that this staff (especially from an offensive standpoint) has grown tremendously over the course of this season. I still would like to see an adjustment out of the staff in terms of the OL and the strategy taken there (recruiting and player development). The Tigers' passing attack still needs some work in all areas (QB, protection, and WR play). The WR corps is very thin, and I am not sure what to expect out of this group moving forward without Ford. Clemson still has lots of work to do with the linebacking corps. Overall, CU needs an upgrade at talent at quite a few positions. It is critical that Clemson hold onto a decent core class this year and hit a homerun next offseason.

Post Championship thoughts

DrB — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 19:18:38 -0000

More photos » by John Raoux - AP

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Before I look at the film again, and I still have to do the one for Sakerlina (oh joy), I can go ahead and tell you why we lost this game on defense: Linebackers.

We have both said this before, and its been a recurring issue all year. If you want to know why the defense gets worse as the year goes on, its two issues:1) other offensive coordinators are able to see how bad the LBs are on film and find ways to exploit it further as the year goes on, 2) talent. Those are the biggest two things.

Last night, Steele threw the Bees a new look up front. Both DTs played down, with a 1 and a 3 technique. Both DEs played in 2 point stances, and the OLBs played in a normal 5 yard-off stack alignment which at times looked like the OVER, with Maye backed up 7 yards deep. Clemson had assigned the Dive to all the Dlinemen, with the LB's on the QB, and the secondary support as the pitch. The coverage appeared to be Cover 4, which looks like man or zone depending on what they do.

I know why he did it. Lots of people are questioning the scheme and alignment. You have to put your OLBs at a normal depth, not close to the line of scrimmage because if you scoot them up outside the DE, you give up something inside. You want your LB to be deep enough to see the Wingback outside and also into the B-gap, thats a normal 5 yard alignment. Also you want them with more depth to play off the cut blocks. At times you saw them jump into the B-gap, and that was when the Safety was in the box to take his spot. Now, if you have a good MLB, you could possibly move one up (not both), but we dont. Brandon Maye was backed up at 7 yards so that he could see more of the backfield and follow the play, and not get too badly out of position on misdirection plays.

The DEs were in 2 point stances because they wanted them to have their eyes up and able to see the backfield. The interior linemen were down because they have to fire off the ball to stop the dive.

The biggest problem with us last night was the LB play. They were getting blocked by the guards and tackles on the veer, and didnt get off them. They didnt shoot into their gap. They were late in scraping to get to the QB, and never attacked him. Last night somebody was asking about whether you can hit the QB on every play, and you can. We played tentatively, tackled worse, and the secondary was late getting up on the pitch because they were getting cracked (safety) or arc-blocked (corners) by the WR or Wingback with cut blocks. Brandon Maye is a liability.

I dont like what Steele did; I thought he had a better plan in game 1. I would not have put the DEs in 2pt stances, because i think it contributes to them playing high with their pad level. I thought our inside guys did ok, but need to work on sticking to their keys and keeping an eye on the ball. Many times, Thompson/Jenkins blew up his blocker and was in the backfield but Dwyer was already beside him. I prefer having the best DE tandem in the conference as the force player on the QB, and let the MLB and DTs play the dive. Steele had taught them to both crash on the dive, which they didnt do as much of in game 1. Additionally, we were being cut up front and then the GT OL grabbed the ankles of the DLinemen, so they cant get anywhere.

But if you call for Brooks or Rumph to be fired, when Brooks only came on in March, youre crazy. Rumph has produced here in development, Brooks has a long track record of development on the line, and both recruit very very good. The DTs played worse as the year went on and need coaching, but I believe Brooks can get this fixed. I think Thompson is a future All-ACC player minimum, but he has had ups and downs this year. If he plays an entire game for once (not taking plays off, which was G. Adams problem when he was young) I think he becomes dominant inside.

