Certainly, there will be plenty of blame to go around the Clemson basketball program after Thursday's shocking 69-67 loss to McNeese in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. After all, few predicted that the No. 5 seeded Tigers would fall to the No. 12 seeded Cowboys, and those that did, couldn't have foreseen the Tigers playing as poorly as they did.
While it was ultimately the players who came up short, head coach Brad Brownell will garner a large portion of the blame as well. And after the loss, he was quick to admit that he didn't have his team ready to face the surprising defensive system that McNeese deployed, one that saw the Cowboys shift from a zone to a man defense in the middle of possessions.
"You know, we picked a tough day to not play our best," he said. "Certainly, they had a lot to do with that. I didn't do a very good job with my guys. And, you know, we weren't really prepared for the zone-to-man. I haven't seen a lot of that this year, maybe a little bit with Stanford, and it bothered us.
"I thought their athleticism inside and their quickness certainly was a factor, the offensive rebounds that they got extra possessions. We just had a hard time getting any rhythm. And I think that's, you know, that's what's disappointing for me, is I couldn't help my guys get into any kind of rhythm in the game.
"I super proud of these guys and the kind of season that we had, obviously 27 wins, and the way these guys do it, the way they carry themselves as men, is just terrific people and leaders. And so it's been a privilege to coach two guys like this [Ian Schieffelin and Chase Hunter], and I hate that it had to end the way it did today,"
Of course, the No. 1 takeaway from this game for most people will be the dreadful first half that Clemson played. To open the game, the Tigers shot just 1 for 15 from 3-point range and scored only 13 points in the first 20 minutes of play. Brownell was asked if he had ever seen such a poor half of basketball and what he told his team at halftime.
"Yeah, we've had halves like that," he said. "You don't like having them in this setting. Yeah, I was trying to really just get them to relax. You know, we haven't shot the ball very well the last two weeks. I don't know why that is. We obviously did a bunch of extra shooting this week, and we're 1 for 15 at halftime, and you can almost see our guys pressing and just, I mean trying hard and shooting is not a good concept.
"You know, and we were trying, as a staff, to figure out a better way to help get even more, better shots and keep better flow and just, is there a way for us to get a few easies? You know? Defensively, we were decent tonight, minus the extra possessions. I mean that the 18 offensive rebounds or whatnot. I mean, that's 18 second chance opportunities. That's that's just too many. And we talked about, this was an excellent offensive rebounding team and a team that really tried to create turnovers, and their athleticism and speed, you know, was a factor."
Despite not having their "A" game, the Tigers nearly pulled off the comeback by scoring 54 second-half points. Brownell talked about how proud he was of his team's fight.
"Well, this team has obviously showed that the last two games," he said. "We didn't play as well against Louisville either at times, and a similar team, to be honest with you, very athletic and physical, and they bothered us as well. And obviously we cut it to one possession in both games.
"You know, we've got a great group of guys. They're unbelievable. These two guys are phenomenal leaders. And I mean, as many games as we won this year without these guys being great players and really connected and great leaders. And so we're obviously proud of all that. We're just, we're disappointed that, in this setting, after what we accomplished last year, that we didn't play better."
Another talking point from this game is going to be the controversial technical foul given to senior forward Viktor Lakhin in the second half. That foul was Lakhin's fifth of the game ending his season and his college basketball career. Brownell shared his thoughts on that call.
"Yeah, I'm disappointed in that," he said. "And I just talked to my guys, and, you know, I made a big deal to our team about not getting involved in any woofing today, and that was very disappointing. I think the second guy got caught, and obviously it was a very inopportune time for that call. So disappointed. But you know, things happen."
Finally, Brownell was asked to share his thoughts on the Clemson seniors and what they meant to the program after helping the Tigers set a new school record for wins in one regular season.
"Yeah, I mean, they're just, you know, just a joy to coach those two guys," he said referring to Hunter and Schieffelin, "especially because they're such great players, competitors, and where they came from. You know, Ian was not heavily recruited, and you know, he's had an unbelievable year. I think very few people thought he would play as well as he did at our level. And then Chase was heavily recruited, but had injuries as a young player and struggled, and to overcome all that and to show the grit that we talk about, you know.
"That's what this is really all about, as a coach, is, you know, helping young men become better on and off the floor. And then we got a bunch of other guys. I mean, I have three senior walk-ons that, you know, in this day and age of transfer portal, your walk-ons become more valuable because they're guys that are there for four years. So they're part of your culture and how they work and what they do, and they're terrific young men that gave a lot. And I'm grateful for them for all that they gave to our program and obviously our program's in a very good place right now."