After another setback that has his team riding its longest losing streak of the season, Clemson men’s basketball coach Brad Brownell isn’t ruling anything out that might help keep the reeling to a minimum.
“Everything is up for discussion right now,” Brownell said. “We’re not playing well enough.”
Clemson (10-8, 2-5 ACC) lost for the fourth time in five games late Tuesday night when Syracuse dealt the Tigers a 91-78 blow inside the Carrier Dome. It was Clemson’s third straight loss, a funk that escalated quickly.
This time a week ago, the Tigers were coming off their fifth win in six games after knocking off North Carolina State on the road. Since then, Clemson has been beaten by nearly 11 points on average, including that loss to Boston College over the weekend that the Tigers led by 23 at one point.
Syracuse handed Clemson its second-largest margin of defeat this season despite the Tigers getting a 19-point, 11-rebound double-double from PJ Hall, 18 points from David Collins and 11 points off the bench from Chase Hunter. The primary issue for Clemson during its skid has been getting stops.
Clemson has allowed at least 70 points in every game of its losing streak while Notre Dame, Boston College and Syracuse each shot better than 45% from the field. The Orange made those numbers look pedestrian. Syracuse, which got 48 combined points from guards Buddy Boeheim and Joe Girard III, sank 53.4% of its shots en route to its highest point total against an ACC foe this season.
Brownell said the primary issue is a lack of size and physicality from his team on the defensive end of the floor, allowing opposing players to frequently get their shots off from wherever they’re trying to get on the floor. It’s a deficiency that Brownell said may have to be addressed, at least in part, off the court.
“We’re physically a little weak,” Brownell said. “We’re physically smaller and weaker, and some of that is a product of recruiting. We’ve got to think about that. Now obviously what you get on the other hand is you get some skill. You get guys that can shoot. You get guys that can pass. And that’s why offensively we’ve got a bunch of guys that shoot a high percentage from 3.
“We scored 78 (Tuesday), but we miss Aamir Simms’ defense drastically. Just his physicality, smarts, toughness. And some other guys, too. We just had bigger, stronger dudes in some spots. And then we’re not going getting some other guys that played well last year, we’re not playing as well defensively right now. I’ve got to coach that better.”
Brownell has recently made a change with the personnel on this year’s team. Nick Honor and Al-Amir Dawes started together for the first half of the season in Clemson’s backcourt, but junior guard Alex Hemenway, at 6-foot-4 and 195 pounds, replaced the 5-10 Honor in the starting lineup two games ago in an effort to get more size on the perimeter.
“Guys shoot over top of us some,” Brownell said. “That’s not lack of effort. That’s just a lack of some strength and size.”
But Hemenway hasn’t done much in that starting role, combining for just six points on 2 of 9 shooting in the last two games. Foul trouble limited him to just 13 minutes against Syracuse while Honor had eight points, five assists and just one turnover in 26 minutes off the bench.
Brownell didn’t rule out the possibility of more personnel changes when Clemson hosts Pittsburgh on Saturday.
“(Hemenway) is trying hard, but the results aren’t there,” Brownell said. “Whether we stick with it or not, I don’t know. We could move Chase into the starting lineup. Chase has played better, but sometimes it’s nice to have Chase off the bench because he could play the 2 (shooting guard) or play the 3 (wing).”
Brownell said he’s not worried about losing his team during this rough patch, adding the Tigers had “two really good practices” in preparation for Tuesday’s game. But Clemson could use the pick-me-up of that translating over to the game.
And soon.
“Our team is wounded. We’re disappointed,” Brownell said. “Obviously the Boston College loss hurt. We wanted to play well (Tuesday) and get a win, and we didn’t get a win. It’s hard.”
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