Steele coaches LBs, and I would say he is hampered by inferior talent, but I think he could do better. Conner, as I said before, has peaked. He's better than Maye but not by much. Kevin Alexander is not a LB, he's too slow and doesnt have the experience there that we need at SAM. I think KA is better suited to DE. Honestly I think Sapp would do better at OLB than KA. Pass coverage by the linebackers has been an issue all year, run stoppage has shown up more and more as a problem. We dont have outrageous talent at LB even at 2nd string either. The staff feel like they hit on Hawkins, and I bet he plays a lot next year. Quandon Christian is another one they like. Tig Willard I expect to start. Tarik Rollins looks like a miss. Scotty Cooper will likely play a lot more again next year. They'll have to step up or we're in the same boat for 2010.

But I will not call for a defensive coach to get fired this year. We run a complicated scheme. Its easy to confuse players on their keys when you give them too much to think about. Saban could not get this scheme fully-installed at Bama or LSU early, and at both places he already had some of the talent to do it, its just a lot for them to master when you were used to playing a soft coverage. I expected us to be worse at pass defense but Harbison has taught them pretty well how to pattern-read. I will give Steele more chance to recruit, because if we dont get a LB in here it wont be lights-out next year, even if Maye improves.

If the defense doesnt do better next year, barring injuries, I'll think about calling for heads.

The offense did their job well enough to win. I am disappointed in the interior line, and how they dont fire off the ball against a mostly-backup GT defensive line, but I already knew Brad Scott sucked. They improved this year up front, but I don't see enough improvement to make me change my mind on his coaching.

Kyle Parker played subpar, he is young and it showed. I think we'd have a different opinion of him had we had the ball more last night, but he didnt impress with his accuracy at all.

CJ was CJ. He had us in this game himself. Now without him, I'm not sure what we'll have on offense next year.

In the preseason I predicted 8 wins and 2nd in the Atlantic. We did better than my expectations. Dabo has 3 years from me and I'm not going to waver on it. I can tell you now, I'm expecting 10 next season. I'm not putting up with losing. If they dont win 10, somebody will be responsible, and I suspect it'll be Brad.

We'll be covering each of the coaches after the (likely) Music City rematch with Kentucky. In the meantime we'll switch to recruiting and baskeball. I'll get to the film reviews soon.

ACC Overlords Vanquished

Bama Hawkeye — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 14:27:38 -0000

It only took 11 tries, but the Big Ten finally won a BigTen-ACC Challenge. Most impressive was the manner in which the Big Ten took the trophy. Rather than win games against lesser foes (I'm looking at you Minnesota and Michigan), the Big Ten had Illinois come storming back from 23 points down in the second half to knock off ranked Clemson in South Carolina. If that wasn't shocking enough, Wisconsin, not even picked to be in the top half of the league in many preseason projections, defeated Duke. DUKE. DUKE! The same Duke that had gone 10-0 in the previous editions of the challenge.

So a tip of the hat to Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio State, Purdue, Northwestern, and Penn State -- the six teams that made Jim Delaney a very happy man this morning.

The greatest Illini comeback ever. Illini upset Clemson 76-74

Joe Kutsunis — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 05:49:15 -0000

More photos » by Brett Flashnick - AP

13 days ago: Illinois forward Mike Davis, back, the leading scorer, is congratulated by teammates Dominique Keller, left and Bill Cole, right, after Illinois' 76-74 victory over Clemson in an NCAA college basketball game, Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2009, at Littlejohn Colliseum, in Clemson, S.C. (AP Photo/Brett Flashnick)

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Oh what is there is there to be said about this game? Other than of course that this was the greatest comeback for an Illinois team ever, that it was as improbable of a comeback as there could be and that I have not had this much fun watching a basketball since Arizona in 2005.

I cannot stress enough just how bad the Illini looked in the first half. With Demetri sitting on the bench with fouls in the first half, the freshmen wilted under the pressure of Clemson. The Illini seemed to turn the ball over on their end every trip down the court, and give up a foul on every defensive stand. Bad passes, offense not getting set, and a lazy defense giving up long 3's.

Then it all switched around, the key being Demetri McCamey coming back into the game. Although the stat line only shows 7 assists, Demetri provided the leadership that carried the Illini back into this game. He had poise under the pressure and was able to break the Clemson defense down with his skillful passing.

DMAC provided the grit and leadership, Brandon Paul and Mike Davis provided the fireworks, as each went over 20 points on the night. Davis always seemed to be on the money from inside the arc, and Paul, well he only made some of the most acrobatic and amazing drives to the basket I have seen from an Illini in some time.

