On Thursday evening, Shawn Poppie's Clemson Tigers improved to 2-0 on the season with another convincing victory, this time over the East Tennessee State Buccaneers. Clemson outscored East Tennessee State in all four quarters, but never by more than six points. Regardless, they all added up to a 19-point win at home over East Tennessee State, 76-57. It came down to great 3-point shooting.
Clemson shot 56 percent from the field, compared to East Tennessee State's 41-percent clip. Although the Buccaneers shot better from the free-throw line (77 percent to 67 percent), Clemson blew them out of the water from beyond the arc. Clemson made 55 percent of its 3-point attempts, while East Tennessee State only shot 23 percent from distance. That is a huge 32-percent disparity!
Leading the way for Clemson was Mia Moore with her game-high 20 points on 7-of-8 shooting, including a perfect 4-for-4 from beyond the arc and 2-for-2 at the charity stripe. She also had five assists, which were second on the team to Mackenzie Nelson's seven on the evening. Edie Clarke, Taliyah Henderson, and Julia Scott off the bench all joined Moore in double-digit scoring for Clemson.
Clemson maintained control from opening tipoff through final whistle
Thursday night's result shows that Clemson played a more cohesive game throughout under Poppie. It was only on Monday evening that Clemson was all tied up with the Radford Highlanders heading into halftime before really taking care of business in the second half. Again, these early-season, non-conference games are where quality teams like Clemson can gain momentum and find themselves.
Right now, we are seeing the Tigers win by a margin and save their best basketball for the second half, or at least refuse to let the opposition back into any contest. This shows a team that makes sound in-game adjustments and takes to coaching quite well. It has been a long time since Clemson had a coach like Poppie on the sidelines for the women's team. This should be a tournament team yet again.
For now, Clemson must hone in to take on a UNC Greensboro Spartans team that is also 2-0. Yes, this game will be at home for the Tigers, but they should still not overlook their next opponent on Sunday afternoon. We are seeing a Clemson team that can play great defense when the moment requires it, as well as put pressure on the opposition by knocking down their shots in crunch time.
As for what needs to happen between now and Clemson's first true challenge of the season against No. 1 South Carolina, Poppie needs to get his rotation figured out, as well as have his team embody the 3-and-D philosophy a bit more. Taking on South Carolina will not be easy, but Clemson is starting to play with some confidence on both ends of the floor in the early part of the season under Poppie.
Next up for Clemson, the Tigers will host UNC Greensboro on Sunday, Nov. 8 for a 2:00 p.m. ET tipoff.
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