Clemson Preview and Game Thread

[kystroup]

This sequence felt emblematic of their struggles this season: Brooks (who’s been struggling for weeks) plays good defense, takes the ball up the court and makes a terrific entry pass to Nyla Harris(who’s having a great game) - and she misses a gimme.

Just haven’t been able to out it all together

 

[Carolina151]

Heels lead 47-41 with 5:11 left

 

[TAHeel]

She's getting mugged how do you call a travel

 

[Viking131]

UNC offense is painful to watch at times!

 

[TAHeel]

Clemson hasn't made a FG in 6 minutes but refs keep giving them FTs

 

[TAHeel]

EA apparently gained hulk strength based on that pushoff

 

[ncjmayo]

Glad we got Reniya back out there - she’s been working on the exercise bike. We need her to take the lead here.

 

[2-6 Cumberland]

 

[TAHeel]

Now they're giving weak fouls before Clemson even makes contact. Ridiculous refereeing

 

[TAHeel]

Supposedly Clemson just committed 4 fouls in 4.7 seconds.

 

[Carolina151]

HEELS!

 

[2-6 Cumberland]

Not pretty but I'll take it. Important win.

 

[23UNC]

Much better second half. Post play was better.

If you do not build up a big lead, you cannot lose it. Perfect strategy.

 

[uman1]

Solid win by the Heels. Meanwhile Duke leads Louisville 37-27 at the half.

 

[Flyywhiteguyy]

Positive - masterful job of coaching & executing mixed defenses from mid-3rd quarter until end of game

Negative - someone on the bench (coach-wise) has got to teach better position and catching angles in the post. Our post players flatten out way too much with no angle to the backboard when they receive the ball.

 

[3397char]

Ugly game but probably our best defensive game of the year, right after our second best defensive game of the year. we held NCsU 19 points below their season average then held Clemson to 22 below, and that is even with their best 3 point shooter just going off from deep in small windows, and them getting gifted too many Ft attempts.

This team is starting to mature into the defense we have been used to the last few years.

the one exception is rebounds: we are just not good at rebounding vs good teams. That as not a problem today with Clemson fielding zero post players. (Though Toomey somehow had only 2 points and 2 rebounds, yikes.)

best stat of the day was 6 blocks. Brooks was credited with 3 but I swear it was 4. And we altered many, many other shots.

nivar with 9 points, 7 assists, 2 steals , 2 turnovers continues to play good basketball recently.

Harris with a double-double and Grant with an efficient 16 points And the toughest defensive assignment.

Heels went 10 deep, but 4 of the 5 subs did lot log a positive +/-. Brooks played well though. A couple of lapses in the first half but a lot of good defense late.

 

[Carolina151]

19-5 (8-3)

 

[THEericstrattonrushchairman]

Very well coached end of game

 

[DSPHeel]

Don't know what happened to Brooks.. This team was better, when she was better!

True. She’s hit that freshman wall I suppose. Not getting wide open 3s against quality opposition, and anything off the bounce is absent from her game currently. And CB is not tolerating the defensive lapses at all.

 

[23UNC]

Brooks' on the ball defense is pretty good. Can contest shots with her length. She is lost away from the ball.

EA got some more minutes, but kept both teams in the game during her stretch.

TQ has Ustby type rebounding ability. She has a nose for the ball and is starting to play more under control.

 

[FBIKen]

NB had a good game. A player can still help their team when their shot isn't going through the nets. Defense can still be played and effort should always show up and NB did that tonight. I see India coming into her own. She has stopped driving the ball in so deep which has helped cut her turnovers down a lot. The point guard play has not been good all year. We see flashes of good play and then the next couple games the guards disappear. The only guard that can beat their opponent with the dribble is India. India is making better decisions when the ball is in her hands here lately. LG played too many minutes tonight but she was needed. CT played just 15 minutes tonight, she will need to play more minutes in the next game. The defense was really good tonight. Just keep winning. Go Heels!

 

[tmatheny]

I thought we looked better with Elina running the point than with Kelly. I love Kelly but she looks like a shell of herself minus a game or two. She could be a liability moving forward if something doesn't connect.

 

[23UNC]

Laney is moving a lot better than earlier in the year. I am not sure if she had an early season injury, but she is moving better. She is no Henderson, but she works hard all game at both ends. She is starting to become more than just a jump shooter which is much needed.

 

[HeelsShooter2025]

Laney is moving a lot better than earlier in the year. I am not sure if she had an early season injury, but she is moving better. She is no Henderson, but she works hard all game at both ends. She is starting to become more than just a jump shooter which is much needed.

Laney made a nice cut to the basket at the 3 point line in the 4th qtr for a needed layup!

 

[3397char]

Pretty crazy stat on Clemsono’s scoring:

Augustiniate: 15 pts on FGs
Rest of team: 18 points on FGs

the announcers kept praising Moore and especially Thompson but they together shot 4 of 22.

 

[3397char]

I thought we looked better with Elina running the point than with Kelly. I love Kelly but she looks like a shell of herself minus a game or two. She could be a liability moving forward if something doesn't connect.

Kelly logged a +10 in +/-, Aarnisalo logged a -1.

second game in a row where Kelly completely shut down the opposing PG.

but to your point, Kelly shot 0-6. Not a great offensive game. There is a reason Aaarnisalo got more time today.

 

[kyleheel30]

Sweet 16 seems like the ceiling with this group.

 

[Jriv23]

EA needs to get more playing time moving forward. She can play the 1 and 2. CB needs to cut LG minutes down from 39 min to at least 35 minutes. IF she continues to play LG that many minutes that will cause wear and tear on her body which could increase her chances of getting hurt. Remember what happened to AU. CB played her the maximum of minutes all of her senior year. Then during her 5th year she got hurt. That was the result of playing too many minutes every game. This happened this year with Jalen Brunson who plays for the NY Knicks. He played all the minutes every game for an entire NBA season. This year is gets hurt and is force to sit out a couple of games because of the wear and tire of his body by playing too many minutes.

 

[tarboy]

I would be thrilled to make it to the sweet 16 with a young team. In a heartbeat.

Of course if you make it that far you might play a great game and advance to the Elite Eight Lol.

 

[uman1]

Pretty crazy stat on Clemsono’s scoring:

Augustiniate: 15 pts on FGs
Rest of team: 18 points on FGs

the announcers kept praising Moore and especially Thompson but they together shot 4 of 22.

One announcer might be a bit salty about UNC beating her team- going far out of the way to praise UNC's opponent.

 

[Jriv23]

I noticed that too. She kept saying if Clemson we do more of this and more of that throughout the game. She also stated that State should have gotten Pierre the ball more when we played them.

 

[uman1]

LG killing it. 3rd game in a row.