No. 20/19 Clemson goes cold, Eagles pull upset

Clemson was going for its fifth ACC road win of the season and now turns its attention to a top-25 home matchup with Miami on Saturday. (Photo: Brian Fluharty / USATODAY)

by TigerNet Staff - Tue Jan 31 21:05:35 GMT-04:00 2023

The No. 20/19-ranked Clemson men’s basketball team went ice-cold shooting at Boston College and the Eagles did just enough to pull the 62-54 upset victory Tuesday.

The Tigers missed 17 shots in a row over a 13 minute-period to close the game. Clemson finished shooting 31% from the field and 29% from beyond the arc.

Clemson drops to 18-5 overall and 10-2 in ACC play, up a half-game in the conference standings now on second-place Virginia, while BC captured its third ACC win in four games after a 2-6 start (11-12, 5-7).

"We just didn't play very well and didn't coach well. You know, I didn't see it coming," Tigers head coach Brad Brownell said. "We got off to a good start. It wasn't that we weren't ready to play...They increased the pressure a little bit and we kinda panicked. We really did. That was maybe me too...

"We couldn't get out of our own way...We went cold and they got going a little bit and we just had a hard time."

Clemson trailed going into the half for the eighth time in ACC action this season.

Working back a guard back into the rotation from injury for a second-straight game, with Alex Hemenway, the Tigers had issues taking care of the ball and committed 11 turnovers in the first 20 minutes.

"The turnovers were so frustrating in the first half. I got to go back and look at them," said Brownell. "Four or five of them were just head-scratchers. It's almost like, 'What are we doing? I don't understand.' We couldn't get out of our own way."

Clemson led by as much 11 points in the first half as the Eagles started 3-for-12 shooting, but a 14-2 BC run gave the home team its first lead with under four to go in the period.

BC held Clemson to two points over the final 5:55 of the half as it extended the edge to seven points, holding the Tigers to 23 points. Jaeden Zackery scored 13 first-half points, while Hunter Tyson countered with a Clemson-best eight points. The Eagles hit 45% of their shots in the first half. After scoring 26 in his return to the floor in Saturday’s 82-81 win at Florida State, Chase Hunter was limited to four points at the break.

That Eagles edge extended to double-digits quickly in the second half as Clemson’s shooting woes continued.

Clemson crawled back into it with some success at the free throw line, however, hitting six in a row and cutting the lead down to four with under 13 minutes left.

BC went into a scoring drought that lasted nearly seven minutes, where Eagles leading scorer Quenten Post picked up his fourth foul as well. Clemson’s success at the free throw line continued to tie things up at the 7:42 mark with RJ Godfrey sinking two attempts.

After BC inched its lead back out to five, the Tigers called a timeout with 5:12 to go, after their shooting from the field dropped to 5-of-18 in the half on the previous possession (in the midst of a 0-9 run). The next six attempts were off the mark as well, however, but the Eagles weren’t pulling away and a trip back to the free throw line cut the advantage down to three points with 2:08 to go.

Makai Ashton-Langford’s layup on the ensuing possession extended the lead back out, but PJ Hall answered at the free throw line and made Clemson 15-for-15 on the night.

Ashton-Langford worked his way to the hoop again for another layup and Hunter missed a 3-pointer off the dribble on Clemson’s next try. The Eagles extended the lead out to nine before Tyson ended the lengthy field goal drought with a 3-pointer with 17 seconds left.

Tyson led Clemson with 22 points, while Hall was contained to nine and Hunter finished with 12. Ashton-Langford led BC with 15 points.

Clemson returns home for a top-25 matchup with No. 23 Miami on Saturday in Littlejohn Coliseum (3 p.m./ACCN).

"I'm really proud of our team for what we've been able to accomplish and how much they're fighting," Brownell said. "This is one time we were hit onto the ropes and couldn't quite hang in there and come back to win. We tied it. I thought we were OK and just needed a stop -- just needed to get the lead back and put the pressure back on them...We just didn't have good enough offensive possessions and that's my fault."