Clemson Men’s Basketball: Tigers bubble burst in Boston

An uninspired performance in Chestnut Hill left Clemson Men’s Basketball on the losing end of an ACC game for just the second time this season, but also left their NCAA Tournament hopes in peril.

In a game that looked like it was in slow motion when compared to the Tigers frenetic win over Florida State last Saturday, the Eagles thoroughly outplayed Clemson in a 62-54 win.

Clemson fell to 18-5 and 9-2 in the ACC, but more importantly proved a lot of critics and the NET Rankings right by losing to a team that entered the night at 195 in those same rankings.

Hunter Tyson scored 22 points while Chase Hunter was the only other Tiger in double figures with 12, but the story of the game was lackadaisical ball handling, unforced turnovers and poor shooting.

Clemson finished at 30.8% from the field and 28.6% from three-point range on the evening.

The Tigers committed 17 turnovers, many from carelessness, too much dribbling and bad passes.

At times it appeared the Tigers appeared to panic offensively when things weren’t going their way which was often on this evening.

Boston College is also due credit.  They played their game and they played it well on their home court, using their strengths to frustrate a Clemson team that was used to a much faster pace and more open shots that generates.

Clemson Men’s Basketball had several flaws exposed against Boston College

For all the good Clemson has done this year, this game is a stark reminder that this team has holes and they are really difficult to overcome when the shooting is not there.

While Chase Hunter has had a good season on the whole, the Tigers only had 4 assists as a team on the evening and struggled in half court offense.  There was a lot of standing around and dribbling without any meaningful attempt at the ball movement that has characterized the Tigers success this season.

Clemson’s early lead melted away as the Tigers once again fell in love with the 3 early, shooting from deep on 9 of their first 19 shots of the game.

Next up for Clemson is a very good Miami team in Littlejohn Coliseum on Saturday at 3 p.m. on the ACC Network.