Clemson Comeback Falls Short Against Prolific Alabama Offense

The Good News

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The Bad News

Last year the ACC was embarrassed in the ACC/SEC challenge even though Clemson scored a huge win against Kentucky. This year is much the opposite. Virginia Tech’s road win at South Carolina, Syracuse’s upset of Tennessee, and North Carolina’s late-night win over Kentucky gave the conference respectability, but Clemson didn’t contribute to the success.

At the start, Clemson couldn’t keep pace with Alabama’s prolific offense. The Tigers started 0-5 from 3 while Alabama was 5-5. That led to Alabama claiming a 21-8 lead after 7 minutes. Some poor fortune befell the Tigers as well as an “appeal” from Coach Nate Oats led the officials to change a common foul on Alabama to a flagrant foul on Carter Welling of Clemson. Immediately following the ensuing free throws, Alabama finally missed their first 3-pointer only to slam home the offensive rebound. It capped off a 7-0 (also 12-1) run for Alabama. With 4:39 remaining in the first half, the Crimson Tide held a dominant 19 point lead.

Clemson Grit

This is about when folks started texting me saying “we’re going to lose by 50.” I didn’t disagree. Clemson didn’t appear capable of keeping pace, but somehow, they responded. They got their footing before half and entered the break down 15 at 45-30. RJ Godfrey was 4-6 with 10 points and 1 assist in the half while the rest of the team largely struggled.

In the second half, Clemson kept chipping away. Alabama’s offense largely turned into isolation for Labaron Philon Jr. who at one point had 12 of Alabama’s 19 second half points. When Philon went to the bench with a third foul, Clemson went on a 10-1 run. The Tigers took advantage of the (ridiculous) new rule that allows coaches to appeal “unobserved” flagrant fouls. It happened to Clemson in the Georgia game and the staff learned and leveraged this (ridiculous) new rule to their advantage. They noticed an Alabama player accidentally swing his hand and graze RJ Godfrey’s face (eye) on an earlier play. Upon review, they called it a flagrant and RJ Godfrey made two free throws. Moments later, a Clemson bucket gave the Tigers their first lead at 62-61 with just under 10 minutes in the game.

From there it went back-and-forth as Clemson played great team basketball and Alabama relied on the hot hand and supreme talent of Labaron Philon Jr. In the final minutes, Clemson had several chances to gain the upper hand, but unfortunate miscues undercut what would have been a historic comeback.

Nick Davidson missed a free throw but got to re-shoot it after an Alabama lane violation. He missed it again, but this time Carter Welling was called for a foul on the rebound. Since Alabama was in the bonus, they went to the charity stripe and made both free throws creating a three-point swing from the missed FT. Later, Jake Wahlin missed a layup after a great drive. The ball went out of bounds to Clemson, but Alabama won an official coach’s challenge and Alabama got the ball. Finally, RJ Godfrey missed two critical free throws that would have kept the Tigers alive.

In the end, Clemson lost 90-84, but showed their team’s resolve, character, and yes, grit. Alabama is a top 15 team and Clemson made a 19-point comeback after a poor and somewhat unlucky first half. Clemson has now played four high-quality opponents and is 2-2 with wins over West Virginia and Georgia and losses to Georgetown and Alabama. They will have this weekend off and then play BYU in New York City on Tuesday. The Cougars are a top 10 team. That game is at 6:30pm Tuesday (12/9) on ESPN. Until then, don’t forget to use promo code STS10 over on Section 103.