No. 8 Clemson gets past No. 9 Miami in ACC tournament. Next up: No. 1 Florida State.
Clemson survived, somehow, some way.
What went wrong? Coach Brad Brownell and his staff will worry about that in film session as they prepare for their next game. For now, thank goodness, there is a next round to worry about.
The Tigers advanced to the ACC tournament quarterfinals with a 69-64 win over Miami on Wednesday. With the win, Clemson will take on No. 1 Florida State at 12:30 p.m. on Thursday. The No. 8 Tigers will have the attention of the Seminoles this time. On Feb. 29, Clemson upset FSU, then ranked No. 6 in the country, 70-69.
“Great win for our guys. I thought we played very well defensively throughout,” Brownell said. “The longer the game went, I thought we got into a better rhythm, I thought our pace was better, and certainly the ability to make free throws down the stretch by Al was big, as well.”
At times against Miami (15-16) it looked like the Tigers were headed to another early exit from the tournament. Clemson (15-16) dropped its last two ACC tournament games, bowing out in the first round in 2019.
But a flash of brilliance midway through the second half was enough to get the Tigers some separation and another shot at the Seminoles.
“We knew at the end of stretch we were going to have to come in and make some free throws,” Clemson freshman Al-Amir Dawes said. “We were just being smart with the ball.”
After both teams struggled to score in the first half — Clemson went on a six minute drought. The teams traded baskets — and the lead — for much of the second.
The Tigers, no strangers to trailing at the break, came back in the second half to win for the sixth time this season, tied for the most times in school history.
“That’s a good thing on this team,” Dawes said. “We never give up, we don’t give up at all. That’s what makes our team great. Whenever we are in those situations we never fold.”
After a pair of Curran Scott free throws tied the game at 46, John Newman III threw one down on a fastbreak for the lead. Moments later, forward Amir Simms, hit a pair from the line to keep Clemson in front after a long three from Chris Lykes.
Lykes missed one from the top of the key on Miami’s next possession and Simms’ three on the other end put the Tigers in front by four. The Hurricanes tied the game at 53 after consecutive layups. But Clemson used a late 6-0 run to take a six-point lead with less than two minutes remaining.
After forcing a turnover by Lykes, Hunter Tyson nailed a three from the top of the key that all but sealed it. Or so fans thought. The Hurricanes forced a turnover, then got a three from Isaiah Wong to make it a four-point game with 10 seconds remaining. Anthony Walker missed two free throws after another Clemson turnover and Simms was sent to the line. He hit one of two free throws with nine seconds left. The Tigers went 18-19 from the foul line, all in the second half.
“Yeah, the free throws were big. You’re trying to close out games and really we were aggressive in executing our offense, and so we made a lot of drives and made some cuts,” Brownell said. “I think Al made a great back cut off a post feed, and so we made aggressive offensive plays that resulted in drawing fouls. So pleased because that’s really -- for our team, our team is about executing. We have to execute. We’re not physically as dominating as most of the teams we play in this league, and so it’s a little bit more of a challenge for us to score at the rim, to score in the paint without executing.”
Miami went on a three-minute scoring drought and Clemson hit seven straight free throws, plus a layup by Newman to win the game.
“We’ve had like five games were we’ve been down 10 and came back and won,” Newman said. “Being down doesn’t really (bother) us. In our locker room the message was keep grinding and just keep going at it. We felt like we were the better team and would come out on top.”
Dawes led the Tigers with 18, while Simms finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
Waiting for the Tigers will be an FSU team who’s last lost was to Clemson a few weeks ago.
“Going into tomorrow we’re not looking back on the first two times we played Florida State think like it’s going to go like that again,” Simms said. “We’ve got to refocus, watch film, learn from our mistakes and see if we can apply. We don’t question our confidence because we know we can do it, we have the evidence, coach told us we have the evidence that we can compete with the best of the best and going into tomorrow we’re just going to try to play our game and not let their game affect us.”
AND ONE
Clemson improved to 15-13 all-time against Miami, and snapped a two-game losing streak to the Hurricanes. Miami won the only regular-season meeting 73-68 in overtime. Newman said they are a different team now than they were in December.
“I think we are just most mature,” Newman said. “We still have a ways to go, we are a more mature team, we just keep fighting and gradually we found more ways to win.”
PERSONAL FOUL
Clemson didn’t attempt a free throw in the first half. All 19 of their attempts came in the second half. Were the Tigers more aggressive?
“That was a part of is,” Dawes said. “The other part was being poised and just making the right play for your team and trying to get the win and advance to the next round.”
ICYMI
The game was a homecoming for Clemson sophomore guard John Newman III. Newman played at Greensboro Day. During the starting lineups, Newman was introduced last to a loud ovation behind the Clemson bench. Newman scored 11 points Wednesday.
“It felt great to be home,” Newman said. “Everything I did out there felt a little more special to me today because I had people from my home town, my family, friends, people I grew up with. It was good to play in front of them for the first time in my college career.”
It was his third time playing in the Greensboro Coliseum.
MAKING SENSE OF THE NUMBERS
19: After not attempting a free throw in the opening 20 minutes, Clemson shot 19 in the second half. The only free throw they missed was the last attempt by Simms. Newman said he would make sure Simms heard about it.
“For sure,” Newman said. “He gives us a hard time, so I’m going to give him a hard time.”
6: Clemson has come back after trailing at the half and won six times this season, tying a school record. The Tigers did it six times in 1989-90 and again in 2013-14.
5: Number of ACC tournament wins by coach Brownell.
Box score
MIAMI (15-16): Stone 3-8 0-0 6, Waardenburg 0-3 0-0 0, McGusty 5-15 0-0 12, Vasiljevic 6-11 2-2 17, Wong 3-9 1-1 8, Lykes 7-16 2-2 21, Miller 0-1 0-0 0, Beverly 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-63 5-7 64.
CLEMSON (16-15): Simms 5-8 3-4 14, Dawes 4-7 8-8 18, Newman 5-9 1-1 11, Trapp 1-4 0-0 3, Mack 3-7 0-0 7, Scott 1-6 6-6 8, Tyson 3-5 0-0 8, Jemison 0-1 0-0 0, Hemenway 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-47 18-19 69.
Halftime—Miami 23-21. 3-Point Goals—Miami 11-36 (Lykes 5-11, Vasiljevic 3-7, McGusty 2-9, Wong 1-4, Waardenburg 0-2, Stone 0-3), Clemson 7-22 (Dawes 2-4, Tyson 2-4, Simms 1-2, Trapp 1-3, Mack 1-4, Newman 0-1, Scott 0-4). Rebounds—Miami 31 (Waardenburg 8), Clemson 29 (Simms 10). Assists—Miami 6 (Wong 3), Clemson 11 (Simms 4). Total Fouls—Miami 16, Clemson 10.
This story was originally published March 11, 2020 at 2:02 PM.