D.J. Richardson and Mike Tisdale, once they had their feet back under them came to life in the second half, providing 14 and 12 points respectively. Tisdale even had what has to be the slowest ball fake and drive I have ever seen, the basket that would prove to be the game winner.

A last note. I am very impressed with the way that Bruce switched to a zone in the second half, something he is loathe to do, and even more impressed that the Illini took to it without thinking twice. Bruce does not run zone, ever. But tonight that tough zone may have been the key to the Illini pulling this one out, as they held the Tigers to 20 points less in the second half than the first.

Good game guys, and thank you for being the victory that would prove decisive in delivering the Big Ten their first Challenge title. Maybe now we can give the Midwest a little round ball cred?

Clemson is such a weird basketball program

SFBE.NF — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 03:37:15 -0000

More photos » by Brett Flashnick - AP

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While it wasn't quite appropriate given the 23-point deficit, a point was made. With a few minutes remaining, ESPN briefly flashed a "Greatest Comebacks in NCAA History" graphic as Illinois had impressively cut Clemson's lead to single-digits, shifting the game's momentum. While I am too lazy to confirm, I believe the graphic noted a game from the 50s where a team blew a 31 point lead. Nonetheless, while Illinois's 76-74 win was eight points short of making history, the mere fact that a remote TV producer was calling for that stat is telling to the sort of chokejob we were able to witness.

The Tigers are such an enigma. Tonight's loss comes on the heels of a one-point victory over Butler, but is just one week removed from a loss to Texas A&M. Trevor Booker is one of the toughest players to guard in the country, but yet his teammates repeatedly look him off in the post but shoot 37 percent from the field.

For the Illini, it was the first true road game for this young team, who has an emerging star in Brandon Paul, supplementary blue chipper DJ Richardson, and a dose of leadership from Mike Davis and Mike Tisdale (who despite being a great piece for this team, we can't overlook the fact he is quite unfortunate looking).

Who knows how the Tigers will bounce back. But I do know that Oliver Purnell is sitting in an unenviable position tonight as he reluctantly watches game tape while the rest of the country sleeps.

Hail to the Orange Podcast: Special postgame edition

Joe Kutsunis — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 03:19:30 -0000

More photos » by Brett Flashnick - AP

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Podcast special edition

Illinois at Clemson:No pressure guys, right?

Joe Kutsunis — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 23:11:36 -0000

More photos » by Laura Rauch - AP

17 days ago: Illinois' Brandon Paul is fouled by Bradley's Anthony Thompson during an NCAA college basketball game at the Las Vegas Invitational in Las Vegas on Saturday, Nov. 28, 2009. Bradley defeated Illinois 72-68. (AP Photo/Laura Rauch)

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So, in the midst of a two game losing streak, having only made their first trip out of the Assembly Hall and losing to an in state school that people like me think have no business even hanging with the Illini, our beloved team must travel to one of the most hostile environments in the ACC, potentially with the entire Big Ten ACC Challenge hanging in the balance.

Good thing we don't need this game to save face from over the weekend right? You know this game has me nervous, especially the way our freshmen vanished in the last two games. What this team could use is a home game right about now, not its first test against a nationally ranked opponent. Then again, maybe the competition will bring out the best in the freshmen, along the same lines that Demetri stepped up against Indiana and Purdue two years ago. The Illini need production from their guards, and when two of those guards are freshmen who have suddenly vanished from the box score your scoring options look less than optimal.

The Illini are not going to enjoy the dramatic size and talent advantage that they have in the last few games, so guard play is going to be key. The Illini need to focus especially on what has been their undoing in the last two losses, turnovers and second half defense. i know the team looked ragged in the second half against Bradley, that is because its tough to get your second line players off the bench when you can't pull away so much as 5 points. The starters are going to have to score or they are going to have to really really buckle down on defense. Even so, I think the game will be close. Last year's game ended much like the last two games, a closing moments possession that proved to be the undoing for the Illini, hopefully this time the Illini can come actually close things out.

tip is at 6:15 central, ESPN