Clemson beat SMU to mark their first ranked win on the season.
This game was anything but comfortable in the first half with the offense doing just enough keeping a healthy 2-3 point distance leading SMU in the beginning. But the Tigers had problems,. Turnovers leading to points being one, and missed layups being the other. Halfway through the first half both SMU and Clemson shot under 30% from the field.
Than Chase Thompson decided to have his best half in a Clemson jersey.
3-3 from the field and 7 points in 7 minutes lead to an uprising that made the Tigers go from a 3 points lead to 10 near the end of the half. He looked like an absolute baller and everyone was talking about it on X.
After the game Thompson stated that his “Confidence is going up, for sure.”
The half ended with the Tigers up by 9 but still only shooting a lousy 41% from the field, but forced 11 turnovers and a 33 field goal percentage on the other side of the rock displaying one of the best defenses we’ve seen this season.
Clemson and the Johnson’s reached flow state at the beginning of the second half. Efrem set the tone with a three right off rip 30 seconds in, followed by what I can only describe as magical.
Butta Johnson hit back to back three point shots. The first being world class, hit the three whilst falling backwards with the ball elegantly falling into the basket. Beautiful.
X you could say at the very least, WENT CRAZY.
The defense spearheaded by RJ Godfrey was nothing short of elite from the first half to halfway into the second half, keeping the SMU field goal percentage at a measly 27 percent with 8:32 left in the second half.
Brad Brownell spoke upon the defense in the press conference and said,”We have guys like Nick who played alot in the second, and Carter who played some terrific defense tonight.”
SMU Coach Andy Emfield also spoke on the troubles of his team and said it better than I could,”You can’t allow the physicality to let you make silly shots.”
After this stint Clemson’s flame extinguished on offense going 2:43 without a single point on the board. All of a sudden Tiger fans felt a familiar feeling, sick to their stomach in the last 5 minutes. Clemson proceeded to then make all Tiger fans stomachs feel much worse going into the latter end of the game, going 1-7 from the field whilst watching SMU go 6-7
All of a sudden it was a 68-65 ball game.
The end of this game is summed up best by a play-by-play sequence.
71-67 41 Seconds on the clock, SMU holds the ball, dribbles towards the basket and deflects the ball off of a Clemson defender, SMU ball. SMU throws it in and goes for a layup that is MISSED and Jake Wahlin draws a foul to shoot for two. Makes one, missed one, 72-67. SMU retains possession, gets to the three point line pulls up MISSES. Tigers fouled again, Dillon Hunter makes BOTH free throws to make the game 74-67. SMU does not capitalize… ball game over.
Clemson is now past the hard part of their schedule. They are favored to win every single game until February 4th against Stanford. Clemson cement their first ranked win of the season, and their 6th win on the bounce.
Final score from Littlejohn 74 – 70 Tigers
